A lifeline for child protection
They offered a lifeline during Child Protection Week.
The West Rand LifeLine team embraced Child Protection Week by educating locals about bullying on and off the school playgrounds.
Stakeholders such as the Department of Social Development and the police’s Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Unit (FCS) took hands with LifeLine to spread the word about child abuse with the focus on bullying.
Late in May, the team took to the streets of Kagiso and marched from the taxi rank into the streets of the town to spread their message.
Next the team visited Schaumberg Intermediate School in Hekpoort to tackle bullying head-on with an informative talk while co-hosting a police programme at the school. The team concluded Child Protection Week with another anti-bullying workshop presented at the Randgold Primary School in Magaliesburg.
They taught the pupils how to identify a bully and what to do when you become a victim of bullying.
The children took a pledge to stand together against bullying and to stand up and speak out against abuse.
Karina Swart, director of LifeLine West Rand said bullying is common, especially in schools and bullies later grow into abusive adults if not stopped.
“These days bullying is not just physical but more emotional as illustrated often on social media sites,” Swart commented.
The dangers of letting the bully win is that the victims often tend to turn into bullies themselves as a defence mechanism to cover up a low self esteem from years of being bullied.
Bullying starts at a very young age, often with small, ‘innocent’ acts on the crèche playground such as children taking each other’s sweets and later in school bullying others for their lunch.
This, however, is still mild but potentially can grow into serious bullying that may result in life-threatening actions.
“The truth is, bullying is never okay,” said Karina. She invited the community to open their hearts and support LifeLine.
For more information contact West Rand LifeLine on 011 665 2281 or the National Crisis Line 0861 322 322 or send an email either to director@lifelinewestrand.co.za or office@lifelinewestrand.co.za.
