Would you believe how the first three months of the year ganged-up against us, racing right by and paying no heed to our gasps?
Reluctantly or otherwise, this brings us to April, and another year of Child Sexual Abuse Awareness Month on the blogosphere.
Again? Yes, again. It hasn’t gone away, has it? Neither should your attention.
Please direct it to this page, and learn about our partners, the problem, and the crying, aching, screaming need for AWARENESS.
Share the URL with your friends: Facebook, Twitter, email, your own words over a cup of coffee. Whatever your method, get talking.
Join Twitter chats that address the issue from various professional angles (I will be doing one and will update time and date details on this post).
We want to hear your stories. If you have none to share, lend us your ears because the world has far, far too many.
Thank you yet again, lovely readers, for sharing with me this month of personal experiences that break our hearts and make us want a better world for our children and their adult avatars.
Wisdom Wears Neon Pyjamas 
As a child of 5 I came dangerously close to being molested had it not been for my ever-vigilant mother who had opened the door of our flat, when she had seen the school bus pull up to our building to offload me.
The male servant of our neighbor, who lived below us, had a plan up his sleeve which he only executed halfway with no bodily contact with me, because my mother loudly called out to me to hurry up and come quickly up the stairs. So he backed off.
She had no idea what had transpired. However when I entered the flat I apparently was breathless, drained a full glass of water and then blurted out the incident to my mother.
As luck would have it, my uncle, her brother was visiting and he was in a top position of the Mumbai police. He stormed downstairs and physically threw out the servant, threatening him to leave and directing him to never come back or else….
One would think that the employer of this man would have joined my uncle in reprimanding him. Instead, she and her husband were wailing about what they were going to do when their servant left!!
This my friends is still happening, where others refuse to believe the victim and turn their faces in denial. I tremble sometimes when I remember this incident at what could have happened. Vigilant and pro-active parents can change the situation, child by child. Believe them when they tell you, especially when the perpetrators are family members which I am told is very hard for them to do.
Children are our treasures and we should value them dearly, whether they are ours or not. They are collectively OUR children.
Ingenuous abusing ways are found
And in all kinds of strata do abound
A Darjeeling porter who backpacked a kid
Deftly, his thumb, under her chuddy slid
The feeling of revulsion and guilt still hasn’t drowned!
Science teacher, school. I found out much later that he was asked to leave because someone else had the courage to speak up, saving so many more from the trauma. I wish I had said something.
handwrittenonly, Aunty G, and revathi: I am so sad to hear your stories but very thankful that you shared them. The very fact that not one of us has been spared, whether it be one-time assault or repeated abuse, signals how urgently we need to talk about this and work toward protection, prevention, and punishment. Please spread the word about CSAAM and visit the page yourselves?
I pray that a time comes soon when we don’t need any month to be CSAAM month.
dipali: Prayers are good. Action is prayer in motion. 🙂