Lavern Deer is a fired up warrior wielding a mighty sword against child sexual abuse in Jamaica and the Diaspora.

This gladiator, through her Florida-based Female Development World Organisation (FDWO), has declared war on this scourge which leaves permanent emotional and psychological scars on many, if not all, of its victims.

But Deer and the FDWO are armed with a multi-edged sword. On one side, it aims at prevention of the child against abuse, and a swipe the other way, provides healing and empowerment for victims.

In-between that, the organisation has a robust awareness agenda as it seeks to reach every listening ear while the campaign mounts to push back against one of the great social travesties of modern societies.

The spear of the umbrella FDWO is the two-year-old Jamaica Diaspora Youth and Female Empowerment Task Force, and through the Protect The Children initiative in particular, the fight is truly on.

With local partners in Jamaica and the US Diaspora in the main, the FDWO is scoring valuable points as it moves to change attitudes and values, create awareness, raise funding and to open doors for victims’ rehabilitation.

In 2014, the Deer-led non-profit organisation, only a year old, forged a partnership with the Jamaica-based Eve for Life and their ‘Nuh Guh Deh’ campaign. Both organisations, bounded by common interests, continue to work together.

At the recent symposium entitled ‘Protect the Children: Breaking the Chains’, part proceeds of US$1,625 (J$198,000) from the South Florida Protect The Children Gala in April, was presented to Eve for Life Jamaica.

The symposium, held on Thursday, July 27, at Mico University College in Kingston, was a strategy-setting discussion for the prevention of child sexual abuse in Jamaica and its Diaspora.

The panellists at the symposium included Deer, along with Novia Condel-Gibson, adolescent specialist UNICEF; Monique McDonald, sexual abuse survivor and mentor; Tashani Harris Morgan, educator; Greig Smith, Children Registar; Rosalee Gage Grey, CEO Child Development Agency; Akelia Lawrence-Maitland, Diaspora Advisory Board member, North East USA.

Minister of Education and Information, Ruel Reid, also addressed the function, which was incorporated into the broad set of activities of the Jamaica 55 Diaspora Conference held in Kingston recently.

“It was important to do the symposium with the conference because it allowed me to reach the broader Diaspora community. There are adults who are still suffering from their abuse as a child and I felt it’s important that, while we are raising awareness for the prevention of child sexual abuse, we also want the adult victims to be a part of the conversation. Hopefully, they can get help through helping others,” Deer told the Jamaica Observer.

Deer’s passion to plunge in to help combat sex, and all other forms of abuse, against children has its sprouts in her own life experiences.

“I am passionate about this because it affected my family. A close family member of mine was taken to the doctor at the age of five, and the doctors was so shocked of the condition of the little girl.

“After full examination, she was diagnosed with two different STDs (sexually transmitted diseases). To this day, that now adult person is struggling with mental illness,” shared the Jamaican-born, who holds a Masters Degree in Business from Nova University.

Deer, who was hastily shipped out of Jamaica as a nine-year-old by her mother after her own horrors with sex abuse, says the issue tugs deep at her heart and that is what fuels her passion and drive to confront the monster.

“I know where I am coming from as I, too, was a victim of child sexual abuse, but through many years of therapy, I’ve learned to love myself. Because of my personal experience, I am determined to fight this fight with the hope of saving a child from going through what I went through. I thank God for the love and support of my mother, which in the end brought me from the victim state to being a survivor,” said the mother of one.

The FDWO, which also raises funds and works on development opportunities for women including Jamaica’s female football teams, is looking to branch out from just serving Jamaica and the Diaspora.

“Our vision is to aggressively to engage domestic and international stakeholders, to foster increased and consistent awareness of the systemic problems impeding such development, primarily in socio-economically challenging communities both local and international. Our long-term goal is to extend our services in to the Caribbean and the rest of the world,” noted Deer, the FDWO executive director.

“FDWO continues to seek partnership with other non-profit and for-profit organisations to expand and raise awareness to end child sexual abuse in particular in the domestic and international underserved Caribbean-American communities, via US-based operations and programmes,” she added.

Even with the best pitches to woo corporate organisations to support its cause, Deer admitted that the FDWO is often meet with an icy shoulder.

Deer is hoping she can change views on the issue from a parochial point of view to a more global discussion and response.

“Businesses from the USA and Jamaica have expressed their concerns about supporting an organisation outside their country when they have the same issues of sexual abuse at home.

“The United Nations Children Fund stated that children, especially girls between the ages of 11 and 17 bear the brunt of sexual abuse in Jamaica. In the USA, one in three girls is abused before the age of 18. It’s clear we are dealing with a global issue,” she said.

But even as corporate entities in the various jurisdictions may prefer to abstain at this time, Deer said key partnerships with true believers in the work of organisation have kept it firing on the front line.

“FDWO wants these companies to know that as an international organiation we are working to address the cause in each region, starting with Jamaica and the USA. Luckily for us, we have achieved some goals through programmes and initiatives, but we need funding to continue making effective changes.

“We’ve been very fortunate to achieve some objectives and outcomes through strategic partnerships thus far. However, as the awareness continues, more needs are presented and it takes funding to support those needs,” she argued.

Deer reminded that the FDWO is not only focused on sex abuse and HIV/AIDS issues with children and women, but offers a holistic response to the needs of females.

“The overall concept of holistic development of young females in underserved female populations, through educational, social, developmental, health and wellness, and athletic support and programmes, has remained steadfast. Therefore, the organisation’s involvement with a number of initiatives has led to its focus on young female sexual abuse,” she explained.

At present, the FDWO gets its support for its broad-based activities from the Jamaican Government; Tuff Gong International, City of Miramar Mayor Wayne Messam and his Office; Mayor Hazelle Rogers, City of Lauderdale Lakes; Lauren’s Kids; Children Services Council of Broward County; Jamaica Tourist Board; LEESA Inc; FP&L; Pollard PLLC; SuRealty Title Inc; Caribbean Airlines; Kiwanis Club of Lauderhill; Dr Sue Charitable Foundation; Irie FM; South Florida Caribbean News; CNW; Waste Management; David I Muir Photos and The Power of Faith Ministries International.

The rest of the FDWO board is made up of Tony March, Nicholas Evans, Sherna Spencer, Sean Jeffrey, Pauline Tucker, Stacy-Ann Graham, Clive Webster and Kenneth Gray.

According to the Office of the Children’s Registry, from 2007 to 2015, approximately 16,790 reports of sexual abuse against children were recorded.

Children, especially girls, bore the brunt of the sexual abuse cases reported across Jamaica in 2015, a trend that started several years ago.

While 2016 figures are not yet available, data compiled by the Jamaica Crime Observatory Integrated Crime and Violence Information System (JCO-ICVIS) showed that 710 or approximately 66 per cent of the 1,079 persons sexually assaulted across 10 parishes in Jamaica in 2015 were children.

Of that number, 703 or approximately 65 per cent were girls, mostly between the ages of 11 and 17.

Janet Cupidon-Quallo, child protection specialist at the United Nations Children’s Fund, which helped to revamp the JCO-ICVIS in 2015 to extend its scope, explained that the data does not tell the full story, as it captured reports from only 10 parishes.