Dearest Śrīla Prabhupāda,
Please accept my obeisances. All glories to you, our lord and master.
This year marks fifty-five years since you first visited the African continent, namely Kenya, and
later on, Mauritius and South Africa.
You will be pleased to know that throughout all these years, ISKCON has grown and is flour-
ishing in many countries in Africa, with more and more devotees taking to this wonderful process
of Kṛṣṇa consciousness you have given to us.
Toward the latter part of last year, the first Regional Child Protection Office (CPO) for Africa
was established. The International Child Protection Office has been established for over twenty-
five years now. However, we have only recently managed to establish a Child Protection Office
here in Africa for Africa, where many of the children come from disadvantaged communities.
Poverty is rife on the African continent. Poverty significantly increases the risk of child neglect,
with children in low socioeconomic households being more vulnerable to neglect and abuse com-
pared to those in higher socioeconomic households. This historic opening of the African Regional
Governing body’s CPO is a pivotal first step to protecting our little Vaiṣṇavas and Vaiṣṇavīs,
which was your desire, Śrīla Prabhupāda.
In many instances through your personal example, letters, instructions, and books, you have
emphasized the importance of child protection. In the purport to Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.8.5 you
state: “The protection of children gives the human form of life its best chance to prepare the way
of liberty from material bondage.” In this simple, unassuming statement, you emphasize the
importance of child protection and how important it is to free one from material bondage.
As time is progressing, it has become evident to the GBC body that child protection has to
be taken a lot more seriously, and with this they felt the need to restructure the Child Protection
Office. It is now the Child Protection Oversight Committee. There are many concerns about
how effective this will be for child protection. My commitment to you, Śrīla Prabhupāda, is that
I will do my best to ensure that our children are not compromised by the events around them,
and I will work to bring about an awareness of child protection so that more devotees feel freer
to report cases of abuse. The ideal will be to have an ISKCON where all children are safe and
protected. As Kali-yuga progresses, this will be a challenging task, but you can rest assured that
you have devotees committed to protecting children, and this enthusiasm and determination will
spread across our region, if not the world.
Through my involvement with the GBC College, new strategies are being explored, and we
hope that these will be successfully implemented for your pleasure.
Please bless us so that we can serve you in such a way that you will be pleased. Give us the
intelligence to overcome any obstacles, and may we realize this dream of an ISKCON where all
children can thrive in a safe, Kṛṣṇa conscious environment, as you envisioned!
Your aspiring servant,
Karuṇāmayī Devī Dāsī,
Child Protection Director, African Regional Governing Body