Keeping Our Children Safe workshop
A two-day workshop on Keeping Our Children Safe for childcare providers in the central region of Sarawak wasjointly organized by National Council of Women’s Organization Malaysia (NCWO), and Methodist Pilley Institute. The workshop facilitator was Puan Amy Bala, who has been a social worker attached to the Department of SocialWelfare for 32 years, and also with Universiti Sains Malaysia. She is currently providing freelance training on social work, early childhood education, and also a court advisor at Petaling Jaya Court,Selangor.
The workshop, which was sponsored by Johnson & Johnson aims to increase the social well-being with reference to “healthy community”, to raise awareness on child abuse, and to equip Childcare Center/TASKA and Kindergarten/TADIKA operators, supervisors and teacherswith relevant knowledge and skills on prevention and protection, so they can help children (4 to 6 years old) to understand; listen and respond positively about themselves; to identify body parts including private body parts, and understand “Touching Rules” and be able to run and tell until they get help.
The workshop covered subjects on definition of a child, signs and symptoms of child abuse (such as physical abuse, emotional abuse, sexual abuse, and neglect), impact of abuse on children, and the prevention and protection.It was attended by 73 kindergarten teachers.
Preventing child abuse is a shared commitment. The responsibility starts with families, communities and each one of us, and it starts with raising awareness on child abuse. We need to inform individuals, parents and communities about the issue and the solutions that are available. Our family members, friends and everyone in our society can help by raising awareness and spreading the word on issues related to child abuse.
Photos Caption:
▲ Group photo
▲ Discussion ▲
▲ Simulated Teaching ▲
▲ Presentation in Group
▲ Lesson in progress
▲ Facilitator PuanAmy Bala (Middle), Ms CelesteChoo (left), Lecturer of MPI, Ms Doreen Ting (right), Head of Early Childhood Department
《儿童虐待的预防和儿童安全》工作坊
(26日讯)卫理毕理学院与全国妇女组织理事会（NCWO）联办《儿童虐待的预防和儿童安全》工作坊，为砂捞越中区的幼教工作者提供培训，总共有73位幼儿园教师参加。工作坊的培训讲师是艾米巴拉女士，在马来西亚理科大学和社会福利部从事社会工作至今已有32年。目前，她提供有关社会工作和幼儿教育的培训，也是雪兰莪州八打灵再也的法庭担任法院顾问。
本次活动由嬌生集團（Johnson & Johnson）赞助，旨在提升社会福祉、增加大众对儿童虐待的认识，并装备托儿所和幼儿园的经营者、管理人员和教师对于预防儿童虐待及保护儿童的知识和技能。工作坊涵盖了三项主要的课题，包括儿童虐待的迹象和症状、儿童虐待所造成的影响，以及如何预防和保护。幼教工作者可以在学校中教导幼儿（4-6岁）识别身体的各个部位，尤其是身体的私密处，让幼儿学习“触摸规则”，知道如何远离伤害并寻求援助。
课程中提到的儿童虐待，指的是身体虐待、精神虐待、性虐待、和忽视。儿童虐待会扭曲和伤害孩子的身心健康，并对孩子的一生造成许多负面的影响，最严重可能导致死亡，或直到成年时持续的心理阴影和困扰，许多受虐待的孩子也可能因此过着封闭、被忽视的、缺乏关爱、恐惧和没有盼望的生活。 其中，性虐待在马来西亚发生的普遍性最令人感到担忧。性虐待指的是对还不到18岁的孩子发生强奸，鸡奸猥亵或露阴癖的行为。由怡保中央医院儿科系所进行的一项研究显示，在660位受访者中，其中6.8 %的人承认在他们的童年成长过程中曾经被性虐待。
帮助受虐待儿童的首要工作是认识各种虐待的迹象和症状-行为和情绪的迹象,并知道如何寻求咨询或援助。防止儿童虐待是社会大众共同努力的目标 – 家庭、社区及每个人都应当负起责任。在此呼吁社会大众对于儿童虐待的社会议题给予高度的关注，从提升对儿童虐待的认识，并学习如何预防和保护就是最好的开始。