As always, thanks Dilip not just for the depth of your insights into any discussion on this forum, but also for your genuine concern with regard to this issue in particular.
Patsy I would also want to do more to support this cause, on a more practical and personal level....will discuss it with you shortly, M&M. ________________________________ From: dilip dacruz <[email protected]> To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]> Sent: Tue, May 4, 2010 3:17:15 PM Subject: RE: [SALIGAONET] Saligao-related issues Hey M&M! Thank you so much for the info and the experiment. I had absolutely no idea there was a helpline, even one that didn't work. As says Patsy, your letter is truly tragic. It explains to some extent why there are, to the best of my knowledge, no cases of serious abuse reported from our neck of the woods. I find your comments about the attitude of archbishop Filipe Neri to be encouraging because the problem with these large organisations is not the 'few bad apples' Quentin referred to in his sermon but the organised, corporate cover-up that follows. And it is precisely because there is a cover-up culture that there is a conflict of interest with Childline. It is too closely linked to the church itself and that link MUST be broken (without any aspersions of guilt or prejudice). The NGOs you mention are eye-openers. I am always amazed at how ordinary Indians respond to social pressures by way of well-run NGOs. What lovely decent people! When I see activists such as you two and indeed so many others in Saligao, I hang my head in shame for the nothingness that I offer. What does everyone think we can do to help establish the following in Saligao: 1. An awareness in all institutions that deal with the vulnerable that there are adult behaviours that are unacceptable. 2. Educating children as to what physical, emotional and sexual abuse is. 3. Adult education (wrt physical and emotional abuse) so they are aware that there are red lines. 4. An information campaign that makes it clear to children that they can safely escape abuse 5. Establishing that way out so they can escape. 6. Tracking and monitoring the size of the problem. (low numbers are far more frightening than high numbers in a way) 7. Ensuring that all organisations that deal with the vulnerable develop transparent agreeable policies that safeguard the vulnerable. I am very happy to travel to Goa and lecture on the subject of abuse but, quite disgracefully, I can only speak in English and that limits my contribution significantly. Moreover, I would be seen as an outsider getting involved in a very delicate area of society. I do have strong links with the Rotarians in Mapusa and Porvorim ..... may be I could do that through them.... I am also very happy to contribute financially towards the establishment of a well-run, fully-functioning, completely independent and responsive hotline if required. Thank you once again for enlightening me on this very important matter Mario and Muriel. I remain amazed that this telephone number was kept so secret! I don't even want to think about the number of times a poor child, shrouded in never-ending darkness and misery, might have gathered up the courage to make that call, dialled that number, and was failed. Dreadful. PS please send me an email address for the archbishop if any one has it. Thanks Dilip [email protected] ________________________________ Date: Mon, 3 May 2010 15:44:20 -0700 From: [email protected] Subject: Re: [SALIGAONET] Saligao-related issues To: [email protected] M&M, Thanks, yet again, for this tragic eye opener - for those who want their eyes to be opened to reality! It is very obvious that try as we might to hide that elephant or wish it away, there is no way we can ignore its presence. While child (and woman) abuse is rampant practically in every country of the world, (offenders being a world-wide plague!) the big difference is that some countries actually take this offence very seriously. Patsy ________________________________ From: MnM <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Mon, May 3, 2010 2:34:26 PM Subject: Re: [SALIGAONET] Saligao-related issues Dear Saligaonettekars, Patricia Nazareth wrote: > And this, especially since you, have outlined the magnitude and severity of > the problem as it exists at present in Goa, and the questionable availability > of help should a child desperately need it. (I hope I haven't misinterpreted > that part of you message.) Very often the 1098 number is totally unattended, so we decided to test it yet again, on a working Monday at 10.15 am, an hour and a quarter after work started. We rang once and expectedly there was no response. We immediately rang again, because after exactly 75 minutes of work, it is 'chai-ek gello' (gone for a tea break) time in Goa. Silence was never stonier at the other end of a phone line! Now do you expect