The Abolishion team recently had the privilege of speaking in a Roma village, warning the children of the dangers that strangers pose to them.

Thirty minutes from the city surrounded by fields and green trees is a village. There, in a small classroom, we set up for the presentation. Right away around thirty children bounced into the classroom quickly sliding into the benches. We told them about the dangers of strangers, that not all are friendly and some have bad intentions. We taught them four steps to help keep them safe. 

-       Step one - say ‘no!’

-       Step two – go away from the stranger.

-       Step three – yell!

-       Step four – tell an adult.

We emphasized these steps by giving them easy actions to follow and by having them repeat the steps throughout the entire presentation.

Being from a village puts these children at high risk. We discussed what they should do if a stranger approaches them in a car, or asks them to get into the car. You could easily tell that several of the children had been in those circumstance already, with some sharing their stories. Traffickers have been known to operate in this village which is why Abolishion was there.  We aim to run prevention programs right where trafficking happens.

This won’t be the last time Abolishion goes to the village and speaks about the importance of staying away from strangers. Hopefully in the future we will speak to not only the children but also the parents, so they too are aware of the danger of strangers.