Music breaks silence.
Music builds memory.
Music removes shame.
Music empowers.

And music can also protect — children most of all.

At this year’s Rotary Family Health Days (RFHD) in South Africa, a melody drifted through the community tents: bright, simple, unforgettable. Children gathered in clusters, singing and swaying. Parents stopped mid-conversation. Elders stepped closer. The song wasn’t just entertainment, it was education, protection, and liberation wrapped in rhythm.

“This is my body. No one has the right to hurt me.”
A single line sung with joy by little voices, carried the weight of generations.

RFHA’s partnership with My Body Is My Body (MBIMB) didn’t just add a program, it transformed the atmosphere, the learning, the conversations and the emotional landscape of the day.

What unfolded was powerful, intimate, and deeply needed - a community learning together that children’s safety is community health.

How MBIMB Began

Long before MBIMB became a global program, it began as a creative spark in the late 1980s when child-protection advocate Chrissy Sykes wrote a series of songs that could teach young children about body safety without fear or confusion. What started as a small musical project grew slowly and organically through parents, teachers, child-protection workers, Rotarians and eventually entire communities.

Decades later, MBIMB is a global child-safety movement. It has reached more than 3 million children directly, across more than 60 countries, in over 35 languages, supported by a network of 380+ ambassadors. 

Why Music? Because It Reaches Where Words Alone Cannot

Music communicates before language does. Children remember rhythms before rules. A tune stays long after a lesson ends.

This is why MBIMB works. Music breaks silence helping children talk about topics that even adults struggle to approach.

Chrissy explains the simplicity behind the program “We don’t teach ‘good touch’ or ‘bad touch’ because it’s confusing for children. We simply say - nobody touches your private parts. If anything feels uncomfortable, you have the right to say no.”

And this clarity saves lives.

Chrissy shared one of the most unforgettable stories from the program’s impact, “There was a little girl in Sudan who was nearly assaulted by a man. She remembered the song. She screamed, ran and told her father. At the police station, she explained everything so clearly that the officer asked how she knew what to do. And she simply said, ‘I have done the My Body Is My Body program.”

How RFHA and MBIMB Came Together

The partnership began in true Rotary style, through connection, shared purpose and serendipity.

Chrissy, though based in the UK, joined the Rotary Club of Eagle Canyon in South Africa, where she once lived. That connection led her to Sue Paget, CEO of RFHA, and finally to a partnership that now has the power to reshape child protection across communities.

Maggie Lebepe, MBIMB’s powerhouse leader in South Africa, quickly mobilized her team across Limpopo and beyond. RFHA provided the platform, access, visibility and structure. MBIMB brought the music, the messaging and the movement.

The synergy was immediate and electric. By embedding MBIMB into RFHD, RFHA made a pivotal shift - Child protection was no longer an add-on. It became a public health intervention and communities embraced it.

The South African Launch

“On the first day, we reached over 100 children. Adults said the program opened their eyes,” shared Maggie. For Maggie, MBIMB is not a job. It is her calling.

“Whoever I meet will never leave without me telling them about body safety.”

The Scale of the Problem and the Hope

According to UNICEF, globally millions of children experience violence, with various forms of physical, sexual, emotional abuse, neglect or exploitation. As Chrissy said, “If we reach communities early, we change their futures. Child abuse prevention is a health intervention.”

This is why the RFHA–MBIMB partnership matters. It pairs RFHA’s scale with MBIMB’s message. It pairs access with empowerment. It pairs health with safety.

Together, they can protect millions.