Charlie Charlie presents challenges for Caribbean schools
Charlie Charlie
Children in Montserrat have by no means been isolated from their participation in the craze wherefrom, In reports since Thursday last week several Caribbean countries are reporting that school children have been rushed to hospital after playing the “demonic” game “Charlie Charlie”.
The game is said to be a simplified version of the ‘Ouija Board’ and summons a Mexican “demon” by the name of Charlie. The ‘Charlie Charlie Challenge’ as it is being called entails placing two pencils on a piece of paper in the shape of the cross with the words ‘yes’ and ‘no’ written in each quadrant.
Participants then repeat the phrase “Charlie, Charlie can we play?” in order to connect with the demon. The ‘demon’ is then asked specific questions and the top pencil moves in response.
In Antigua and Barbuda, emergency medical services were kept busy after a group of students attending the Jennings Secondary School fainted and had to be rushed to hospital after allegedly playing the game
“Children started fainting and having seizures. Children were fainting while walking home, and some of them were trying to jump out the bus,” one student told the Antigua Observer newspaper.
In St. Lucia, the Ministry of Education is being called upon to issue an official alert after a student began having unpleasant experiences after playing the game. .
“My daughter came home crying and shaking after reporting that she saw desks floating,” the mother of the student, told a website.
“We are Christians and so when she saw what was happening, she began to pray. We also prayed with her and counselled her. She has faced other experiences like that in the past, so she is aware of what this thing is about.
“The thing is, if it is done in the private homes the demon has access to the home with or without the consent of the person who summoned it, but in the school gives access to the entire student body putting other children at risk,”’ the parent is quoted as saying.
Barbados school teachers have also warned their students from engaging in the game, while in Trinidad and Tobago, the president of the National Parent/Teacher Association, Zena Ramatali warned against playing the game which has been trending globally over the last few days.
“It is a very serious situation right now,” she said, adding that the game taking root locally is an indication of the dangers of the internet.
Ramatali said children must be taught what is good and what is evil and that clearly, the Charlie Charlie Challenge is an evil game.
“We have to teach them that this is not something that they want to dabble in,” she said.
“Children should be supervised at all times. What happens is that they are unsupervised at break time and lunch time and the devil is actually fining work for them,” she added.
The following day CMC reported – Children have been hospitalized, pastors called in to schools, and at least one Ministry of Education in the Caribbean has launched an investigation into reports of strange behaviour by students who played the popular Charlie Charlie Challenge.
A further description of the game describes it as a rudimentary form of the Ouija board, has been trending on social media where players have posted pictures and videos of themselves performing the challenge. It involves balancing pencils in a cross on a piece of paper with the words “yes” and “no” written on the paper, and summoning a visit from a demon by the name of Charlie, who then answers the players’ questions by moving the pencils in the direction of the words.
The Barbados Today online newspaper quoted acting chief education officer Karen Best as saying an investigation would be carried out “to find out what is really going on” after police and several pastors from the Pentecostal Assemblies of the West Indies (PAWI) group were summoned to several schools where children were acting strangely.
PAWI head Bishop Gerry Seale said “demonic activity has been manifested” at schools in Barbados as a result of children playing the game, as well as in other Caribbean countries.
“I spoke to a youth pastor in Guyana who has had to deal with 16 students so far needing deliverance from demonic activity as a result of this game,” Barbados Today quoted him as saying.
St Lucia News Online reported that the Ministry of Education there had banned the game.
It said there had been strange occurrences in schools in that Caribbean island. In one instances, students reported seeing desks floating.
According to media reports in Antigua and Barbuda, students at one secondary school where the game was being played were rushed to hospital after fainting.
in recent days, religious leaders across the region and in other parts of the world have warned people against playing the game, saying it opens players to demonic possession.
Early this week a ZJB Radio report says, “The Montserrat Secondary School has confirmed that the game known as the Charlie Charlie challenge was played at the school last week.
The MSS Principal Sherlyn Hogan inform ZJB news that as a result the school has taken action to discourage students from playing the game.
The principal says an assembly to specifically address the matter was held last Thursday. The Montserrat Christian Council was also invited to the school to inform students about the dangers of the game.
Mrs. Hogan says the school will continue to monitor students to ensure the game is not played although there have been reports of students displaying strange behavior while playing the game in other schools across the region.
The MSS Principal says she has not been made aware of any such incidents here, as a result of the alleged serious physical harm it can have on children, the Ministry of Education in Antigua, St. Lucia and Jamaica have banned students from playing the game in schools.
In the ZJB report Director of education Glen Francis gave his opinion on the issue.”I’m suggesting that we step back and look at it scientifically, I know the church seem to think that there is some demonic presence when you use the word Charlie but I’ll also urge us particularly those of us in Education to approach it from an education perspective,” he said. He suggested, “we can use science to prove to the children that this is nonsense.”
Mr. Francis was critical of the students and reportedly said, it is unfortunate that the focus of students is on this game rather than on their education.
