Outside an elementary school, Sarah Aziz and her team-mates don blue uniforms bearing the word “safe.” Approaching school managers, team members deploy among classrooms.
“A class for physical protection against child molestation” was Aziz’s idea to fight sexual assault on children via Safe.
Aziz, during her voluntary work in the slums, experienced the prevalence of child molestation, which prompted her to attend a diploma that would enable her to teach awareness against the phenomenon and provide psychological assistance to victims.
“I carried out that training in more than 18 schools. It is not an easy job and needs much preparation,” Aziz says. “Elders caress children all the time, and it is difficult for kids to distinguish good intentions from bad ones. Safe decided to give attention to the issue through workshops where children are taught that their bodies are valuable.”
Safe’s hardest task is how to teach children in a simplified way as many believe the matter an adult talk. “The training relies on basic points trainers explain to the kids: that they are beloved and that they reject any transgression upon their bodies.”
Training is not exclusively for kids, but includes their families and teachers. “It was wonderful to see school bus drivers and janitors taking an oath at the end of each training not to violate kids
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
