Child sexual abuse is a serious crime that is why you must listen while the Touching Rules are being explained. Touching Rule 1: It is never all right for someone older or more powerful than you to touch your private body parts, or to ask you to touch his/her private body parts, or take pictures of private body parts (in general, private body parts are those parts of our body we cover with our underwear/swimsuits). Touching Rule 2: If someone tries to touch your private body parts or asks you to touch his/her private body parts or wants to take a picture, say NO! Run away to someone safe and tell that person what has happened. Touching Rule 3: It is never the child s fault if she/he is touched on her/his private body parts. Touching rule 4: Never keep secrets about breaking the Touching Rule. Go tell a trusted adult!
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Mimi what are you doing up there? Go away. What s wrong? Everything is wrong! You wouldn t understand. But, I m your friend. Maybe I can help. You can t help! Nobody can help! But you can talk to me. Can I come up? If you like So tell me It s no use. I can t tell anybody. You can tell me. Okay, but you promise not to tell? I can t promise you, but I ll try to help you. Hmmm okay. It s my uncle. He does things to me. I d o n t l i k e i t. N o! I s h o u l d n t t e l l y o u. Y o u w o n t b e l i e v e m e anyway. But I do believe you. Let me tell you a story. 2 3
M o t h e r w o r k s a s a h o u s e m a i d o v e r s e a s. M y f o u r s i b l i n g s a n d I ra r e l y s e e h e r. B u t when she s home, she usually b r i n g s l o t s o f w o n d e r f u l gifts for us. We love to sit around her and listen to all o f t h e s t o r i e s s h e h a s t o t e l l a b o u t l i v i n g o v e r s e a s. S h e tells us how everybody lives in big beautiful houses, and h o w c h i l d r e n h a v e l o t s o f wonderful toys and clothes. W e l i v e d i f f e r e n t l y. I t s c r o w d e d a n d p o l l u t e d. I t i s a n o k a y h o u s e, b u t i t s b e t t e r w h e n m o t h e r i s h o m e, t h e n I d o n t h a v e t o b e t h e m o t h e r o f t h e h o u s e a n y m o r e. M o t h e r n e e d e d t o work because father was out of work. Mother of course was not too happy about leaving us. But, but she needed to work t o h e l p m a k e e n d s m e e t, s o t h a t w e c o u l d e a t, a n d g o t o school, and have nice things. 4 5
Then I must go. Daughter, you are the eldest girl. You are r e s p o n s i b l e f o r y o u r s i b l i n g s a n d m u s t t a k e g o o d c a r e o f y o u r father and the house. Yes, Mother. There was no other way. W h e n s h e l e f t, i t w a s t h e b e g i n n i n g o f t h e n i g h t m a r e. I was no longer a twelvey e a r - o l d g i r l. T h e f i r s t c o u p l e o f w e e k s w i t h o u t h e r w e r e r o u g h. B u t s o o n, I g o t v e r y g o o d a t t a k i n g c a r e of my siblings and d o i n g t h e h o u s e h o l d chores. 6 7
O n e e v e n i n g after tidying up, m y f a t h e r c a l l e d m e t o h i s r o o m. Y o u f i n i s h e d y o u r c h o r e s? Y e s, e v e r y t h i n g is clean and ready for t o m o r r o w. C o m e i n h e r e. I w a n n a t a l k t o y o u. W h a t a b o u t? Close the door. He made me touch him and he star ted kissing me. H e m a d e m e c o m e t o h i s r o o m e v e r y n i g h t. H e touched me in places that made me feel confused and uncomfor table. He told me that what we did is w h a t a l l d a u g h t e r s d o w i t h t h e i r f a t h e r s. I d i d n t k n o w w h a t t o d o. S o m e h o w, I f e l t i t w a s n t r i g h t. I felt alone and afraid. 8 9
I decided I had to tell somebody. So, I went to visit my Auntie. M y! W h a t a p l e a s a n t s u r p r i s e! H a h a h a! M y, y o u v e g r o w n. Y o u r e blossoming into a b e a u t i f u l r o s e j u s t l i k e your mother. Come in. Auntie, my father It s just your imagination. T h i n k i n g o f b o y s, a r e w e? Hahahaha. It was no use. She didn t listen. 10 11
