COIMBATORE: Over the years, the government and several non-governmental organisations have done their part in spreading awareness about child abuse — from rallies to seminars and what have you. This time around, it is three men and an SUV that is taking the effort a step further.
These men from a village in Thoothukudi are of the opinion that only open lines of communication between parent and child can help prevent child abuse. To take this idea to the masses, they have embarked on a road trip that is set to cover 13 states in 13 days.
The team does not have your usual suspects of NGO workers and ChildLine officials. It is just three men from different walks of life wanting to invest time and resources in the mission to spread awareness on child abuse. While T R Prabanjan (32) and J Sudalaimanian (38) are related, G Neelamegan (35) is their friend. The team started its journey in Kanniyakumari district on May 23 and reached Coimbatore on late Friday evening. They plan to head to New Delhi via Hubli (Karnataka), Mumbai (Maharashtra) and Rajasthan among others.
At every stop, they meet with parents and children and invite them to speak freely about the subject. According to Prabanjan, most of the child abuse incidents can be prevented if parents try interacting with their children from an early stage. Children will learn to express their thoughts or the threats they encounter only when parents leave the channel of communication open. Many children they interacted with have confessed that they have not been able to share much with their parents in fear of punishment, he reveals.
It has only been three days but their campaign is already receiving a lot of positive response — not just at the places they visit but on social media too. With all their activities being regularly updated on social media platforms, a number of people have since asked them to visit their city too. “On seeing our Facebook posts, many people are calling us to hold awareness programmes in their locality. We are trying to cover as many locations as we can,” says Sudalaimanian.
While covering 13 states in 13 days might sound like a herculean task, the team seems to be handling it pretty well so far. The trusted SUV — easily the fourth member of the team carrying the slogans ‘Speak with your kids!’, ‘Make the world a happier place to live’ — is stocked to capacity with all the essentials. They have been cooking their meals in the car itself, resorting to hotels on the way only to sleep at night.
At Delhi, they have a conference to attend on the subject. From there, they will take a different route to return to where they started — Kanniyakumari. They plan to cover Uttar Pradesh and Telangana (Hyderabad) among others.