Phumla Matjila: It is a parent's worst nightmare to bury a child. It is a principal's most difficult task to organise a memorial service for a pupil.

It is a community's ultimate test of strength to support a family that has suffered the loss of a child.

When 10 children die in one car accident because of alleged recklessness, it is beyond tragic.

It is horrific.

The families, the schools and the communities these children were from are traumatised - and the rest of society feels wounded.

Seeing children in their school uniform gathered for the memorial service of a friend or classmate is gut-wrenching.

Seeing children gathered for a mass memorial service for 10 of their friends and classmates is harrowing.

Life will not be the same for the families who lost their children when the taxi in which they were travelling was hit by a commuter train because the taxi driver allegedly ignored warning signs and booms and sped across a level crossing.

Travelling to school will never be the same for the four children who survived the accident.

They will be too traumatised to get into any vehicle for a long time to come - and, more disturbing, they will probably have nightmares about the accident that killed their friends.

I feel sad just thinking about the children who are in hospital . about their families, praying that they get better and that they will still be able to enjoy their childhood when they are released from hospital.

More piercing than the pain I felt when the story broke, and when I saw the pictures of the accident scene, was 16-year-old Luciano de Koker's account of the events leading to the accident, published by the Sunday Times.

De Koker painted a picture of his state of mind as the train that killed his 11-year-old sister Michaelin, her 11-year-old friend Lisle Augis, and eight other children bore down on them on Wednesday just outside Cape Town.

With the innocence and trust that only a child has, De Koker believed that the taxi driver would, as he had on many previous occasions, cross safely over the railway tracks long before the fast-approaching train reached the crossing.

De Koker and, I'm sure the other children who used that taxi to go to school, trusted the driver.

The boy felt he had no reason to panic.

He had adhered to his ritual of sitting in the front seat of the taxi but on this day his sister had chosen not to sit next to him but with her friend, who died along with her.

De Koker could not suspect that this would be the day they would not make it to the other side of the crossing.

What kind of man would put the lives of children at risk like this?

How did he come to be transporting schoolchildren?

Sadly, I think, sometimes we parents do not sufficiently screen the people to whom we entrust our children's lives.

Because of our busy schedules, money constraints and sometimes sheer desperation to find the most convenient way of getting our children to school we employ unsuitable people.

Do you know who is taking your child to school every day?

By this I don't mean merely the name and cellphone number of the driver.

And I'm not referring to what your friend, neighbour or colleague told you about the person you are paying to take your child to school.

What screening do you use to make sure that you don't employ criminals, social misfits or reckless drivers?