any terror stricken, child-in-distress to persist with a 3rd call? It is the same soundless sound track the little one suffers time and again, when she/he complains to adults around, about the abuse being perpetrated. But we are just 'testing', see...so we dial a 3rd time. Just when the ringing is about to stop, a weak, slumber laden, utterly bored voice mumbles something at the other end. Initial, painful enquiry reveals that we have actually reached a human, in the Woman & Child Police Station in Panjim. Further investigation gets nowhere, because we are disinterestedly informed that we should actually call the Childline office at Don Bosco's, Panjim. What is the number, we ask. "Wait...", we are told sleepily and kept waiting while chaos reigns supreme in the background. After what sounds like a minor, 90 second, quake in the office, a voice, wide awake and on duty takes over. "Yes, what do you want?" is the polite question. And so we start all over again... Anyway the latest information is that Childline, the organisation that once looked after street children at Don Bosco's, Panjim, and that had volunteered to respond to1098 calls, has now shifted to the Nirmala Institute of Education at Altinho, Panjim. When a child dials the number, the phone rings *both* at the Woman & Child Police Station as well as at Childline at Nirmala's. If Nirmala's does not pick up the phone, then the Police Station does, says the voice! Chances are that if we ask Nirmala's, they will tell us the exact opposite. So maybe we need a new caption: "Dial 1098 x 3", because we now have two agencies each waiting for the other to pick up the phone while our children are over worked, beaten, burnt, molested and raped! More information from the alert voice on duty: - At Nirmala's, Sr. (Dr.) Rita Paes is the Director of Childline - Office number: 2231996 - Mobile: 9421150675 - Though Sr. Rita is the Director, a Sr. Prudencia Vaz is actually in charge. ("Her number?" "I will call you back in 5 minutes". It is 13 hours and 5 minutes later and we still have no call back!) Other NGOs working on child's rights: (i) *Children's Rights in Goa (CRG)* - Contact: Sushma Pawar on 9822983336 (ii) Stop Child Abuse Now (SCAN) Contact: Adv. Emedio Pinho on 9925907100 or Audrey on 2462389 (Res.) > You can count me in as one of your staunchest supporters of Child Rights, > even across the 7 seas! It has always been, and continues to remain, an > issue close to my heart - even during my several years as teacher in (various > parts of ) Goa. Thanks for the support! It means a lot to us to know that others recognise the denial of child rights as a serious issue in Saligao and Goa. There is always some assault going on somewhere or the other in the village: molestation, rape, physical/psychological/emotional brutality, school children on drugs, child labour/slavery (last week, the going rate for a child house worker from the tribal belt in north India, was Rs. 5,000/- to the tout + monthly salary, with a guarantee of 3 years uninterrupted work for the buyer) ...it is all happening here in your beloved village! We try and do our bit, but it is nowhere near enough... This depressing, dark cloud cover has at least one silver lining: Goa's archbishop Filipe Neri is a sensitive prelate. You can talk to him. Give him the facts if one of his shepherds is misbehaving with the *lambs or ewes* in his flock, or others in his care. He will investigate and act. We know for sure. You have our word on that one. Warm regards and solidarity with all who accept the reality that the 'elephant' is is no mood to leave the room. Not any time soon. M&M. -- ................................................................ there *is* anOTHERgoa at <http://www.anothergoa.blogspot.com> & <http://www.youtube.com/anothergoa> ''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''' muriel & mario, c/o "FULKAR", 6/22, sonarbhatt, saligao. bardez. goa. 403511. tel: 0832-2278276 / 2409999 <anothergoa AT gmail.com> '''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''' -- This message comes via the Google Groups "Saligao-Net" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/saligao-net?hl=en Please post regularly to keep the e-village active! -- This message comes via the Google Groups "Saligao-Net" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/saligao-net?hl=en Please post regularly to keep the e-village active! ________________________________ Your E-mail and More On-the-Go. Get Windows Live Hotmail Free. Sign up now. -- This message comes via the Google Groups "Saligao-Net" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/saligao-net?hl=en Please post regularly to keep the e-village active! -- This message comes via the Google Groups "Saligao-Net" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/saligao-net?hl=en Please post regularly to keep the e-village active!
