Cherisse Moe

The He­roes Foun­da­tion has tak­en a stand against child abuse.

Through its Heart of a Hero com­ic-book se­ries, the group is bring­ing to the fore the ur­gent need for more di­a­logue on child abuse, treat­ment and pre­ven­tion. Con­fi­dence, an ed­u­ca­tion­al and youth-cen­tered pub­li­ca­tion, was launched last month at the Na­tion­al Li­brary and In­for­ma­tion Sys­tems (Nalis). It high­lights the es­sen­tial role friends can play in help­ing abused chil­dren. Ex­ec­u­tive di­rec­tor Ann-Marie Nar­ine says 5,000 copies have been print­ed and are avail­able free of charge via the foun­da­tion. The books have al­so been dis­trib­uted to chil­dren's homes across the coun­try where the foun­da­tion car­ries out men­tor­ing pro­grammes.

Nar­ine said the idea for the com­ic-book se­ries came about three years ago as the foun­da­tion felt it was es­sen­tial to in­spire young peo­ple to be proac­tive agents of change in their com­mu­ni­ties. "The book's sto­ry is one that young peo­ple can re­late to. The main char­ac­ter's name is Nicole and she was sex­u­al­ly abused by a neigh­bour. We re­fer to the friend as a hero be­cause the friend was able to as­sist and take her through it," she ex­plained. "While we know it's fic­ti­tious, sit­u­a­tions like these oc­cur in our coun­try all the time." Nar­ine says the pub­li­ca­tion, en­dorsed by Ed­u­ca­tion Min­is­ter Dr Tim Gopeesingh, com­ple­ments the foun­da­tion's Youth De­vel­op­ment Pro­gramme, re­cent­ly es­tab­lished in sec­ondary schools through­out Trinidad. "The Aus­tralian High Com­mis­sion was the lead spon­sor of the pub­li­ca­tion and the ed­u­ca­tion min­is­ter now wants us to of­fer our pro­grammes to spe­cial-needs chil­dren," she added.

Han­dled del­i­cate­ly

Nar­ine notes that the 22-page pub­li­ca­tion, the foun­da­tion's fifth in­stall­ment, is easy to read and chil­dren can re­late to it. The se­ries pro­vides par­ents and guardians with use­ful tips on speak­ing to their chil­dren about abuse, which she says must be han­dled del­i­cate­ly.

Nar­ine says 40 of the foun­da­tion's men­tors are be­ing trained by a so­cial work­er con­sul­tant on the most ap­pro­pri­ate ways to deal with abused chil­dren. "We thought we would put it over in a palat­able for­mat, us­ing the com­ic-book se­ries which has so far been very suc­cess­ful," she said.

"The im­por­tant thing about the pub­li­ca­tion is that it serves as a sup­port re­source for both adults and chil­dren. We feel we are giv­ing them guide­lines on how to turn warn­ings in­to dis­cus­sions."

Nar­ine has al­ways had a pas­sion for help­ing oth­ers. The St James res­i­dent is well-known in her com­mu­ni­ty for help­ing young peo­ple re­alise their dreams by en­cour­ag­ing them to stay in school, pro­vid­ing coun­selling and steer­ing them away from crime and vi­o­lence. A long-stand­ing mem­ber of the Women's In­sti­tute For Al­ter­na­tive De­vel­op­ment (WIAD), Nar­ine, a moth­er of one, says the foun­da­tion's ul­ti­mate goal is sim­ple-to help im­prove self-be­lief, by ex­pos­ing young peo­ple to pos­i­tive achiev­ers and achieve­ments, and by em­pow­er­ing them to make a pos­i­tive dif­fer­ence in some­one else's life. She says it's a goal mem­bers of the foun­da­tion con­tin­ue to work to­ward: "We need to give our youth a brighter fu­ture. It's up to us."

Con­tact the He­roes Foun­da­tion­at 622-9255.