O n e S u n d a y a f t e r c h u r c h s e r v i ce, I t r i e d t o t e l l t h e p r i e s t But I couldn t. I felt so embarrassed and ashamed. A y e a r p a s s e d a n d t h e m o l e s t a t i o n t u r n e d i n t o v i o l e n ce. W h e n I r e f u s e d m y f a t h e r s a d v a n ce s, he would beat me and then he would rape me. 12 13
F i n a l l y, w h e n t h e t w o o f u s w e r e a l o n e. I tried to tell her. A t l a s t, M o t h e r c a m e h o m e. S h e l o o k e d w o n d e r f u l! I w a s s o happy to see her. S h e h a d n o i d e a w h a t I w a s g o i n g through. M y, y o u v e g r o w n u p. H e r e, t h i s i s f o r y o u. You ve earned it. 14 15
W h a t i s i t? Y o u r f a t h e r t e l l s m e t h a t y o u a r e q u i t e t h e l i t t l e mother. M o t h e r i t s Fa t h e r. H e m a k e s m e d o t h i n g s H e t o u c h e s m e a n d k i s s e s m e. O f c o u r s e, h e d o e s. H e s y o u r f a t h e r. H e m a k e s m e d o t h i n g s. H e m a k e s m e g o to bed with him. Upon hearing this, she got very angry with me. I don t want to hear another word f r o m y o u! Do you hear me? Yes, Mother. Then she left. I s t a r t e d t o p u t o n s e v e ra l l a y e r s o f c l o t h e s. B u t i t o n l y made him angrier. Silently I screamed out for help. 16 17
One day in school, I t o l d m y f r i e n d m y p r o b l e m. S h e s u g g e s t e d t h a t I s h o u l d t e l l t h e teacher. What is it child? I t s m y f a t h e r. H e t o u c h e s m e a n d k i s s e s m e. T h e t e a c h e r w a s v e r y kind and listened to me. Ta k e t h i s m y l i t t l e f r i e n d. S h e g a v e m e a n u m b e r t o c a l l f o r h e l p. B u t I d i d n t d a r e. I w a s t o o scared. I was too afraid. 18 19
Some months later Where is little sister? She s up in the room. Time to get up, sleepy head. It s late. Leave --me alone. 20 21
What s wrong? It s Father. He N o w I f i n a l l y f o u n d t h e c o u ra g e to call for help. It also happened to you? Yes, it did. And it stopped only when I told someone. Will you help me? Sure I will. Let me take you to somebody who can help you. But what if he finds out? It s okay, I m with you. Everything is going to be all right. 22 23
When you stand by the window And outside life goes by And people are just shadows Of a dir ty lie When your hear t is exploding Will you let it burn A n d y o u l o o k a r o u n d There s no return What do you do now What do you do now Do you sit down and wait And cry When it s all too late? When you live in a dark And cold chilly hole And you know where you are That s the human soul And your feet keep on walking Leaving every hope And children are born All around the globe WHAT DO YOU DO NOW Music by Thomas Koppel Lyrics by Anders Koppel Sung by Annisette 24
Message from UNICEF: Child sexual abuse is a pervasive reality that is often hiding in plain sight. The perpetrators of this crime are cunning manipulators of children. They use a combination of psychological controls to render their victims compliant and cut-off from assistance. Often the child victim is a known friend or relation of the predator, making the disclosure of this crime even more difficult. UNICEF Philippines is excited to introduce you to the animated features and related educational materials of Stairway Foundation in Mindoro, Philippines. These materials can be highly effective in raising awareness to the reality of child sexual abuse and exploitation. They employ beautiful animated images and story-lines to draw us in to this all too common scenario of fear and shame, and sensitively orient the viewer to the required steps to bring about disclosure and ultimately recovery. Dale Rutstein Chief of Communication UNICEF Philippines for every child health, education, equality, protection ADVANCE HUMANITY
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