By Surabhi Kunja Devi Dasi
The ISKCON Karuna Care Association will be holding a comprehensive five-week child protection educational program entitled “Guardians of Innocence: Protecting Krishna’s Children” this month. This comprehensive online course, which begins on August 24th, will hold its first live class on August 31st at 8 AM BST.
“This Course has been designed to bring awareness about the serious issues of Child Abuse in ISKCON and the world in general,” said Karuna Care Course Manager Surabhi Kunja Devi Dasi. “We hope that by educating our society members on how to notice signs of abuse, behaviors of abusers and perpetrators of abuse, we can help to support families and individuals to do their part to prevent and report abuse.”
“Many people who seek refuge in the Hare Krishna Movement have been abused in childhood, and as the hosts, we need to know how to support and care for them. We need to create safe spaces where people can tell their story, where people will not judge or shame them,” said the Founder of Karuna Care Association, Rambhoru Dasi.
She continued, “We say often that Lord Caitanya picks up ‘the most fallen,’ which is a very loaded term. I like to say that He picks up the most wounded. We need to be compassionate to people who join our movement who have painful stories and encourage people to take care of themselves within their Krishna Conscious lives and educate them that it’s a responsibility to get our own needs met so that we don’t harm other people including and especially children.”
“This is my response to this need to understand the many facets of how people can be affected, especially children, by the samskaras – the impressions of moods of the people around them. This can very much affect the way the child grows in their relationship with Krishna. We need to be aware of the impact of emotional, physical, mental, and spiritual abuse of children and how this affects the faith that Krishna will hear their prayers. It is a huge responsibility for parents to support a child to develop this faith. This is why this type of education is so important,” concluded Rambhoru Dasi.
Read more: https://iskconnews.org/karuna-care-opens-registration-for-guardians-of-innocence-child-protection-course/
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