KONPAL Child Abuse Prevention Society is an NGO working againstall form of child abuse. It comprises child rights activists who sharethe common vision of a society free of child abuse, with zero tolerance against child sexual abuse and commercial sexual exploitation, involvement of children in hazardous occupation, armedconflicts and violence. The members are professionals from differentfields who are concerned with therising incidence of abuse againstchildren. The group is fighting for the rights of children and against all forms of abuse, neglect, maltreatment and exploitation of children.

August 2009

RECREATION is the basicright of every child, says theUN Charter of the Rights of

Children. Yet a very large number ofchildren are deprived of even the sim-plest recreation or entertainment.

In recognition of this basic childright, Konpal, Child Abuse PreventionSociety, arranged a Mela (carnival) on

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A memorable day with childrenat SOS Village

Children have fun at the Konpal Mela. In the inset above, Director SOS Village Karachi Mrs Zahida Hashmi receives a bouquet and a shield in appreciation of her dedicated service tohomeless children. Dr Aisha Mehnaz and Dr Ashfaq Mala flank her.

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A memorable day with SOS children(Continued from Page 1)

June 13 at the SOS Village. The carnivalwas organized exclusively for the deprivedand under-privileged children of the SOSVillage. The timings of the event matchedwith the school holidays when every childwished to enjoy the break and have some fun.

The purpose of the Mela was to give thechildren a sense of belonging, and being apart of society. Care was taken to ensure theirparticipation and to give them the feeling thatthey are precious to us all. The event inspiredother NGOs, apart from Konpal, to come for-ward and organize more such activities forthe betterment of the children of this village.

The Mela continued from 3:00pm to 10:30pm.

Painting Contests: Painting contests wereheld to let the children discover their artisticskills. There were two competitions for potand paper paintings. The winners wereawarded prizes. The stalls were managed byMs Shahnaz Yasin, Ms Abida Tariq and othervolunteers.

Mehndi and Face Paintings: By allmeans the most favourite stall for girls, theycrowded it all the time. It was managed byDr Yasmin Khan and her team of Konpal andSOS volunteers.

Indoor Games and Competition: Indoorgame contests such as the dart game, hit thecan, pencil game, and ring game wer man-aged by Ahmed and his team of Konpal vol-unteers.

Outdoor Games: They included SackRace, Three-Legged Race and Spoon Race.The activities were conducted by MrSalahuddin, Bilal, Dr Rakesh, Dr Ashfaq andothers.

Jumping Castle: A Jumping Castleattracted the children and adults alike.

Magic and Jugglery Show: Everyoneloved this amazing entertainment show.

Singing and Dancing Contest: The con-test was the most appreciated of all the stageshows. The performers as well as the audi-ence thoroughly enjoyed the Contest and theStage Show.

Professional singing: The programmeconcluded with some excellent professionalsinging.

Apart from these fun activities, some high-ly useful activities beneficial to children’shealth were also held.

Dr Krishn Kumar, psychologist Uzma Munawwar, social motivatorAbidaTariq and other volunteers making everything ready for themela at SOS Village, Karachi

August 2009 — KONPAL CALLING

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Health Camp: A free, detailed medicalcheckup, including eye checkup andgrowth & development assessment wasconducted by the Konpal specialists.Nutritional and psychological assessmentand counselling, blood sugar checkup andeyesight check up were also carried out.Children who were found in need of treat-ment or further tests were referred to theCivil Hospital, Karachi. About 200 chil-dren and their ‘House Mothers’ under-went the checkup. Konpal medical teamcomprised Dr Rakesh, Dr Krishn, DrNusrat Shah, Dr Yasmin Khan, Dr FaridaQureshi, Dr Shazia Samad, Dr Aisha

Mehnaz, Dr Arshalooz Rehman, her sisterwho is a qualified ophthalmologist, andmany others.

In recognition of service above self, anddedication to the children of SOS Village,a shield was presented to Mrs ZahidaHashmi, Director SOS Village. Certifi-cates of appreciation were given to allHouse Mothers. Konpal caps were distrib-uted among the kids and the volunteers.

Gifts were distributed among all thechildren of the SOS Village and HouseMothers. At the end, everybody had asumtuous feast.

Konpal, the main organizer of the mega

event, owes its success to the untiringefforts of its members and volunteerswithout whose participation and coopera-tion this memorable event would not havebeen possible.

For the success of the Mela, Konpalextends special thanks to Dr Ashfaq Mala(General Secretary, Konpal), Ms ShahnazYasin (Programme Manager, Konpal), Dr Rakesh, Dr Krishan, Dr Shazia Samad,Dr Nusrat Shah, Dr Arshalooz Rehman,Dr Javeed, Uzma Munnawer, Ms Abida,Waqas, Hamza and his sister and parents,Basit and other volunteers – especiallyMr Salahuddin.

