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“I was a dropout by my second year of high school. I didn’t like the school, the other students and the teachers. They said I was naughty, and I was bullied too,” says Chandra, a 16-year-old girl from Semarang in Central Java.

“Paulus, the director of KOMPASS, ChildFund’s local partner organisation in Semarang, invited me to join the Child Forum and to get back into school. Now I am catching up my education through the informal school and actively involved at the Child Forum. If I hadn’t joined the Child Forum, I would only be a dropout and a motorcycle club hotshot.”

As a member of the Child Forum, Chandra participated in a recent workshop on gender-based violence, part of ChildFund’s Shine a Light project. In an effort to prevent and respond to gender-based violence against children, ChildFund is working through local partners to educate youth on the issue of violence between intimate partners – a growing problem in Indonesia. The participants in turn serve as peer educators in their communities.

“At the gender-based violence training, we learned about gender and violence, focusing on children and young girls,” says Irma, 18, one of the youth facilitators. “After the training, we held group discussions to get to know what the issues are among us.”

More and more, young people are experiencing violence in dating relationships, not just marriages. These programs are showing Indonesian youth how to manage these relationships in safe and healthy ways, preventing violence before it starts.

The youth facilitators led group discussions with 80 children and youth from several schools. The groups were divided by age: 10-12, 13-17 and 18-24.

Not everyone is comfortable talking about these sensitive issues, Chandra explains. “We played some games to lighten the atmosphere, so they could feel more relaxed.”

“I was the facilitator for the 18-to-24 group,” says Irma. “The physical and emotional abuses are considered normal for them. They didn’t realise that when they tease or make fun of someone, it could hurt the other person. In the training, I learned that we may also be the person who did the violence toward others without even realising it.”

 

Earlier this year, I travelled to Papua New Guinea to document the stories of women and children affected by violence. During this journey I spoke to many incredible women who are standing up for themselves and their children. Women in Papua New Guinea are mobilising, they are protesting and on an individual level many women risk their lives to leave violent relationships.

Most of the women I spoke to who were suffering from family violence had small children. I spoke to many women who gently swung their babies in a billum. It is mesmerising to watch, it looks so blissful. It is so peaceful, so secure, so serene. It`s horrifying to think of how many children witness and are subjected to violence.

In Port Moresby, we spent time at City Mission Haus Ruth, one of the few women`s shelters in the country. All of the women I met at Haus Ruth had tried valiantly to protect their children from violence. They all talked about the horrific violence perpetrated against them, though most of their tears flowed when they spoke of the impact of violence against their little ones.

I will never forget Kay telling her story. She looked straight at the video camera and told of the most horrific attacks on her and her little girl. Whilst she was telling her story I was sitting at her feet, touching her legs and giving her support. I could see the stab marks on her feet.

Kay is living a nightmare. She is a young mother, just trying to look after her sweet little children. Both times that I visited Kay, she had done her daughter’s hair and sat patiently with both her children. I think of Kay often.

On our last day, our team was about to leave the refuge, when we were stopped because a violent and angry husband was outside in the street screaming. The guards who sit below the refuge locked the security gates and called the police. So we waited like all the women at Haus Ruth until it was safe to leave. It was a poignant afternoon.

Kay is telling her story because she hopes people will hear it and take action.

WARNING: THIS VIDEO MAY UPSET SOME VIEWERS

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