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Thursday, 8 October 2015 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
By Fathima Riznaz Hafi
Child abuse and its dreadful consequences have been known for a while now, but even after numerous tragic stories and notably high numbershave been reported, the dilemma persists. The main reasons for its persistence are lack of awareness and society not getting involved to prevent or report the crime.
Spreading awareness on the issue is crucial to bring it to a stop. ‘Voice Walk’ was launched in 2013 as a first step towards raising awareness against child abuse in society. It has taken place for three consecutive years now and its organisers have been consistent in their attempts to educate the public on this issue.
This year Voice Walk will be held on Saturday, 10 October.The three main organisers of the walk areTouch Community, Voice Foundation and Little Heaven Kids Ministry with other organisations such as the National Child Protection Authority (NCPA), Women and Childcare Bureau, Emerge Global, Foundation of Goodness, CCC Foundation, Emerge Global, Z Club of Colombo – organisations that are involved in serving children’s needs – also supporting them, along with religious leaders from various faiths and a few schools.
The Daily FT spoke to Bethany Church Rajagiriya Senior Pastor Dishan de Silva, Touch Community Director Sonali de Silva and Little Heaven Kids Ministry Coordinator Moses Akash, who have been working actively and passionately for this cause.
Present situation of child abuse
When asked if the situation has improved after past campaigns, Pastor Dishan replied: “The unfortunate truth is the matter has become worse; look at the stats alone. In the last eight months, 6,500 cases of child abuse have been reported. Every day around five to six children are abused. This is based on the cases that have actually been reported – there may be many more that are taking place,” he said.
“The saying goes that ‘children are our future’ but if these victimised and traumatised children are the future, then the future of our country is bleak. The saying sounds good and people talk that way but their actions are different; that is why people like us have to step up; we must be a voice for the voiceless,” he said.
“The upcoming walk was planned a year ahead; it was not organised as a result of the recent uproar about the child abuse cases that are taking place in the country; we have been planning since last year and have been conducting various projects to help children for a while now,” said Moses.
“We have specific purposes for the walk and after the walk, we plan to do more things because people like us need to stand up and speak on behalf of the helpless children – they don’t have the power to speak for themselves so we must do it for them – there definitely has to be a voice for the voiceless. This is the third year that we are striving for change.”
The Walk
Voice Walk 3 will commence from Campbell Park, Borella at 8:30 a.m. and end at around 12:30 p.m. at Bethany Christian Life Centre, Rajagiriya. “Kids aged four onwards, dressed in colourful costumes and holding small awareness sign boards, will be a part of the parade of vehicles; while the adults walk,” said Pastor Dishan.
“There will be many celebrities – musicians, film stars and cricketers have volunteered to join us on that day. There will also be a few speeches and a song or two by the children. At the end of the parade, there will be a meeting at Bethany Christian Life Centre.”
Objectives
“The main objective of the walk is to create awareness within our society; parents and other adults should realise that we are living in a very dangerous era; helpless children are being hurt and abused in our country but people overlook it or choose not to get involved; we should not ignore it any longer; protecting the children is not just the responsibility of politicians or the police but that of every adult,” said Pastor Dishan.
“We want to send out a message to the Government to take special note of the kids and create awareness for kids and one of the things we will be doing on that day, is signing a petition with all the people who are present at the event, suggesting ‘Why not have a special court for child abuse cases?’ It’s just for kids so that they don’t have to go where all these adults are and we also want to urge the authorities to do their best to finish the cases as soon as possible because sometimes it drags for so long, that years after the issue has taken place and the person is married and has children, the case would still be dragging on and this really destroys the person’s future,” he said.
“Through this walk, we also want to give the children a sense of security; we send a message to them that ‘there are aunties and uncles, elder brothers and sisters who are standing with you’; ‘there are guardian angels in the form of men and women right around this country who love you, care for you and want to be there for you’.
