Taha's online campaign is formed to help missing children in reuniting with their families.
On May 11, 2011, Thamana, a 5-year-old girl was kidnapped from the Marina Beach in Chennai. Her uncle worked at Taha Fathima Khan’s father's office. Taha, a 15-year-old girl, had never personally met the Thamana but she felt her parents' pain.
After hearing the ordeal of Thamana's parents first hand, Taha decided to initiate a campaign on Facebook to search for the little girl, the campaign was called 'Search For Thamana'. The campaigned garnered huge attention online. Thamana was found eight days later abandoned in a hospital, all because of the campaign.
Although Thamana reunited with her parents, Taha decided to keep the Facebook page. Taha who is now 19-year-old is currently a medical student in Malaysia said, "My mind went back to the many stories of missing kids. How they are read and forgotten the next moment for some other piece of more interesting news. I felt that change was necessary and continued Search for Thamana."
Ever since she initiated the campaign, it has garnered more than 2,000 supporters globally. Taha has also began began addressing other related issues like child abuse, labour, bullying and everything else that impinges children's rights with the help of the campaign.
In line with her intention of increasing awareness about children’s rights and campaigning against atrocities faced by children, she has now renamed Search For Thamana as The Child Awareness Project. She is working towards #ChildProofingTheWorld. “The hashtag addresses the irony of how parents or guardians take utmost care to child-proof a child’s surroundings, while little is done to make the world, as a whole, a safer place for kids,”explains Taha, recipient of the Silver Medallion at the 2012 Pramerica Spirit of Community Awards and the International Diana Award.
While most of CAP’s campaigning takes place on social media, to ensure greater involvement of the public, Taha and her team are planning to conduct offline activities such as awareness drives and talks.
Wile Taha recognises the short attention span of internet users, she believes that the swiftness with which Thamana was found bears a resounding statement to the underestimated power of social media and social networking. She plans on using this medium to its full potential for the children of the world.
This story is one of the participants of Our Better World’s Good Story Pitch.
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