Running for deaf ears
Over 15,000 people from 20 cities all over the world put on their running shoes and got active for one cause—to stop the sexual abuse of deaf women and children.
Last March 19, thousands of people from different parts of the world campaigned for Break the Silence Run, an initiative against the abuse of deaf women and children, with Cebu as the epicenter of the global run. Spearheaded by the Philippines Accessible Disability Services Inc. (PADS), the run did simultaneous marathons in 20 cities including in Brazil, the United States, England, New Zealand, Fiji, Singapore and Hong Kong.
This is the second Break the Silence run. The first one was also held in Cebu last 2013. This year was the first time they decided to make it global. “We thought to organize a run to promote our advocacy and we also thought about our networks around the world. So we thought we could get one or two runs simultaneously around the world,” said Rob Gomm, the marketing and fund-raising manager of PADS.
Since the goal of the run was to create awareness of the abuse of deaf women and children, which is an issue not unique to the Philippines, Gomm said that they thought of essentially doing a global initiative on the advocacy.
The runs were done on the same day. Some were as small as one individual going for a run just to show support, but some were organized runs complete with uniforms and snacks like those in Manila and Singapore. The biggest run aside from the one in Cebu, which got 1,600 amateur runners, was in Hungary where a school organized a run for over a hundred students.
“In total, we had about 15,000 people around the world, running on the same day,” Gomm said. “And it’s nice to put Cebu at the center of it all.”
Persons with disabilities also joined the run in support of the cause—from deaf to amputees, these inspirational people finished the race all to create awareness.
“It’s a very simple way to get the people involved. Just get active on that day. And it’s impossible not to get moved by the advocacy,” Gomm said. “I guess, thinking about it, the biggest goal was to create a network of advocates, people who are now aware of the issue and doing little things to try to prevent it.”
Proceeds will go to the existing Break the Silence projects which include deaf advocates who go in teams to various SPED (special education) centers throughout Cebu to teach deaf kids how to protect themselves from different types of abuses. They also do basic Filipino sign language trainings for the police, lawyers, medical professionals and the like— people who aid deaf victims of abuse.