Her own experience with domestic violence as a child led her to commit herself to a life as a social worker. Originally from St Lucia, Clementia comes from a family of 7 children, where her father was an alcoholic. “As a child, I didn't want to be at home, so from a very young age I started doing activities like scout and girl guide, so by the time I was 18 I already had my own group of children under my guidance”. Her first study was as a secretary and right after finishing it she served as a secretary for the director of social services. In this role, her passion for social work was awakened and she promised herself that one day she would become the director of social services.
At the age of 26, she went to study as a social worker and made this dream a reality. As an adult, she dedicated much of her time to the Catholic Church and thus had the opportunity to study Missionary Catechesis at the Pontifical University of Mater Ecclesiae in Rome. Living in Aruba for 14 years now, she is an active member of the parish of Santa Anna. Her deepest interest is to contribute to a world where children are protected to grow in a safe environment and can continue to live a life that they can value.
In St Lucia, Clementia had a lot of work as director of social services, to convince government authorities that child protection is a national priority. On several occasions she was told that social services do not help contribute to the government's coffers. The reality is that investing in children and families will greatly contribute to economic development in the future.
“My arguments and strategies to try to convince were never enough and I decided to emigrate to Aruba to get my PHD and teach in the Social Work and Development Program at the University of Aruba”. The study that Clementia is now presenting is her doctoral research hypothesis.
This study has shown some very concerning results. One of them is that physical abuse is the most common form of abuse that children experience in Aruba. 8 out of every 10 children have experienced abuse in one form or another. Of the children who experience abuse, only 1 in 3 receive help.
These children do NOT enjoy the 10 central human capacities to develop in a healthy and dignified way. The abuse these children experience has very profound consequences in the short but also long term for our community.
It was also surprising to read that the area where children experience the most abuse in Aruba is Oranjestad (22.9%), followed by Noord (22.2%) and then Santa Cruz (10%). Sexual abuse within the family and negligence were more prevalent in the Santa Cruz area. Even more so, I must conclude that unfortunately, structural violence is in our DNA, transmitted from one generation to another, forming our norms and values.
“Many children turn to school for help and therefore it is important for schools to be equipped to deal with this”. Clementia suggests that IPA implement the Protection Code in its curriculum. Also, introduce Social and Emotional Learning and Child Safety Education into the school curriculum.
"In the study, I also concluded that many children turn to their school friends to confide in them in cases of abuse and I can imagine how heavy this is for children who know the details of the trauma their friend may be going through".
The government, for its part, has the role of recognizing this serious problem and seeing the relationship between child abuse and Aruba's socio-economic development in the future.
Clementia concludes by saying that we all must be responsible citizens because many cases do not come to light. “If you know of any cases of abuse in any form, call the police or the support bureau, keep calling until you are sure that an intervention has taken place”.
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