A strong believer in ‘Childhood should be safe’, Chhavi Dawar has been working towards raising awareness on child sexual abuse and safety. This week, for our weekly column of Hyderabond, she speaks to The Pioneer about her sessions, Hyderabad as a city when it comes to child safety, and more.
Tejal Sinha
One in nine girls and one in 20 boys under the age of 18 experience sexual abuse or assault, according to statistics by RAINN. Although contemporary awareness of the widespread sexual abuse of children dates back several decades, child sexual abuse is still a social problem. But not anymore! Our guest for the day for our special weekly column, Chhavi Dawar, who was a victim of child sexual abuse at the age of six, has turned out to be a crusader to work towards the cause of raising awareness of child sexual abuse.
As a personal safety educator, the TedX speaker is invited by schools in and around Secunderabad and Hyderabad. In fact, any school that wants these lessons taught should contact her or the ‘Break the Silence’ team. Chhavi had shifted here to Hyderabad in 2013 and credits the founder of the Break the Silence initiative, through whom the child rights activist within her came out. Today, she has trained more than 30,000 kids through her sessions.
However, she was the one who raised a petition on change.org for CBSE and the government to direct all schools under its affiliation to have mandatory training for students to fight sexual abuse. Taking us through the initial challenges, she says, “The initial challenges were to get the network to get people to understand the importance of personal safety education and why it is important to talk to Children about sexuality and
safety. It was a challenge to convince people that it is new because the parents think that the kids are safe, that you know the school is safe, and that such things can’t happen to their children. Getting the space and the right environment to do the sessions was a challenge for sure.” And now, as she has started the initiative even in Bangalore, she states that she’s still facing the same challenges of convincing people to discuss and talk about the issue. During the pandemic, when things had gone digital, Chhavi had also organised sessions online for the kids. Now, she connects with parents and teachers via online platforms to discuss and educate them on their child’s safety. She has also come up with a circle of other survivors of sexual abuse in order to bring up an unbiased space and talk about their stories in a way that children can understand.
After introducing the rules of personal safety, she introduces the concept of trust. Why do you trust your parents the most? Why are your parents or teachers the most trusted adults with stories and common anecdotes? But what if the trusted adult (aka a parent) isn’t all that trustworthy? What if they are perpetrating abuse? Have there been instances where a child has opened up about being sexually abused by their parents or someone in their
family? To this, she says, “There are many disclosures that happen, and there’s a way to handle them. In many cases, I’ve been the first respondent, and it’s my responsibility to involve a trusted adult to ensure that the child never faces such an issue again since I cannot always be with them. After every session, I organise a Q&A session with the kids on a one-on-one basis or if they want to come in a group, and anyone is free to walk up to me. In the event of the disclosure, with their permission, I make them understand why it is important for them to involve a parent or a teacher, so they can provide them with psychological help, emotional help, or even legal help. In their presence, I talk to their trusted adults. It takes several sessions for the kids to understand why there is a need for a trusted adult in such cases.”
Well, going ahead, she also highlights how open communication is the key for children to come up and talk to trusted adults, be it their parents or teachers. So, is there still a long way to go when talking about raising awareness about child sexual abuse? She believes that though there’s still a long way to go, “We have in fact come a long way. The way it was earlier has been different. For instance, in my case, there was no one to educate me on these topics. But if we look at it now, things have changed.” Talking about how the city has been in terms of child safety, she opines, “Hyderabad has always been open to having such conversations. Be it governmental schools or private schools, they organise such seminars. In fact, even corporate companies, as a part of their CSR activities, organise these sessions.”
On a brighter note, coming to the end of the conversation, she signs off by saying Hyderabad has always been close to her heart. “It was in Hyderabad that the child rights activist came out within me, and I got to work for such a cause. The city and the people here have helped me grow as an activist. If given a chance, I would love to settle here with my family. When it comes to child rights and safety, I am in love with the city.”
