GUILTY

Lufuno Mavhunga was just a normal 15 year old girl with a bright future ahead of her. She took her own life after she was bullied and beaten by her classmates. She was in so much pain as the video others took went viral on all social media platforms , these were her last words.

Forgive me for wronging you, whatever I did to you shouldn’t have yielded to you embarrassing me and making me a laughingstock to people.I don’t think I will have strength to sit in class and learn as people will be mocking and laughing at me. I pray God be with you so you continue from where I left off. I hope you make it in life and make the dreams I had come true for the sake of my mom. My soul is not resting in peace, it was sent to an early grave by those that believed they better than me. May my tears not be in vain. I hope you happy now that I am gone😢”

Lufuno’s last words

Many kids and adults out here have been victims of bullying just like Lufuno some have succumbed to the consequences of bullying.According to statistics ,up to 63.2%of our children in schools are bullied.

Between 63.2% (640) and 81.8% (828) of students in Kenya reported various types of bullying, both direct and indirect, with significant variations found for sex, age, class and year of study, whether in day or boarding school, and the place where bullied. … Bullying is highly prevalent in Kenyan schools too.

https://bit.ly/2QN8u1m

It’s sad that nothing is being done and people around us end up being victims of bullying .So I decided to use today’s blog post to educate us on the various types of bullying and how we can help reduce bullying in our schools and society at large. It doesn’t matter if you are a student, educator, parent of a child or adolescent, or a community member. Everyone has a role in the prevention of school bullying which after cyber bullying is the most prevalent in Kenya.Which people have directly or indirectly participated in, witnessed, or experienced some form of bullying in schools.

Many people wrongly assume that bullying stops in high school, but bullying still occurs in higher education and society as well. This can happen in many forms, and comes with special challenges due to students living away from home and on their own in many cases.So follow me as we educate ourselves on how to handle the various forms of bullying we may or have experienced.

There are several types of bullying to know about, and different ways that the society can use to control bullying.Bullying comes in two forms ; It can either be direct or indirect.

Direct bullying is different from indirect bullying as direct bullying involves direct contact with the one being bullied. Indirect may not. An example of direct bullying would be throwing something at a person, or yelling hurtful words at them. An example of indirect bullying might be spreading rumors about a classmate online using social media .

For today I want to focus on cyber bullying ;What do you call willful and repeated harm through the use of electronic devices? Cyberbullying. It is a common practice today because, in our digital environment, cruelty is likely to occur with or without an aggressor’s specific intent to make it repetitive or focused upon a less powerful target. Cyberbullying can be through hurtful comments on a personal site or deceptive private messaging.

We all have seen it too: a user’s tweet or Facebook comment has at one time been stretched beyond the initial posting. However, examining the intent of harm, intentional repetition and power has been a challenge in the digital space. The challenge springs from general online interactions that lack ordinary nuances in communication, hence are hard to judge.A good example is the Lufuno story and right here in Kenya we have Wendy Waeni’s story .She was trolled on Twitter as her manager failed to protect her and instead poured out her dirty linen to the tweeps who gladly took the opportunity to tear her apart.This is just to mention but a few.The many celebrities who have made it in the Kenyan media space have had to undergo cyber bullying to get to where they are now .They say it’s either you develop hard skin like Betty Kyalo and Azziad or go home like our own president who was bullied out of social Media .

People hide behind pseudo accounts to cause harm to others and just destroy them .Many have confessed to have undergone depression as a result of this .I constantly wonder why someone would find joy in destroying another to an extent of committing suicide.I tend to believe there’s enough space for all of us at the top and you don’t have to bring another person down.

Even though this may be happening to you or happened to you don’t ever let someone’s opinion about you bring you down .You have the block button on all your devices and social accounts , make use of it .If you need to take a break off social media that would also be helpful.Always remember even if they dehumanised you, shamed you and abused you for several years, do not and never dehumanise them.

Always remember the three Rs of life:

1. Respect for self

2. Respect for others

3. Responsibility for all your actions

~ Angelica Hopes, an excerpt from The S. Trilogy

The Kenyan government through the communications Authority of Kenya has created a platform in which you could report all your bullying cases.And action will be taken against the offenders .So do not keep quiet if you are being bullied take action against them and speak out .Get help ! Below are some of the ways you can report your bullying cases .

The process is quite simple, actually, because the National KE-CIRT/CC website has a portal to do just that, and this is how you do it:

• First of all, you need to visit the site here.
• A few lines down the page, you will see a ‘Report An Incident’ option.
• Click on ‘Report.’
• The next is filled with spaces that should be populated with details about your case, including name, organization, contact address, subject (could be abusive content) and an area for a remark.
• Click ‘submit’ to send your complaint to the relevant authorities.

Alternatively:

• You can send a letter detailing your case to the Director-General, CA Kenya via P.O. Box 14448 – 00800 Nairobi.
• Report your case physically to the CA Office at CA Centre, Waiyaki Way.
• Send them an email at [email protected]
• Ring them using the following hotlines: +254703042700 or +254730172700.

Afterward, your case will be investigated and the team will reach out to you at a later date.

Thanks For Reading and let’s say No to Bullying .It’s a collective responsibility are you willing to join the movement??! It’s up-to you 🖤

Do you have a bullying story you’d like to share with us ?? Share your story with us on the comment section and let’s form a small anti bullying community ❤️💎