Tagman Media and Tinniben Animation have addressed the issue of male child sexual abuse in their new animated short film titled Nancy’s Story: Boys Too.
The film, which was premiered yesterday at the Marriott Hotel in front of an audience of well-wishers and students of the Kingston Community High School, is the sequel to Nancy’s Story, in which the main character, nine-year-old Nancy, is abused by a male relative. As the storyline progresses, Nancy, who is at first threatened by her uncle to keep quiet about the incidents, gains the courage to confess her abuse after a visit is made to her school by a social worker.
The project falls under the TELL Scheme, which is a suite of tools being used as part of the National Plan for the Prevention of Sexual Violence in Guyana.
In Boys Too, the story once again tackles the topic of disclosure among children, who usually find it difficult to report cases of abuse as they are often coerced into remaining silent.
This time around, the character Nancy is a few years older and is now attending the Harmony Hall Primary School where she has made a new friend, Steven.
After Nancy notices that Steven has been acting a bit strange, she prods until he reveals that he is being abused by a close family member with whom he lives. Nancy then uses her own experience to advise Steven and help him escape his situation.
Kean Chase, a ChildLink representative, spoke of the tremendous impact the project has had since the initial release of Nancy’s Story, recollecting the flood of calls she had received from teachers over a two-month period after visits to Region 3 and 4 schools.
“…Teachers called me—I am not exaggerating—every day for about two months after this training to tell me, ‘listen, I can’t handle the telling, it’s just too much,’ Chase laughed. “It is something that we joke about but it just goes to show how children were looking for an opportunity and something that gives them permission to tell.”
But what was later revealed by Chase and Alex Graham, the CEO of Tagman Media and chief storyteller of Nancy’s Story, is that although the project was designed for primary school-aged children, it has had a surprising and unanticipated impact on adults as well.
Graham told of a moment after the release of the first film, when he got a call from a friend, who told him that she had just watched the video and disclosed to him her story, which she was telling for the first time.
“I remembered thinking in that moment that this product that we have called Nancy’s Story was designed for children. And here I am on the phone with a fully grown woman at her first disclosure of her childhood sexual abuse and I had no idea what to say and what to do,” Graham said. “But there is one thing I knew in that moment: I knew that the work we were doing was making a difference in one way or the other and somehow, we had to find a way to continue.”
Graham said Nancy’s Story: Boys Too was launched completely independent of funding, a point addressed by John Adams, Advisor to the Minister of Social Protection, who promised to engage both Minister Volda Lawrence and the Minister of Education Dr Rupert Roopnaraine, to secure funding.
“We know of the importance of Nancy’s Story, and especially Boys Too because very often we have left the boys out of the equation,” Adams said. “Nancy’s Story is fiction. Nancy’s Story, however, is tragic, but true… Nancy’s Story should keep us all awake to contemplate this savage violence inflicted on our children, the precious and most valuable resources of our country.” He added that Nancy’s Story is the tale of an untold number of Guyanese children and that those who have been victims of sexual abuse should not feel the fear of being victimized when they finally summon the courage to tell.
(Photos by Tagman Media)
