Our Voix, a youth-led organization which provides free preventive workshops on Child Sexual Abuse, organised a stage play named “Hota Rehta Hai” on awareness of child sexual abuse on 17 August at the Lok Kala Manch. The play focused on the attitude of the society toward the cause and ignorance among them. It was organised in association with “NATYA USTAAD”, a Delhi-based theater and an active cultural group which is committed to the development of innovative and socially relevant shows. People from different fields such as psychologists, lawyers, journalists, consultants, professors, bloggers, among many others attended the event.
During the event, Megha Bhatia, the founder of Our Voix, talked about the magnitude of child sexual abuse and its impact. She said, “It is imperative to teach children about Safe and Unsafe touch.”
The Founder of Natya Ustaad, Arunansh Shokeen says, “We believe in Entertainment with Reality.”
The chief guest advocate Ajayendra Sanghwan spoke extensively about the importance of child sexual abuse Awareness in our country.
Around 170 people who attended this heart-touching stage play were left teary-eyed. “The show was a perfect balance of knowledge humour and emotions. It is not just the responsibility of these artists. We as a society should take a stand for the safety of the future of our Nation”, said a viewer.
In India, every second child is sexually abused, and more than 90% of cases of sexual assault with children go unreported. In such a scenario, Our Voix is working to prevent child sexual abuse. They conduct primary prevention workshops on Child Sexual Abuse for children, teachers, parents and Youth. Within eight months they have reached out to 8000+ children through their workshops and have volunteer base in Canada, US, UK, and across different states in India. They are currently conducting workshops in MCD schools in Karol Bagh Zone and aiming to cover 90+ schools.
Their workshops help parents to break the hesitation and provide them with the correct knowledge about a topic which is swept under the carpet in our society. Women are re-empowered and given tools to empower their children and other women too. Their focus is to prevent abuse before it occurs.
The organisation is the brainchild of Megha Bhatia who holds an LLM degree specialisation in Human Rights from University College London. Our Voix team comprises of Consultants, professors, psychologists, journalists, etc. The aim is to make childhood safe again.
It is rightly said by John Caldwell Holt, American author, that “Modern childhood is no more a happy, safe and innocent place for our children due to increasing cases of abuse”. However, Our Voix is working to prevent CSA and protect the rights and dignity of children from getting shattered.