

Radha Srinivasa Murthy and R. Srinivasa Murthy, two eminent professionals working in the area of child rights and mental health review Ramendra Kumar’s book Stories of Resilience.
Stories of Resilience by Ramendra Kumar
Stories of Resilience
Author: Ramendra Kumar
Published by: Protsahan India Foundation. December 2019.
Child abuse, more technically called, Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) has come into greater focus of mental health professionals in the last one decade. Though childhood was recognized as important for centuries, the recent evidence of the biological impact of adversities in childhood, raises both possibilities for prevention and care. It is estimated nearly half of all mental disorders have their origin in childhood adversities and abuse. The current focus of mental health professionals is to understand these associations and develop suitable interventions to mitigate the impact (References: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8).
The enactment of the POCSO Act, 2012, in India is a milestone. It has brought to focus the challenges of addressing adversities of childhood and child abuse in the country.
However, there are three challenges in this field of work. First of these is the reluctance to talk (stigma) about the issue. Second, is the feeling of helplessness among the public and professionals to address the causes and develop interventions to mitigate the impact. Thirdly, is to demonstrate the positive effects of interventions, so that there is optimism and social action rather than the feeling that ‘problem is too big to be addressed’.
The book Stories of Resilience by Ramendra Kumar is true pathbreaker in this field.
Driven by the belief of Protsahan, India, in ‘The human capacity for adversity and burden is like bamboo- far more flexible than one would ever believe’, the book, ‘shares real stories of children who have mastered themselves in the face of extreme violence and adversity, and become tiny incredible leaders of the world around them’.
The ten stories bring to focus,
(i) the different forms of deprivation/violence/abuse;
(ii) the social circumstances associated with the ‘adversity’ (gender, parental loss, child marriage, alcoholism, teasing, drug abuse, sexual abuse) and more importantly
(iii) the value of interventions through emotional and physical support, play, creative channelization of the skills towards healing.
The problems are all around us and each one of us can make a difference.
The writing and the presentations of stories are exceptionally good. Reading the stories, reader is compelled to think of the human dimension of the issue, look around to see what can be done to children in similar situations and most importantly see the positive results of actions to remedy the situations. The pictures in the stories, bring a sense of immediacy to the stories and have enriched the value of the book.
The stories have remained our minds, for a long time after reading, is a testimony to the value of this area of work and the publication.
This is a book of HOPE.
This book is especially valuable as there are so few publications in this area from India.
As a professionals in child rights and mental health, we see the approach of Protsahan India to address the issues, and the writing by Ramendra Kumar as a MODEL for presenting the many other social issues in the society.
In short, the book addresses the three challenges, identified earlier.
A big achievement in a small book of 10 stories.
This book should be essential reading for all professionals and personnel working with children, women and families in all developmental sectors.
Our sincere appreciation to Protsahan India for this initiative and especially to Mr. Ramendra Kumar for the creative way of presenting the issue of child adversities and resilience.
We look forward read more of these types of STORIES of RESILIENCE.
References:
More to read
Stories of Resilience: Giving Voice to the Unheard
Miracles Do Happen: Against All Odds Book Review
In Search of our Mothers’ Gardens: Lives of Some Phenomenal Black Women
Love Story: The Book That Taught Me About Love
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