Books on Body Safety by Uma Kasi

My sister introduced me to two books on body safety written by Uma Kasi.  One book is written for the kids "Red Light Green Light Body Safety Rules". Another book is meant for the parents serving as a guide. I read these books and started appreciating the content and approach. Its just few pages of material but has a lot of important messages for everyone.

My sister said that the school where her kid studies, distributed these books to the children. Also, there is a teacher in the school who regularly creates awareness on these topics.


I also visited this Hindu article about the author. Here are some highlights.

• She teaches three magic words: No, Run and Tell (easy to remember for kids on body safety from abusers)
• She teamed up with her son's teacher Elizabeth Becker to write books for parents and children on body safety.
• She says if kids feel "mad, sad, scared and embarrassed", its time to act.
• She has tied up with schools for the body safety programme.
  

I am impressed, and I ordered a few copies of the book from India Plaza. The book is very low cost Rs.92/-. You buy Red Light Green Light book and you get the parent guide book free.

Teachers' Behavior Impact Children

Today morning, there was a news (link) in the media where a Hindi teacher insisted the girls sit on his lap. The brave girl students have complained to the parents and the teacher is now absconding as the police is in search of him.

Here is what the child psychologist and counsellor Swarnalatha Iyer recommend -
Many a time child wouldn't know if what's happening to her is good or bad. Such behaviour by a teacher can leave a negative impact on child's mind. Also, there's a chance that a child would grow up thinking there is nothing wrong if a teacher behaves like this and may learn something which is not appropriate for the society. Parents play an important role in teaching a child about a good touch and a bad touch. Child should be told that only parents can touch her body, no one else.

Teachers are the architects of the society. Their behaviours impact the society multitude!

Girls need protection in public places

Here is an another story of molestation to a young tailor - a girl working in a garment factory.  She wast not just molested but also thrown out of the train. She managed to stay alive with some severe injuries but is our law strong enough to prevent such incidents recurring. The culprits have been identified; but they may be let of few hundreds and thousands after several days of dragging the case. If there are enough evidences, they should be put under rigorous punishment serving as a lesson for others.

Here is the narration from the victim -
I am a tailor at the Hinduja Garments factory in Bangalore. I was going to my home town, Mysore. When the train was approaching Maddur station, four youths began teasing me and sexually harassing me. They passed lewd remarks and tried to molest me. When I protested and threatened that I would inform police about their misbehaviour, they pushed me out of the moving train. I fell on the rocky ground and lost consciousness. When I regained my consciousness, I was under medical care. I was in acute pain and there was blood all over my body.

Read more on TOI page: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bangalore/Girl-molested-thrown-out-of-train-in-Karnataka/articleshow/15133349.cms



Also, the railways should ensure adequate police force travelling to protect the passengers in train. Not just police, even medical emergency system also should be available. I recall the TV newsreader and actor Varadharajan submitted a request to the then President Dr.APJ highlighting the need for medical emergency in trains when his family member had an emergency during travel.

Failing Fences - Foucs on child abuse

Every day, the news daily is not without a coverage on child abuse.  As someone said, ‘every time a child is abused, we add it to the stat’. 

I happened to pick a book titled “Bitter Chocolate” by  . Its such a “bitter” book that it is full of stories but the same time guidance on what we can do about it.  Honestly, the stories were very disturbing and I could not read them. I skimmed through the pages only to read the information part.

But, reading this book became a threshold for me – it sounded to be a biggest problem to be addressed. Somewhere in the comforts of our society, we have not put checks and balance to prevent this crime.

The person who does this crime is a psycho and makes the victim physically and psychologically wounded finally. Normal looking people, trusted people do this to their dear ones; its like the fence grazing the grass. The fences are failing and we need to mend them. Failing Fences is a blog as a result, focusing on what needs to be done to mend these fences; how do we address the society’s curse?

This is going to be my focus and will blog and certainly do something about it.