Following her experience with rape and abuse that spanned the course of 7 years, Pauline Okoeguale made a decision to become a voice for the crusade against Sexual abuse in Nigeria with a special focus on the federal capital territory.
She founded the TALK initiative and this years TALK conference focused on reaching secondary school students in order to teach them how to deal with Abuse and avoid it altogether.
Beginning with 16 days of activism across secondary schools in the FCT the 2024 talk conference placed special emphasis on engaging with the younger generation and enlightening and engaging them in order to not only broaden the horizons of their knowledge on the topic but also build a rapport with them to ensure that they feel seen and heard, thus if there is any case of abuse in the future the children are aware that they have been abused, know who to to reach out to for help and are comfortable having the difficult conversations about the situation in order to seek help and get solutions.
The 2024 TALK conference also catered to the teachers and guardians who attended with the students, reminding them of their responsibility to be a safe space for the children and foster relationships with them that will allow them to open up and share their experiences with them as well as be on the lookout for signs of abuse in order to prevent and stop it. The panel comprised of well rounded individuals some of whom shared their experiences with abuse and how they have been able to overcome and grow from it, serving as beacons of hope for survivors and teaching the young ones that abuse is not the end of the world and doesn’t define them.
“You can still find purpose in your pain” Oluwatoyin Ogunkanmi said to a roomful of bright eyed adolescents after sharing her story of surviving abuse at the hands of a relative as a young girl who had just moved back to Nigeria from the UK and how that experience pushed her towards her path as a Family psychologist.
The panel also comprised of Anthonia Ojenagbon a rape recovery specialist who suffered abuse at the hands of her uncle at 12 years old, she shared her struggles with severe depression and how she was able to discover therapy and heal from it.
Henrietta Ekefere a legal advisor who stressed the need to educate everyone about the laws, policies and their rights in order to protect them as well as the need to teach sex education in schools to make the conversations with young children easier.
Onyinye Ugwueke a wellness coach who explained the need to take care of body mind and spirit as well as shared breathing excercises and meditation practices to ease the mind of children when they are in uncomfortable spaces or situations in order to safely navigate them and seek help and solutions. She advocated for self care and mindfulness.
And Mr Olaoluwa Olorunisomo the founder of seed builders foundation who educated the students about social media safety and how to prevent grooming and sexual extortion. He stressed the need for engagement in the digital age and parents keeping tabs on the activities of their children on their mobile devices.
In the Nigerian society conversations about sexual abuse are avoided, there is still a long way to go in terms of sex education and this contributes to the rise of sexual abuse, with that being said the work The TALK initiative is doing especially with young children is of the outmost importance because until we develop a society where children are not more scared of their parents and guardians than their abusers, a society where the stigma of sexual abuse follows the abuser and not the survivor, We will continue to lose the innocence of our future to sexual abuse.
To quote Sharon Cyril, a spoken word poet who dazzled the audience with her words “Break the burden of silence because silence is a predators best friend”.
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