Egypt NGO helps children understand 6 abuse

At first sight, the event appears like a school party. Fun fills the air. Loudspeakers blare out music. Children are in a happy mood.

However, a closer look around this hall of an elementary school in Cairo will show that it is a different kind of party.

A group of grown-ups and children show up on the stage, singing in unison.

“Don’t let anyone touch here or hold this,” the performers say, pointing to their bodies. “Because this is my body and it belongs to me. No one has the right to touch, catch or see it.”

Other children seated in the hall are encouraged to join in.

The song is part of a campaign launched by 7emayaa (Protection), a non-governmental group seeking to raise awareness about sexual abuses against children.

“This song aims at educating the child about the boundaries of his body that no one should be allowed to break and how he [the child] should react if he faces any form of harm,” said Iman Ezzat, the founder of the six-year-old group.

“We are keen to address the child in a language that he loves, using a programme based on music and drawings. We explain to him in simple terms how he can protect his body and how he can differentiate between a good touch and a bad touch by others,” added Ezzat, who is a professor at Cairo University’s Faculty of Specific Education.

In imparting the message, 7emayaa uses also dummies taking the shapes of body parts such as hands.

“I have found out that music and drawings have a strong impact on children’s understanding of things,” Ezzat said.

The professor has conducted a study on 60,000 boys and girls in 12 of Egypt’s 27 governorates concluding that children listening to music and interested in art are better than others in reacting to violence targeting them.

“We also asked children aged from four to seven years, who attended body protection training, to express in drawing about what they’ve learnt. We found that their drawings were clear and expressive of their feelings.”

Ezzat and her team of 30 volunteers have already gone to dozens of places across Egypt to raise awareness about children’s abuses believed to be a big problem in this country of 92 million.

The venues included kindergartens, schools, community centres, religious institutions and orphanages.

Awareness sessions were also held for physically challenged as well as foreign refugees living in Egypt.

In addition to Cairo, the campaigners went to the Mediterranean city of Alexandria as well as to Assiut and Aswan — both in Egypt’s far south.

Their drive targets children aged from four to 14. They also give educating sessions to parents and children’s supervisors.

“The family should teach the child not to say yes to everything. The child should shout if anyone comes close to him with the intent of harming. The child should even resist the attack by using his hands and legs,” Ezzat explained.

She often tells parents that they should encourage their children to inform them of any abuse they have faced.

Parents are grateful to the campaigners. “Their way of teaching is amusing and attractive to the children,” said Hanan Ahmed, a mother of two.

“The school of my children, who are five and seven years old [respectively], invited me to attend a presentation by 7emayaa. I went and found it a new experience,” the 30-year-old mother added. “The presentation has taught me how to act if my children face a violation of their bodies and that I must take any sign on this very seriously. I should not accept this [abuse] and remain silent for fear of scandals.”

In recent months, some parents in Egypt have come out and filed legal complaints about alleged sexual assaults against their children by school personnel.

A perceived spike in cases of violence against children has recently prompted greater attention in Egypt.

The National Council for Motherhood and Childhood, a state-run agency, has set up a hotline for receiving alerts about different abuses against children, including sexual assaults, domestic violence and underage marriage.

Around 2,284 cases of such abuses were reported in the first half of this year, according to the council.

They included 120 sexual assaults that had reportedly taken place in the street, the school or within the victim’s family.

Experts believe that many of sexual offences against children go unreported either because the victims are too little to speak out or because their families opt for silence for fear of social disgrace.

The Egyptian parliament is expected in next months to debate different aspects of violence against children and toughen relevant penalties.

In 2014, Egypt increased penalties against sex offenders in general to a maximum five years in prison.

Pro-child rights advocates say the punishment is still not deterrent enough in cases involving minor victims.

 

source : gulfnews