Sunday, October 21, 2007

There's a Masked Man in the Girl's Toilet

And we think these things happen only in movies, or we watch them in the news or read them in the newspaper; but late Thursday morning, it happened here in our small city.

A six year old girl excused herself from class to go to the toilet. And within a few minutes, her life could have changed. Upon entering the girl's toilet, she encountered a masked man inside the toilet.

I was in the kindergarten when I heard the first version of the story: that the masked intruder had already lowered his pants; and has frightened the girl to do the same. But before anything could happen, another girl came, that made the masked man run away.

That story shocked me to pieces because I know the little girl involved in the story. She is our neighbor and a very close friend of MC. I was crying when I left the kindergarten; the thing is, I had to pass the very same school where the incident happened. This is the same school that MC would be attending next year!

I hurriedly called my husband and told him the story. He wanted me to talk to the mom of the little girl but I simply cant talk. I needed time to calm myself. In the end, I blogged about it here, with all my anger. (I blogged in Tagalog for I wanted a quick release that time) I wanted to express myself or I would explode.

My husband talked to the parents of the girl later that day. And his story calmed me: the little girl met the masked man inside the toilet; but before anything could happen, the man suddenly disappeared. It seemed he heard someone approaching. He didnt touch the girl nor spoke to her. Nothing happened. Except, we dont know what's in that little girl's mind now. The police scoured the place but found nothing suspicious. During an interview with the girl, she obviously cant remember details.

The school decided to implement some changes when it comes to toilet visits during class hours: a buddy system plus a whistle.

Now how do we tell this story to MC and IC? They should know, so they would know what to do, just in case. But we still havent told them anything, as of now. Nor do we plan to tell them the real story, nope. We only want to let them be aware that such things could happen.

Meanwhile, the girl involved in the incident was with us the whole Saturday to play with the girls. I am glad that the parents are letting her move around as usual, but my husband and I have the same line of thought. Like when the little girl asked permission to go home alone to get a toy; both of us said she should bring MC with her.

I am thinking about introducing judo classes to the girls, again. Yes, again. The first time, MC was not so enthusiastic about joining because she said the boys are too wild. Maybe if they would be together, it would be better... Let's see.

For now, I need to talk to the girls and explain to them about such incidents. And what could be done to prevent such things, such as attending judo lessons.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I feel frightened as i read the story. Not for me but for the little innocent girls anywhere around theworld. it made me realized that really - seems there are only few places left that are safe. Even at times, the homes are not yet the safest place.

Am glad nothing happened to thelittle girl. My recent post in my blog might help you and all the ppol you care about when it comes to danger with strangers and abductors.

Take care.

Anonymous said...

Stumbled across your blog--- then I went to your Kengkay blog- now, that one is hilarious! I am Pinay, raised in Caloocan City but i never had the fluency in Tagalog that you have-- I'm envious! Does MC and IC speak Tagalog? I'm trying to teach my daughter. I feel for you about the girls and judo lessons. I do my best to prepare my 5-year-old for the dangers of the world. Not so easy when we do leave in a safe place.

Anonymous said...

Oh my gosh! That is so scary. That's one of the reasons why I opted to stay home and pick up my daughter to take care of her myself and not go out to work. We try our very best to protect our kids and yet somehow these sickos get close.

raqgold said...

arlene, thanks for letting me know about your post. we are really glad that nothing happened to that little girl, i hope she wont be greatly traumatized though.

marysmom, thanks for visiting both blogs. i simply had to write in tagalog coz i dont want to be bulol in different languages :) i hope the girls would see the need for judo lessons, though. i always thought we live in a safe place, now my world is shaken...

KK, that's just it. we try to protect our kids and yet a minute after we let them go, anything could happen. it's enough to make us crazy sometimes...

Analyse said...

that certainly is scary. i think school gates here are closed after a certain hour.. madami talagang perverts dito no?