‘The Bad Touch’ Book Nationwide Launch To Be Flagged In Arua

ARUA. Lillian Butele Kelle has embarked on the countrywide launch of her popular book, titled The Bad Touch.

The nation-wide launch of the book will be flagged off at Le Tsuba hotel in Arua city on September 20, 2024 before heading to Gulu city and other parts of the country.

The book was first launched in Kampala in August 2015 by First Lady Janet Museveni. This is now the regional roll out across the country.

Speaking to journalists during the pre-launch press conference in Arua city on Friday, September 6,2024, Kelle said being a survivor of child sexual abuse, she was motivated to author the book so as to enlighten children about the vice.

Kelle’s abuse was when she was seven years old and now feels The Bad Touch book is the reason why she was born.

“In Uganda today, they have a curriculum that doesn’t cover this issue especially at the younger level of understanding. For those of you who have previewed this book, I think you can see that the language is very simple, you can see that the story itself is palatable for a child of a young age which often is an issue because when young children get molested, they don’t really understand what is happening. Therefore, they don’t have the language to come and express it and that is how adults are getting away with molestation,” Kelle, a Ugandan-American citizen explained.

“So, when I launched this book in Hotel Protea in Kampala, we couldn’t hardly keep a copy on the shelves, sometimes we were printing up to 2000 copies in just one week. Parents in urban areas have really embraced this book and so, I took a brief break because I had to do somethings; raise children in America and so on. But I have now embarked on a nationwide tour and being a daughter of Arua, born down the street here in Mvara, I decided that I will flag off this tour here in Arua on September 20, 2024,” Kelle added.

She said the upcoming book launch is a child friendly event of which parents are encouraged to come with their children. Kelle said the launch will ultimately bring the book to Arua market and also see how the rural communities will respond to the campaign against child sexual abuse.

According to Kelle, there is a gap in the Ugandan school system where they don’t teach children about child sexual abuse.

“Personally, I have come to the conclusion that child sexual abuse is an epidemic bigger than corona virus, bigger than even AIDS because it happens in homes and it happens between family members. It is shrouded in secrecy. So, I have written this book to teach children for as long as a child can sit down and listen to a story about the Hair and a Monkey, they can read this book,” Kelle stated.

Kelle maintained that she has written a book which can enable parents to teach their children that to be touched inappropriately is wrong.

She noted that the book also teaches children how to recognize that when bad touching happens, what should be done – in short.

“And we have illustrated it with pictures. The pictures are palatable and there is nothing obscene. However, this is not a girl child problem alone, boys are also molested; less prone to talk about but they are suffering in silence. Every time these issues come up, everybody thinks it is a girl child thing, no!” Kelle stressed.

She said statistics show that 3 in 5 girls are going to be impacted by molestation before the age of 11, adding that it is getting younger and younger to the extent that they are now saying it is at the age of 8. Meanwhile Kelle said 2 out of every 5 boys are being molested and the funny thing with the boys is that the majority of them are being molested by men which is a more traumatic experience.

During the press conference, Jimmy Adriko, a retired photo editor, acknowledged that molestation happens in communities, but urged parents to teach children who have been molested or those who have been targeted in order to disempower the aggressors.

“So, it is important to become friendly to our children to close the information gap between the parents and their children. So, if we can impart that knowledge to parents as well to teach their children about their rights, the better,” Adriko said.

The book is now being translated in Lubgarati, Luganda and Swahili among other languages.