“One of our fundamental themes you will see in the days to come is shown in one of our slogans; which is ‘We cannot have a better Sri Lanka without better Sri Lankans’. If you are to ask us why we do what we do, it’s in that statement. If we create better Sri Lankans, at the end of the day we have a better Sri Lanka. It is one of our main slogans because the reality is that everybody is dreaming for a better Sri Lanka without making better Sri Lankans. It’s just going to be a dream; it will never come true unless we work towards it.
“People like Martin Luther King – whatever they did in the past – today there are great results of it. We also want to be group like that who makes a voice in that sense. It’s not about religion or race, it’s not about power, it’s about better Sri Lankans for a better Sri Lanka,” he said.
“Another objective of the walk is to connect with different child protection organisations and to create a network with them. Getting connected with Governmental organisations and NGOs would be very helpful to achieve our goals as we can hold hands and raise our voices towards the same cause. ‘Together’, we are more powerful!” said Moses Akash.
“It is difficult to do this alone. Many other organisations are also carrying out projects to help these children but in a secluded way. If we join together we can achieve more!” he added.
“We also want to create a panel of doctors, lawyers, police officer and psychologists, who would work together as a team to help these children,” he said.
A voice for the voiceless
V stands for Violence
O stands for Oppression
I stands for Injustice
C stands for Crime and
E stands for Engage against it
“Yes, ‘E’ stands for ‘Engaged’. Let’s engage to be a voice against these four factors: Violence, Oppression, Injustice and Crime; that is what we are doing – to get the community to be engaged to be a voice, through this walk – our non-violent walk,” said Pastor Dishan.
The response so far
“Based on our Facebook page alone we have a huge response; altogether 400,000 people have responded and said they are happy about the work but of course not everyone who has expressed support will be coming for the walk; we know we will have very few active participants. Last time we had around 1,500 active participants.
“We don’t want to blame anybody; the fact that we have 400,000 supporters shows that we have people who want to be a part of this solution in some way or other. One of the things we don’t want to do is blame anybody; we are just prompting for solutions; let’s do what we can do.”
The engagement goes on
The work carried out by the Voice Foundation doesn’t end with the walk. They are actively involved in other activities to help, protect and speak up for the children.
“There are various ways through which we want to engage with the community; one of the ways is through education, other awareness programs and a safe house. Also we have started micro financing in a very low-key manner; where we are supporting single moms and other people like that who need assistance to learn some skills, maybe start a small business; we are also planning on donating items like sewing machines, thereby empowering them to be independent so they can become better Sri Lankans for a better Sri Lanka,” said Pastor Dishan.
“We hold stalls in the Good Market at Colombo Racecourse, to raise awareness about child abuse and also to inform the public about our upcoming walk. Children from our Sunday school help us too, by selling pens and key chains to raise funds for kids in need,” said Sonali.
“We are mobilising our kids to get involved in the cause. My two daughters, aged 12 and 13, also participate at these stalls by selling pens and key chains to raise funds,” he added.
Safe house project
“We are living in a society where there are so many single parents now – though nobody is talking about it. Single mothers are compelled to go out to work in order to earn money to feed their children. They have no choice but to leave the children under the care of outsiders and people who could possibly cause harm to the little ones. In many cases when they are out at work, the kids are out on the streets and are victimised by these predators.We are not blaming the mothers for going because they have to feed the kids. It’s sad that undesirable consequences result from this and the children who they are working hard to raise, end up damaged instead,” said Pastor Dishan.
This year the Voice Foundation plans to launch a Safe House to protect children who are at risk of being abused, such as those of single mothers.They plan to keep the children protected under careful supervision until around 6:30 p.m., that is, until their parents return from work.
“With the launch of the ‘safe house concept’ we can ensure the safety of these vulnerable children; we provide them with a small lunch, activities and make certain that they are not neglected. Then after around 6-6:30 in the evening, their mothers can come and take them back. What we are trying to do in a little way is to provide them with a little shelter, at least to start off,” he explained.
“The vision is big and in the days to come we want to carry this out right round the nation; we have just started this project; we will model this project here and get people involved and in the future we want to make it island-wide and get people to be more involved in it on a bigger scale,” he concluded.
Pix by Shehan Gunasekara
