Linked – Chennai NGO uses Sarahah to raise child abuse awareness
After I linked to something last week about how Sarahah seemed like maybe it was a bad idea, I’m glad to see someone figuring out the advantages of anonymity and doing something good with it.
Even as reports about Sarahah app being misused by cyber bullies surface, Aware — a Chennai-based NGO that creates awareness against child sexual abuse — is proving that, as with all technology, Sarahah too can be used for good.
This also goes to show that sometimes, anonymity is very important online. It’s not something we should just outlaw without some serious consideration. Even though it is a tempting way to try and deal with the trolling, bullying and harassment that clearly happens on social networks, being able to post without being identified is still important in some situations.
“When we go to conduct lectures and workshops in schools and other institutions, people are always reluctant to ask questions because of the taboo. So, some of our team members, who are active Sarahah users, thought the platform would be perfect for our organisation. People who really wanted to know something about prevention and reporting of child abuse cases would have a place where they can address the questions anonymously. This is how we introduced the app on our Facebook page,” explains Sandhiyan Thilagavathy, founder of Aware.
And the idea worked. Soon, their Sarahah inbox was flooded with queries like “How can we help someone who was sexually abused as a child?” and “How can we legally proceed against child abuse when there is no evidence with the victim?”
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