KONPAL CALLING — August 2009

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Free medical camps at the seaside villages

T O help the monsoon affected resi-dents of the coastal areas of Karachi,Konpal organized a medical camp, in

collaboration with CDRS, at three villagesalong the western coastline on August 16,with an 18-member team of doctors and vol-unteers. Free medical camps at seaside vil-lages

The first medical camp was set at the SomarVillage at Hawkesbay. More than 250 chil-dren, women and men from the village andsome adjacent villages were seen. Three sepa-rate medical centers were held in each medicalcamp where specialist and doctors examined,advised and gave free medicines, provided byCDRS, to the affected peoples. Those found inneed of further investigations and admissionwere referred to Civil Hospital Karachi, whereCHK doctors and Konpal members wouldprovide further treatment and care.

Konpal offered this service to all the indi-viduals requesting admission and furthermanagement. After the camp the Konpal doc-tors celebrated Independence Day with thechildren of the village.

The second camp was held at the village atthe French Beach and the third near MubarakVillage (Allah Bano Village) a place close tothe Hub Chowki.

At each camp the Konpal doctors and vol-unteers held free medical service for women,children and elders of the village and dis-pensed free medicine total of more then 400patient were seen in these village. Thesecamps were held from morning till 5:30pm inthe evening.

After the camp the Konpal team relaxed atthe Sunehri beach before returning to CivilHospital Karachi.

The Konpal team was assisted and helpedthroughout the day by Mr Taimur Mohmandand his volunteers. The following doctors andvolunteers participated:

Prof Aisha Mehnaz, Dr Ashfaq Mala, DrKrishan Rai, Ms Uzma Munawar, Ms AbidaTariq, Dr Rakesh Raj, Dr Najam, DrMasood, Dr Sonia, Dr Rabia, Dr Prakash,Dr Seema, Ms Fatima, Ms Moona, MrAbdul Basit, Mr Imran, Mr Usman and Ms Shahnaz.

Pictures of the medical camp are seen here.

August 2009 — KONPAL CALLING

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Glimpses of Konpal medical camp

KONPAL CALLING — August 2009

August 2009 — KONPAL CALLING6

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THE magnitude of child abuse andneglect (CAN) is increasingglobally as well as locally, caus-

ing devastating psychological and socialproblems to young victims and theirfamilies, stated Dr Ashfaq Mala at a con-sultative meeting of the Hospital ChildProtection Committee (HCPC) at CivilHospital Karachi (picture below).

He added since the HCPC at CHKstarted working in 2005 the number ofreported cases are increasing day by day.The cases of abuses involve nutritionaland medical neglect, physical and sexu-al abuse and corporal punishment. Hepresented documented cases of sexualabuse recorded by the medicolegal offi-cer of CHK and supported by the reportsof the chemical examiner.

The meeting, chaired by Mr GhulamRasool Ahpan, Secretary Social WelfareDepartment, Government of Sindh, washeld on Aug 27 at the Paediatrics UnitIII, Civil Hospital, Karachi.

At the meeting, Professor AishaMehnaz explained that the main objec-tives of the meeting were to introduceand review the HCPCs in Karachi andthe interior Sindh; review case manage-ment; share experiences; and discussproblems and constraints faced by theHCPCs. The meeting also aimed atimproving networking with the con-cerned government departments andother NGOs. She also gave a brief pres-entation regarding HCPC formation andfunctioning,.

A brief introduction of Konpal was

presented by Dr Fehmina Arif, highlight-ing the its vision, aims, objectives andactivities, touching on the future plans.

Dr Krishn Rai presented the casestudy of a street child who was latermanaged by multidisciplinary team ofHCPC, CHK, and briefed upon theprocess of management and rehabilita-tion. He also gave the cost incurred.

After a session in which variousHCPCs coordinators shared theirexperiences, Dr Nusrat Shah discussedthe constraints and problems beingfaced by HCPC CHK. She pointed outthat no legal support was extended bythe CHK, and at present networkingwith other NGO is being solicited forlegal support.

It was mentioned that social supportwas still lacking; no home visiting pro-gramme was being carried out; nomedico-legal officer had been appoint-ed; there was lack of cooperation byother concerned departments; financialconstraint hampered management ofCAN victims; ownership/support wasdenied by the government; logistic con-straints; and non-existence of a scientif-ic rehabilitation centre. The need forprotection and security of care providersand HCPC members was also men-tioned as a major problem.

Dr Azra Rafiq, coordinator of HCPCat Sindh Government Qatar Hospital,mentioned increase in workload as onlya small number of staff was available.She said that many cases came to thehospital but since the number of the staff

is not sufficient, proper attention cannotbe paid to these cases. Dr Khalid Zuberi,coordinator of Sindh GovernmentChildren Hospital, North Karachi, saidthat they do have child friendly spacebut needed a better organizational setupof the HCPC.

