Images

The final episode of SOC Film's animated series is a lesson in child safety

The final episode of SOC Film's animated series is a lesson in child safety

The four minute video accurately flags some important points pertaining to child safety, child abuse and good/bad touch.
01 Aug, 2019

Two-time Academy Award winner Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy has released the fourth and final part from her animated series, Shattering the Silence.

Titled as 'Child Safety: Ways to Protect Yourself', SOC Film's video highlights the importance of saying no, aiming to create a consequential discourse pertaining to issues of child abuse.

Growing up, we've all been repeatedly told to not be casual with our trust, not engage with strangers or take anything from them; while parents even today continue to issue these instructions to their children, it is now time to broaden them a little.

The latest short accurately flags some important points pertaining to child abuse in under five minutes.

The video opens with a focused group discussion led by Dr. Maryam Suheyl, comprising entirely of children, highlighting their understanding and perspective of child abuse.

Extra points for the focus group being gender-balanced!
Extra points for the focus group being gender-balanced!

At the start of the discussion, Dr. Maryam simply talks about protecting ourselves, such as looking at both sides of the road while crossing it. The conversation then delved into the issue of good-bad touch, understanding one's own personal space and respecting the same of others and how to navigate through tricky situations such as stranger danger.

Shattering the Silence is a 4-part animated series in Urdu, featuring real-life stories regarding child abuse, which is a lot more rampant that we think it is, and more often than not, it is harder to detect.

This is primarily because of the absence of important conversations and sometimes, a lack of trust between the children and the guardian. When children are not made aware about things like abuse and different kinds of touch, they are unprepared to handle any such situation, which is why Sharmeen's film is a must watch for teachers, parents and kids.