Voice Walk 2016

Saturday, 20 August 2016 00:09 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

According to a recent statistic published, it is claimed that here have been 6,548 recorded incidents of child abuse reported from January to July 2016. This ghastly number accounts for any form of violence again children such as cruelty to children, education, neglect and abandonment, sexual harassment, rape, child labour, procuring to beg, grave sexual abuse and other relating to child protection. Among the reasons for child abuse, insecurity of children, popularity of mobile phones with internet facilities among the youth, access to pornography, increasing substance abuse and lack of sex education are included.

In its mission to raise awareness and attention about the need for an urgent national action plan to address child protection in Sri Lanka, the Voice Foundation together with its partner network of volunteers and child rights supporters steps forward for the fourth consecutive year by conducting the awareness walk ‘Voice Walk 2016,’ which will be held in Colombo on Saturday, 15 October.

The campaign slogan ‘To be a Voice for the Voiceless’ is the vision of the Founder of the Voice Foundation Senior Pastor Dishan De Silva of Bethany Christian Life Centre. “To be a better Sri Lanka, we first need to be better Sri Lankan’s, and the Voice Walk was a call for action to parents and adult citizens of our country to immediately take more responsibility to help protect and develop the children of Sri Lanka,” commented De Silva. “To raise awareness and bring hope to the hopeless and be the voice for the voiceless is the passion and mission that drives the foundation.”

Key supporters of the Walk include the National Child Care Protection Authority (NCPA), Women’s and Child Care Bureau, Child Care Probation, Sri Lanka Police, Foundation of Goodness, CCC Foundation, PEACE Foundation, CCH Foundation, Fridsro Projects, Projects Abroads, Lions Clubs, Emerge Global Foundation, My Trees for Future, Medi-Calls, E-FM radio and Lion.

The Voice Foundation, Chief Organiser of the Voice Walk, is currently collaborating with Government officials, child right activists and the corporate sector to help partner in several prevention programmes. A safe house was launched on 9 January, which is home to over 31 underprivileged children. Some key Voice Foundation initiatives designed include setting up more shelters, the voice-line hotline, and sex education for schools, cyber bullying, mitigating stigma, rehabilitation and integration of care leavers to mainstream society.

The Voice Foundation is an alliance formed between the Bethany Christian Life Centre, Touch Community and the Little Heaven Kids Ministry, and is supported by a highly credible partner network of both local and international, Government and non-government institutions coming together for a unanimous cause. The Voice Foundation also includes volunteers from the corporate, legal, medical, NGO and INGO sectors, working together towards the key goal of eliminating violence against children in Sri Lanka.