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The books seek to effectively open the way for certain touchy subjects of child abuse to be discussed (Photo: Ministry of Human Services and Social Security)
In addition to the books being used by the Childcare and Protection Agency (CPA) – the entity that is spearheading the campaign – they will also be given to the Ministry of Education for use however the officers there see fit.
Funding for this project was provided through the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the Ministry wants to thank the organisation for that.
The storybook is a compilation of stories that came out of the Short Story Writing Competition for young writers. The stories of the ten winners, which were focused on various elements of
child safety, were compiled. “The colouring book was a project I worked on with my team members and it is also activity based so that children can definitely have insight into child abuse,” Dr. Persaud said.
Under ‘Every Child Safe’, more is done than just seek to make information available to the public; a personal and consistent check-in with members of communities all across Guyana is carried out for help to identify perpetrators and bring relief to sufferers.
“These communities become essential partners of ours, so that wherever child abuse rears its ugly head, we will be able to know because there are people out there as our eyes and ears. Perpetrators will have the eyes of an entire community on them, so no one can escape that kind of scrutiny,” Dr. Persaud had said.
The campaign fosters heightened vigilance on child abuse in communities and people will now be more aware of crimes that they should look out for and how they should report cases of child abuse utilising the 914 hotline and all the other avenues available to them through the Ministry.
Meanwhile, the 10 persons who won in the competition are Aradhya Ramjag (Aaila Runs Away); Daniel Persaud (Quick Thinking); Rondel Parks (Annie Calls 914); Vanessa Ramdehooll (Puppy Love); Daniel Lalchand (Early Morning Scare); Sajid Amin (Praying for a Miracle); Giovanna George (Tickling Tommy); Rachel Davis (Fire, Fire!) Roshanie Mahadeo (The Black Coat); and Shaquana Richards (Veronica’s Father). (Press release from Ministry of Human Services and Social Security)
