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Written by Communications Team

July 8th, 2024

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Dembe’s Story: A Child Protection Book by Children on the Edge

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. 

CREATING A RELEVANT CHILD PROTECTION BOOK

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.

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.

DEMBE'S STORY

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. 

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.”

International Education Officer at Children on the Edge, 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.”  

HOW TO PURCHASE A COPY

You can purchase your copy of Dembe’s Story via our website.  Choose from a printed paperback for £10 (UK postage only) or a downloadable PDF version for £5. 

DEMBE'S STORY
BUY YOUR COPY

If you have any questions about Dembe’s Story please email: communications@childrenontheedge.org 

Thank you

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​. 

Read more

Reflections of an Early Years Expert - Playful Learning for Refugee Children was 'incredible to witness'.

Debra Laxton from the University of Chichester reflects on her trip to Kyaka II refugee settlement in Uganda with Children on the Edge. Working with our team, Debra has been helping to develop and evaluate a play-based programme assessment framework and tool that we are rolling out for our early years programme in Uganda.

Treating Children As Individuals To Help Them Thrive: Meet Bieneme

Meet four year old Bieneme, whose development has come on in leaps and bounds since joining our cluster group lessons in the Kyaka II refugee settlement in Uganda.

Breaking the Mould: Redefining Early Years Assessment with Play-Based Tools

Guest blog from Sarah Ndlovu, our International Education Specialist about how we’re breaking the mould, and using play to create an effective early years assessment tool in Uganda.

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