Faced with bullying at school, children, like their parents, are often helpless. To enable them to fight this scourge, the association Marion la main tendue – named after Marion Fraisse, a 13-year-old teenager, victim of school bullying who committed suicide in 2013 – is launching a new application. His name: Hummingbird. We tell you everything about this little bird that wants you well.
On Thursday, April 7, two teenagers were sentenced to 10 years in prison for the murder of Alisha, a 14-year-old girl, beaten and thrown into the Seine alive after months of intimidation. On the same day, the Kolibri application was launched, which aims to restore the bond between children and their relatives in order to denounce bullying in school. In France, this type of harassment affects a million children. And according to the associations, half of them would not dare to talk about it with their parents.
With its simple and intuitive interface, Kolibri aims to make life easier for boys and girls who are victims of their bullies. To work, the application must be downloaded by the child who then chooses five emergency contacts, parent, grandparent, nanny, uncle or aunt… It allows you to discreetly send an SOS to immediately alert in the event of violence or intimidation. “From that moment on, you can intervene immediately to bring him to safety and take steps against the harassment, and end bullying or cyberbullying”we can read on the site.
Restore communication
Mathilde Zrida, pedagogue and art therapist, contributed to the development of the application. Asked by European 1she explains : “with this application you can restore a first communication, such as a first step, and then be able to act”†
In order to follow the evolution of the child’s situation on a daily basis, a weather forecast of emotions has also been prepared. Thanks to emoticons or pre-recorded answers, he can describe his mood of the day. This prevents the child from having to describe what he is feeling or experiencing, because in these kinds of situations verbalizing can sometimes be too difficult.
Finally, the application redirects users to the emergency numbers, 3020 and 3018, where professionals can immediately deal with the child’s suffering before trusted adults intervene.
Go here for more information and to download the application.