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An otjiwarongo teacher’s child protection advocacy on social media has been recognised by the Legal Assistance Centre (LAC) for helping the organisation reach 170 000 children and adults.
Rogate Primary School teacher Gelda Waterboer (32) was honoured for her child protection advocacy after her ‘private parts’ video went viral in August.
The video, a collaboration with the LAC teaching children about consent, has been viewed over 164 million times on social media.
The LAC is a non-profit organisation that works to protect the rights of women, children, workers, and marginalised communities across Namibia by making the law accessible and understandable.
Waterboer’s video shows her singing a catchy song teaching children to report sexual abuse to parents, guardians and teachers.
“These are my private parts. No one should touch them. If you touch my private parts, I will tell my mother, I will tell my father, I will tell my teacher,” she sings in the video that has since received global attention.
Waterboer told The Namibian the award, which was announced at the LAC’s annual award ceremony in Windhoek, proves that ordinary people can help advocate for a safer environment for children.
“I believe it takes a village to raise a child, but it also takes only one ordinary person to come up with something that could bring up a safer generation of children,” she said.
She calls on young people to use social media to spread awareness of the issues affecting their communities.
Waterboer said the partnership with the LAC has been instrumental in spreading awareness of people’s rights locally and internationally.
LAC director Toni Hancox says Waterboer’s social media advocacy has assisted in pushing LAC child protection content and has helped the centre reach over 168 900 people.
“. . . expanding access to vital legal information for families, caregivers, and young people,” she said at the awards ceremony.
Hancox said Waterboer’s work is a reminder that advocacy can increasingly take place online, where content reaches a wider audience.
She highlighted that although the award was made possible through private donors, the LAC as non-governmental organisation (NGO) has been facing financial pressures as funding has pivoted to other crucial areas.
“Today, like many African NGOs, we are facing increasing financial pressure as global attention and funding shifts to other crises. This reality is not unique to the LAC, but it is real. But we believe this is not the end of our story,” she said.
Hancox highlighted the importance of investing in NGOs to promote access to justice for everyone.
“We have been there for those whose voices are often not heard . . . But we do not do this work alone,” she said.
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