The Blue Teddy Bear Campaign reached a milestone today, celebrating 100 days of raising awareness for child protection and family support initiatives in Belize. To mark the occasion, the Ice Cream Shoppe launched a special Blue Teddy Bear Sundae. Jaleeza Roberts has more:
Ice cream, the one dessert every child wants and every adult turns into a guilty pleasure. This time around different partner agencies are partnering with the Ice Cream Shoppe to raise awareness with this Blue Teddy Bear ice cream flavor, featuring a vibrant blue color and teddy bear sprinkles. It's a limited-edition treat that uses a lighthearted approach to open the door for a much more serious conversation about child safety:
Anna Carillo, National Child and Adolescent Participation Officer - NCFC
"We've been having a lot of cases of abuse among our children, and so by doing this campaign, it is making things more aware of how to report situations of abuse."
Anna Carillo
"Everybody loves ice cream. So what we want to do is to partner up with the business establishments, the business community, and involve them in addressing what we call EVAP, which is the Elimination of Violence and Abuse Against Children. So when we brought it up in the discussion, we said, what is it, or how can we bring the awareness, making it somewhat of a sweet message,"
Nearly two-thirds of Belizean children experience some form of abuse, including physical harm, emotional trauma, or neglect. In terms of reported numbers, there are consistently over 1,000 cases of child abuse registered in the country each year and that's how the cuddly blue teddy came about:
Sajid Ali, UNICEF Representative
"So, Blue Teddy is an idea that we are sharing with NCFC, and it is to do a few things. One is to make sure that there's more awareness about violence against children, that the workplaces are made more child-friendly, and also that the employees who work in the workspaces, they are parents, they have children, or they are working with children or living with children, they need to be aware of the different aspects of violence and how to prevent it in society, and in the communities they live in."
Many of us see children everyday but do not know what they are going through. But Ali told us how we could spot signs of abuse:
Sajid Ali, UNICEF Representative
"So, in addition to any physical marks or, I would say, traces that you could see, the behavior is very important. Sometimes children can be very silent. They just become aloof, they withdraw, and you can see that there's something which is not right. Sometimes they will speak about it, or sometimes they will hint about it, and sometimes you can even see the behavior of their parents who come to pick them up from schools or with them in, let's say, a shopping mall or out there, and their behavior with their children. So, there are signs, and again, it's for everyone. When you see it, you need to call it out."
More than just a limited-edition flavor, it's an invitation for the community to stand together in support of child protection.
