Foundation have
announced a collaboration in order to spread awareness on safety measures for
children in the wake of child sexual abuse. Pinklay has created and curated a
line of “red elephant” plush toys, which will be sold on their website along
with informational handouts relating to child safety and strategies for
children to stay safe.
According to the National Crime
Records Bureau of India, the number of cases registered for child sexual abuse
raised from 8,904 in the year 2014 to 14,913 in the year 2015, under the
Protection of Children Against Sexual Offences Act, 2012. Oftentimes, children
are vulnerable for the lack of information and strategies to handle such
situations. With an emphasis on the concepts of safe and unsafe touches, body
integrity and designating safe adults, the collaboration between Pinklay and
The Red Elephant Foundation seeks to reach more children around the country to
ensure their safety. Each plush toy sold under this collaboration will include
four handouts on safe and unsafe touches, safe adults and body integrity for
children.
Speaking about the collaboration,
Daisy Tanwani, Founder, Pinklay, explained, “The awareness on child abuse is alarmingly
low in our society, and cases of child abuse often go unreported due to the hesitation
children face in disclosing abuse even to their loved ones.And, many times
children are not even aware that they are being abused. The emotional damage
that a child risks to go through is horrific, and we as a society stand to lose
out on a lot.Bringing the issue to the forefront and initiating a dialogue is
key to addressing it at all levels. Thanks to the vision of the Red Elephant
Foundation, we are now one-step closer to achieving this. Our plush toys have
always been bearer of happiness to kids and their folks alike, and I’m
delighted they will now be a messenger to such an important mission.”
Adding to the altruistic motive
behind the collaboration, Kirthi Jayakumar, Founder CEO of the Red Elephant
Foundation says, “Child Sexual Abuse can leave a survivor severely affected -
from PTSD to physical impacts, it is a horrible crime with a horrible impact.
Awareness is key - essentially because this is the kind of wrongdoing that
people get away with because they play on the fears of the child and force them
into silence. This collaboration is an attempt to get more parents to find the
resources they can use to converse with their children, and get them to be
safer. We want children to know and look at the Red Elephants as safety signs that they can hold onto, to build open conversations with their parents.”
The line of Red Elephant plush
toys will be available on Pinklay’s website and at select brick-and-mortar
outlets across India.
About Pinklay:
Pinklay is an Indian home décor
brand founded by Daisy Tanwani in 2015. It fuses traditional and modern designs
in unexpected ways to create stunning home décor, furnishings, and fashion
accessories. Pinklay’s designs are strongly rooted in color that is tasteful
and authentic, and crafted to convey stories inspired from natural elements, and
diverse crafts and cultures. The company currently offers the entire range
of home décor and fashion accessories with over 500+ products spread across
categories such as quilts, cushions, bedsheets, bedcovers, rugs, bath linen,
table linen, infant and kids bedding, plush toys, tea lights, and centrepieces
to name a few.
For more information,
visit pinklay.com.
About the Plush Toys:
Pinklay’sall-fabric plush toy
range is strongly rooted in the local community with a strong desire towards
giving back. The company has setup two women-only workshops that employ and
empower women from underprivileged backgrounds to pursue an active career and a
sustainable livelihood. The workshop trains women – from design to production –
to create a vibrant collection that includes unicorn, giraffe, cat, dog,
elephant, koala bears, owl, and mouse to name a few. Each plush toy is made in
100% pure cotton fabric and hygienic polyfillfibre
stuffing.
About The Red Elephant Foundation:
The Red Elephant Foundation is an
initiative that is built on the foundations of story-telling, civilian
peacebuilding and activism for sensitisation on all drivers of peace - gender,
race, nationality, colour and orientation. The initiative is titled "Red
Elephant" to stand out as a vehicle that projects stories that must never
be forgotten: stories that show you such courage that you should never forget,
and stories that show the world such profound lessons that the world should
never forget. In doing so, the initiative aims at creating awareness and
opening up channels of communication towards creating societies of tolerance,
peacebuilding and equality.
For more information, visit www.redelephantfoundation.org.