Nov 19th - World Day for Prevention of Child Abuse Observed in Namakkal

The World Day for Prevention of Child Abuse is observed on the 19th of November every year. This day is also used to create awareness among the public especially among children, teachers and their parents on Child Sexual Abuse. Child sexual Abuse is an act that causes physical, psychological and social harm to the child by an adult or another child to gratify or satisfy the needs of the person by touching ,seeing and talking about the private parts. 


The WHO estimates that 150 million girls and 73 million boys under 18 have experienced forced sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual violence involving physical contact, though this is certainly an underestimate. Much of this sexual violence is inflicted by family members or other people residing in or visiting a child's family home- people normally trusted by children and often responsible for their care. In a study on child abuse done by Ministry of Women and Child Development in 2007 among 12,447 children in 13 states revealed 53.22% reported having faced one or more forms of sexual abuse that included severe and other forms. The study recommends that Life skill education of children to enhance their knowledge and capacity to deal with abuse is essential.

Mr B. Saravanan, leading advocate and member of Rotary Red Rock, Tiruchengode expressed that “It is not only important for children to know about their rights but also the parents to be aware of what is happening to the child. Many parents either shy away or do not spend enough time with their children that leave them to undergo sexual abuse”

Buds of Christ an organisation working for orphans and vulnerable children based in Tiruchengode, Namakkal, reached out to over 500 children in 5 Government schools bringing awareness on Child sexual abuse in Tiruchengode Taluk with the support of District Chief Education Officer. The awareness was created on what are the forms of sexual abuse, how children should respond to any act that involves touching or using of explicit materials to make children do what others intend to was also taught to the children. The children were also informed that they have the right to their body and to scream NO to any one who is trying to abuse; another important thing that children ought to do is to share the incident to trusted adults like their parents or teachers.

Buds of Christ said “most of the children we met during this awareness campaign were not aware about what is child sexual abuse and they believe only strangers might harm them which showcased their level of ignorance”

Popular posts from this blog

Confidence Building Camp for Orphan Adolescents

Image
What is Buds N Colors Camp? Buds N Colors camp is for adolescent children orphaned and affected by HIV and AIDS in the HIV high prevalent Namakkal district in Tamilnadu. The aim of this camp is to share love, build hope and strengthen faith to live life with dignity and courage. Why this camp? Adolescents living with HIV find it hard to set higher goals due to the fear that dominates their emotions. HIV has affected their self –image causing a severe low self esteem. Our experiences from the previous camp have shown, given a space for the adolescents, they emerge as leaders of hope and change for others like them. Who are the participants at Buds N Colors Camp? This camp is exclusively for adolescent children who have lost one or both parents to HIV and AIDS in the age group of 12 to 18 years. Around 40 adolescent children will participate in this camp What is the uniqueness of the camp? This camp provides opportunity for creating peer buddies among ...
Read more

Nothing is impossible for those that BELIEVE – Bharathi has scored 408 in 10th public exams amidst difficult circumstances

Image
It is another joyous moment to share that our children have excelled in their 10 th public exams and going beyond the limitations and challenges once again. The experiences of these children, especially widow headed households face the pressures of early marriages; or stopping education and sent for work to support the family income. In addition if they are the most backward caste in the community, they are often discriminated by other members in the community. Bharathi has put her dream path, possible challenges and how she would overcome them  Bharathi is from the most backward community and living with her widowed mother. She has one elder sister who eloped and got married to a boy from the neighbouring village. Bearing the stigma of run-away sister, widowed mother’s daughter and the caste discrimination, along with severe power cuts that lasted up to 12 hours in a day, Bharathi as young as 14 years took these obstacles as milestones to prove her capacity and bring a ...
Read more

Educating Children Enabling Independence

Image
“Education is for improving the lives of other and for leaving our community and world better than we found it.” Buds of Christ organised Education support program for boys and girls on 7 October 2021. 16 children from class 9 th to 12 th participated and received school bags and notebooks.   The event started with a moral story on Being Focussed on the Vision for life shared by Mr. Jeyapaul Director of Buds of Christ. Following that Communication skill was taught to children as part of Life Skills Education.   The reason for Buds of Christ to enhance the skills of children on Life skills goes with the quote that “Education is not just about going to school and getting a degree. It’s about widening our knowledge and absorbing the truth about life".   This was followed by life experience sharing by the Program Chief Guest Ms. Kaleeswari, Commercial Assistant from TamilNadu Electricity Board.   She shared her life history and motivated the children to be eager for stu...
Read more