Look behind the motive

CAN the self-righteous people stop talking about “girls must finish school and get married”?
Not every female has the same upbringing in PNG.
Just because you had a stable home or network of family growing up doesn’t mean you can judge a child that has been abused, tortured and murdered.
First of all, her mother died when she was a child and she had an absent father.
Secondly, her primary caregiver was a retired PNGDF servicemen waiting for his entitlements.
Do you know what it was like struggling with a father/grandfather and guardian who was waiting for the Government to pay them their entitlements so they could go home?
No! You don’t have any idea!
No fortnight pay, a pension of less than K300 or even less depending on their rank.
Jenelyn’s grandfather is like my father, waiting for the entitlements from the government.
Many of these men had daughters much younger than us that married off so they could escape poverty.
Yes, poverty.
Lucky for me and my sister, we had a very loving older brother who sacrificed his life to take care of us, a wawo (uncle) in Port Moresby that never let us suffer and the support of family who assisted my mother with school fees etc so we could make it to where we are now without having to marry or get out of the situation we were in.
So please stop talking as if you know Jenelyn’s life or the reason why she ran off as a child.
Her grandfather obviously had no means to send her home or pay anyone to help find her and bring her home.
I know what it was like for her grandfather, I have seen my father look that way many time in the past.
He felt hopeless.
Maybe she did not want to burden him with her problems as depressing as that sounds.
Maybe she thought she could help him by marrying a wealthy man. You don’t know! So enough already!
I am sick to death of you men and women being judgmental and self-righteous here!
Her death should steer us in a direction to help other women.
Stop talking about women that have a choice and the support those to make it in life.

Cassandra Lai