Foundation instils Faith in children’s safety

Four women came together 10 years ago to campaign against child sexual abuse

SHILLONG, April 3: Faith Foundation Shillong on Monday celebrated the 10th anniversary of its efforts to create a safe environment for children.
The foundation is the brainchild of four young women who were engaged in social work and in campaigns against child trafficking.

Talking about the journey of the organisation, Faith Foundation co-founder and director Shannon Dona Massar said she started with a Mumbai-based group that worked with trafficked victims.

“I realised that rescue work is not enough and decided to come back to my communities and work on the prevention of child trafficking. The other three members have the same concern. So, we came together to form this organisation,” she said.

She said one of the main things they have been doing in the last 10 years has been working with schools on a personal safety education programme.

“We are teaching children about safe and unsafe touches. We feel that children need to understand so that they can protect themselves. We are also stressing the fact that they need to report to somebody since the problem of child sexual abuse is rarely spoken about and is a taboo,” Massar said.

According to her, most cases of child abuse happen at home.

She said the foundation felt that it was as important to work with children as the parents, school teachers and community members to build leadership among girls.

“This will help them to be at par with their male counterparts. We want the girls and boys to respect each. It is with this objective in mind we have been running our campaigns,” Massar said.
She said the ‘my safe campaign’ launched during the 10th anniversary of the organisation is one of several such collaborative initiatives.

The foundation has been organising child safety week every year from Children’s Day on November 5.
“We are a part of the worldwide movement for sensitizing people to make the right noises on the issues of child rights and child sexual abuse,” Massar said.

Apart from schools, the foundation has been working with the Education Department. “The department assigns us schools which have children coming from a vulnerable background. From one session in a calendar year, we are now holding nine sessions in each school. It is a big achievement for us and we hope the government adopts and implements the personal safety education programme in all the schools of the state,” Massar said.

The foundation petitioned Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma in 2019 for introducing the programme in the schools.

“We have not been able to meet the CM to discuss the issue. We hope to get an audience with him soon,” she said.

One of the foundation’s programmes is training school teachers on the protection of children. “The trained teachers know how to report cases of child sexual abuse and violation of child rights,” Massar said.
The work of the foundation involves identifying the issues faced by children of specific age groups, understanding their root causes, assessment of the participatory needs, and designing the curriculum.
The foundation recently received the Robert D. Stillman Dignity Award 2023 from the Global Fund for Children in recognition of its work over a decade.

Article Credits: The Shillong Times