A PIONEERING Bury scheme to help young victims of sexual abuse is in desperate need of funding.

The KYPASH Project (Keeping Young People Active, Safe and Happy) is an arts based programme which provides vulnerable youngsters with a week of fun activities in a safe environment, giving them the chance to develop new skills and build self confidence.

It grew from the self-help and support group MOSAC, (Mothers of Sexually Abused Children), which was established in 1995 with the help of Bury social services and Bury Metro Victim Support.

Now following its second highly successful year, project organiser Sandra Mitchell of Bury's adolescent services team is keen to expand the programme.

She explained: "The mums were meeting regularly, but the idea for KYPASH came from the children, who wanted to go to a group like their mums did."

The theme of this year's project was "carnival", featuring giant puppets, mask and costume making, dance, samba drumming and singing. It finished with a live show at Bury's Met Theatre.

"Sexual abuse is an on-going issue," says Sandra. "Last year we had ten children, this year we had 15.

"One of the main factors is building confidence and self esteem. It gives the children some positive experiences to counter balance the negative ones that have happened to them. "Because sexual abuse is such a secret thing, most children can't talk about it to friends at all. But here they know they are not on their own, and it makes them feel normal. A lot of them don't feel normal."

In Bury, between 30 and 50 children a year are referred to social services as being the victims of sexual abuse, between 25 and 30 per cent of those are on the local child protection register.

To hold this year's KYPASH project the group raised funds to bring in professional workers, backed up by volunteers who gave their time free of charge.

Together with small donations from local voluntary groups, they received a £1,000 grant from the Foundation for Sport and the Arts, and £600 from the Bury Area Protection Committee.

They are now looking to secure extra funding to offer wider range of activities to a wider group of children.

The money would pay for a worker to develop the project and organise on-going activities for the children throughout the year. It would also include self-esteem building sessions and groups for parents.

Sandra said: "The KYPASH Project has given these children such a great sense of achievement. Because of the problems they have, some of them have not felt undiluted happiness for some time.

"Many have on-going problems and worries which they think about all the time."

She said that sexual abuse often leads to under-achievement at school or socially, leaving youngsters with no friends and no sense of self-worth. "Some children don't have any friends, and because of their troublesome times, they will act and behave in a different way," she said. "We give them the chance to make friends. There are quite a few new friendships in the group now.

"It also helps that they are with a group of adults who believe in them, because sometimes they don't even believe in themselves. Often it is adults who they are supposed to look up to who have abused their position of trust."

According to children's charity the NSPCC, most sexual abuse happens within the family home and is carried out by someone well-known to the child.

There are 6,000 cases of child sex abuse reported every year, and 30,000 children are on the child protection register. A massive 100,000 have "potentially harmful sexual experiences".

But, says Sandra, groups such as the KYPASH Project can have a tremendous long term impact, laying positive foundations for later life.

"There was one child who spent the whole week saying 'I can't do that', but by the end of the end of the week, we had taught them to say 'I can'.

"We want to give the children a fairly uninterrupted good time to take their minds of their problems, and to help them see themselves in a different light.

"It's a chance these young people to get away from seeing themselves as victims."

If you would like to make a donation, or simply find out more about the KYPASH Project or MOSAC, call Sandra on 0161 253 6862.

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