Dr Mushtaq Shaikh, coordinator ofSindh Government Lyari GeneralHospital, said that because of a lack ofsecurity, a majority of the cases wentunreported. He complained of a total lacksupport from the hospital administration.

All the speakers emphasized the needfor having medico-social officers in allthe committees.

At the end of meeting, chief guest MrGhulam Rasool Ahpan, in his concludingremarks, assured that he would contributeto the cause in all possible ways. He addedthat the issues of appointing medico socialofficers, notification from the HealthDepartment and space for rehabilitationcentres would soon be solved.

Mr Ghulam Rasool Ahpan presentedthe Konpal souvenirs to coordinators ofHCPCs and Prof Aisha Mehnaz gavethen to the chief guest.

Other participants were: Dr IqbalAhmed Shaikh, Dr Yasmeen Qazi, MsSabiha Shah, Dr Rakesh, Dr Tariq KamalAyubi, Dr Javed Haleem, Mr Malik TahirIqbal, Dr Nabeela Soomro, Ms UzmaMunawar, Ms Abida, Dr SikandarSohani, Ms Mariam Sheikh, Mr FaizAlam, Dr Umbreen Gul, Dr UzmaAhpan, Ms Shabana Mairaj, Dr NasreenAnwar, Dr Raza Rahman and Dr Saba.

Instances of child abuse and neglect on the increase

KONPAL CALLING — August 2009 7

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NEWS BRIEFSA TWO-DAY TRAINING WORK-

SHOP on child protection, early casedetection and management of childabuse was held at the Dow Univesity ofHealth Sciences (DUHS) and CivilHospital Karachi (CHK) on March 3-4,2009. As many as 25 health careproviders working at CHK, LyariGeneral Hospital and private practition-ers were trained in this workshop. Itwas organized in collaboration withDUHS Professional DevelopmentCentre.

HOSPITAL CHILD PROTEC-TION COMMITTEE OF CHK:Frequent meetings, at least one permonth, are being held at the Konpaloffice and CHK where all the casesseen in the previous month arereviewed and appropriate actions taken.There has been a steady rise in the casesreported. In the last meeting, the com-mittee discussed the financial burdenincurred in the complete rehabilitationof an abused child. The committee hasdecided to appeal for donations for therehabilitation of the child through“sponsor a child” scheme.

Views of the training workshop on child protection, early detectionand management of child abuse held at DUHS

A case of childneglect

THE CASE of five-year-old Anam wasbrought in a critical stage by a socialworker of a trust.

The child weighed only 5 kg, as muchas a 3-4 month old child. She was cachex-ic, severely debilitated and suffered frommultiple infection and sepsis. She wasthrown on a garbage dump by her ownbiological father. Anam was a case ofsevere medical, nutrional, physical andemotional neglect and abuse.

There was a strong possibility that shewas being used for beggary and was pur-posely starved as the parents who weretraced later appeared well nourished butthey blamed their poverty for their abom-inable neglect of the poor child.Unfortunately, Anam succumbed to herillness within 48 hour of admission.

Who is to be blamed for poor Anam’sutter neglect and subsequent death?

August 2009 — KONPAL CALLING8

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ON Pakistan’s IndependenceDay, Konpal organized andparticipated in a number of

activities involving children.On August 13, Konpal organized

children’s painting and singing compe-tition at the Department of PaediatricsUnit III of the Dow University ofHealth Sciences.

Doctors, paramedics, mothers ofchild patients and children admitted inthe ward actively participated andgreatly enjoyed the events.

Gifts and prizes were given to all theparticipating children.

A cake cutting ceremony was held atthe end.

On August 14, members of Konpalvisited the SOS Village in Karachi andjoined the children of SOS inIndependence Day celebrations.

On August 16, Konpal, in collabora-tion with CDRS, organized a medicalcamp at western coastal areas ofKarachi. These medical camps wereheld at Sandspit and Mubarak village.

The Konpal team, including doctorsand volunteers, visited and managedpatients and celebrated IndependenceDay with the villagers.

Independence Day activity

Konpal Calling newsletter is published by Dr. Aisha Mehnaz forthe Konpal Child Abuse Prevention Society, 4-N, Block 6,PECHS, Karachi-75400. PAKISTANEmail: draisha_mehnaz@yahoo.com, konpal@yahogroups.comWebsite: www.konpal,prg

Konpal Calling is edited by M. Khalid Rahman; its layoutdesigned by Mu Communications, M-5, Avanti Terrace, AllamaIqbal Road, PECHS Block 2, Karachi-75400. PAKISTANEmail: mu.communications@gmail.com