Child Suicide Dominican Republic

[CristoRey]

I think I'ma keep pushing this subject until people with the ability to
reach a broader audience take note. Where are the so called
"investigative journalist" now?

 

[Auryn]

Russel posted on this thread regarding youth suicides within Aboriginal communities in Canada. I taught on a remote northern reservation- population 1000. In my first 7 years there, we had 11 suicides- all of which were under the age of 21. The first was a 16 year old girl hung herself 4 houses down from me. And on top of that, 12 more deaths related to drunk driving, substance abuse, etc. Then I volunteered, and eventually taught in SD for a year. Let me just say that the parallels between poor Dominicans and poor Native Canadians are copious. Even down to pointing with the lips.

As mentioned several times by previous posters, these issues are profoundly complex and deep. The parallels of poverty, addiction, abuse, lack of education, all seem too numerous to mention. My experiences were from about 2006-2014, and the first I heard of outside concern on the journalistic, governmental, or any front began in 2016. Only then, only after this had continued for several years, in thousands of communities, did the federal government start paying any heed. The issue of youth suicide is still a major concern but with waning focus across Aboriginal communities. In Canada, a "developed" nation, the attention to the prevalence is dwindling.

And like the DR, trauma and tragedy become a normalized and tragically accepted part of life for many.

 

[chaze305]

Funny you say that, my girlfriend in santiago told me that when she was 8 her mother's boyfriend would sit her on her lap and he would get hard. She never wanted to be alone with him, he even told her that it was ok for her to be naked around him since he's now her dad. She would do whatever she can not to be alone with him. She told me that the only reason he didn't try something else with her was because there was always other people at the house.

I feel sorry for the ones that are left alone with people like that.

 

[JD Jones]

Funny you say that, my girlfriend in santiago told me that when she was 8 her mother's boyfriend would sit her on her lap and he would get hard. She never wanted to be alone with him, he even told her that it was ok for her to be naked around him since he's now her dad. She would do whatever she can not to be alone with him. She told me that the only reason he didn't try something else with her was because there was always other people at the house.

I feel sorry for the ones that are left alone with people like that.

I was briefly involved with a girl from La Romana who was raped by her father from the time she was 8 until 13 years old until he ran off with another woman.

She became deeply religious after that and never took any action against him. She never told her mother and family either.

During the time I knew her, word got back that her father had died. I asked if she was going to the funeral. She said no, then told me what he did.

I believe it happens here more than most folks realize.

At least now with the internet, more of these cases are coming to light.

Hard to understand how she could hold that in for so many years.