Conference ‘ Respect-Protect- Don`t Hurt!’
On 18th April 2013 in Kowala there was a conference ‘Respect- Protect- Don`t Hurt!’, which main aim was problem of violence in the family. It was organized by Interdisciplinary Team with the cooperation of the County Office in Kowala, Local Social Welfare Centre in Kowala, Primary School named after Janusz Korczak in Kowala.
Before the official part of the conference there was a meeting of 9 girls from 2nd class of the State Junior High School named after John Paul II in Parznice with Mr. Marcin Bednarczyk, and next a meeting of pupils from Junior High School with a judge Anna Maria Wesołowska. About 300 people took part in the conference including: councillors, village administrators, social workers, members of interdisciplinary teams and of GKRPA, representatives of non-governmental organisations and Volunteer Fire Brigade, Police, Health Care, Education, probation officers, family assistants, representatives of institutions working with and for families and also people from surrounding villages. During the conference the participants had the opportunity to listen to lectures of : a judge Anna Maria Wesołowska, a psychologist from the Blue Line Anna Wiechcińska and a court expert, sexuologist Marcin Bednarczyk.
Anna Wiechcińska was talking about the problem of violence in a family, she not only explained the concept of violence but also its phases and characteristics, she started the discussion about using penalty of spanking. Anna Maria Wesołowska with the use of her experiences and practice put attention especially to new threats for children and teenagers such as: grooming which means making friends with a child and making emotional bonds to sexual abuse later, cyber violence and early sexual initiation. She made participants familiar with the procedure of the Blue Line, described taking interventions in this extend. She encouraged to create the so called legal corners and Korczak`s boxes, where teenagers can get understood for them information about every type of violence and penalties for making them. The judge`s lecture was finished with open discussion when participants of the conference had the opportunity to ask questions and get answers. On the other hand, Marcin Bednarczyk while concluding the meeting brought up the issue of prevention of sexual violence against children and actions which can be taken by the environment. He tried to bring closer the concept of a peadophille in the eye of the law. Participants of the conference got educational materials and leaflets connected with the issue of violence elaborated by the members of Local Interdisciplinary Team. The organizers of the meeting would like to thank the Primary School named after Janusz Korczak in Kowala for its kindness, engagement and help in organizing the conference, volunteers from the Youth Education and care Centre in Wierzbica and State Junior High School named after John Paul II in Parznice for help in service of organization and Association of Supporting Development of the Kowala Commune for ensuring the treat for the guests.
‘Violence is a destructive phenomenon for all its participants, it does not depend on the side of the participants. A person, who experiences violence suffers the biggest number of harm, because is weaker and cannot defend. However, sometimes the stronger person who rules and harms others gets into troubles. Violence is a social situation, nobody wins and as a result has only loss (a fragment of introduction to guidebook for people using violence ‘Godne życie bez przemocy’ by Luis Alarcon Arias.).
