Dembe’s Story: A child protection book by Children on the Edge

3 mins read time

The Children on the Edge team has written a brand new book - Dembe’s Story - an illustrated story book designed to introduce topics of body boundaries, child protection and staying safe to preschool aged children.  

In Uganda we work with communities to provide play-based, early years education to over 5,000 young refugees who have fled with their families from conflict and war in the Democratic Republic of Congo. 
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We were looking for a way to teach our preschoolers how to stay safe and free from abuse, but existing resources were designed for older children, lacked illustrations and depicted situations that were alien to children living in a refugee settlement. 

A cluster learning group in Uganda

INTRODUCING DEMBE’S STORY

We created our own bright, colourful and fun book to  introduce child protection, in a child friendly and contextually appropriate way.  

The content was illustrated by our brilliant friend, Charlotte Callin who worked with us to bring the characters of Dembe and Joseph to life. 

Illustrations for the book were drawn by Chichester based artist and friend of Children on the Edge - Charlotte Callin

Narrated by two children, Dembe and Joseph,  ‘Dembe’s Story’ talks about body boundaries, recognising abuse and who children should talk to if they’re feeling unsafe. It has been designed to be interactive, easy to understand and suitable for preschool learners. 

Watch our short video above to find out more about the process of creating Dembe’s Story.

HOW HAS THE BOOK BEEN RECEIVED?
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Dembe’s story has now been distributed to all of our preschool teachers in the refugee settlement and the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. The teachers have told us that the children love the book and they are starting to understand and recognise what abuse is. 

Social Worker Balaba Henry Bosco said “We think that Dembe’s story will have a big impact for the children, helping them understand how to recognise abuse and how to stay safe. We think that the book will help ensure cases of abuse are reported so that more children in Kyaka II are safe and protected.”

A cluster group in Uganda being shown Dembe's Story by their teacher.

YOU CAN SHARE DEMBE'S STORY
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International Education Officer Sarah Ndlovu said “The reception to Dembe’s story has been fantastic. The child protection book is an essential resource for early years refugee education and would love to see it being used more widely. We want to share it with other organisations so that they can use it to help the children they work with stay safe and protected.”  

If you would like to purchase a copy of Dembe’s Story please click here. You can choose a printed paperback for £10 (UK postage only) or a downloadable PDF version for £5. 

If you would like to find out more about Dembe’s story please get in touch by emailing [email protected]

A cluster group in Uganda looking at Dembe's Story with their teacher.

Dembe's Story is available to purchase

If you would like to purchase either the printed paperback (£10 UK postage only) or a downloadable PDF version of Dembe's Story (£5) please click the button below. 

BUY DEMBE'S STORY

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Our work with Congolese refugee children is generously supported by funds raised by players of People's Postcode Lottery, and awarded by Postcode Education Trust, who are committed to improving the quality of education through innovation​. 

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