Girl Scouts to help domestic abuse victims

MANILA, Philippines - Members of the Girl Scouts of the Philippines (GSP) are taking steps to empower girls and women to report domestic abuse to authorities, an official said yesterday.

“We have been doing character-building activities and our emphasis now is ‘Stop the Violence’. This is a worldwide activity,” said Febe Marl Paat, a committee member of the Asia Pacific Region-World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (AP-WAGGS).

She said only one out of 10 victims of abuse report molestation or battery to the authorities.

They have also trained their teachers and leaders to spot the symptoms of abuses. “For instance, if the child is always absent, we might think it is absenteeism, but it might be that the child could not walk because her legs were badly beaten. If you lightly tap a girl’s shoulder and she winces in pain, you should think why is this so,” Paat said.

The victim could also approach their classmate, who is a GSP member, and ask her to accompany her in reporting the matter to the teacher or GSP leader.

Paat believes that apart from seeking the help of GSP leader, one best preventive method is to teach girls how they could empower themselves and take care of their bodies.

The GSP’s aim is “to empower the girls to speak for themselves with confidence because no one could better help themselves, but in the Filipino culture we are not like that. We are trying to help the girls develop their self-esteem.”

Paat said the “Stop the Violence” was a campaign that was recently launched by the WAGGS. In the Asia Pacific Region, they selected the Philippines and New Zealand as the pilot countries for the project, wherein they would be collecting data for a few months, she added.