Creating social change through play to Recognize Good touch & Bad touch

Danny, Kate, Ker Thao, Jack from US and Canada are currently in Belagavi promoting their BeyondABC gaming company which is on a mission to to create social change through play (Education through games).

Through games, kids can freely explore without worrying about consequences, allowing them to understand the relationship between cause and effect. In a virtual world they can be whoever they want, and figure out life in a safe environment. In games it’s ok to make mistakes, because you can just restart the level. You can push boundaries, break things and build them back up again. We believe games have the potential to create a more socially aware generation.

Today they had a training session at Herwadkar school for children on Self protection (Recognize Good touch & Bad touch) through a game. They would follow the same sessions at others schools tomorrow and the day after.

Their Game TOUCH hopes to build critical thinking and decision making capacity for real life scenarios. By empowering and educating individuals about their bodies, they can become more self-aware advocates of their own well-being/wellness.

TOUCH is a facilitated game-like activity that enables children and youth to explore the boundaries of touch, what is considered good touch and what is considered bad touch.

The first iteration of TOUCH is a physical card game in order to make it accessible to as wide an audience as possible. The game has no text, rather it is entirely visual so that language and the players reading level isn’t a barrier.

BeyondABC started in December 2014 when Kate travelled to India on a research fellowship. While living in New Delhi, she became very interested in the connection between education, the role of women in society, and human trafficking. When I got back to New York, she wanted to build something to address the problem. Danny, Ker and Kate joined forces and started making “Meena’s Story,” a game that provides at-risk Indian youth with the safety skills they need to protect themselves from human trafficking and child exploitation.