By CAMERON LUCADOU-WELLS
A KEYSBOROUGH mother who spoke out after being evicted from a Dandenong cafe for breastfeeding is organising an anti-bullying forum for young people.
Kalyan Ky, who gained national media attention for tweeting her disgust about her treatment at Cloud Cafe last October, has lined up schools, politicians and police officers to discuss bullying with teenagers in the next school term.
“As a community we can be proactive on bullying. This campaign is a ‘speak out’ campaign.”
She said standing up for herself against the cafe led to a “positive” recent conciliation meeting with the cafe’s owner.
Dandenong Plaza, with the help of the Australian Breastfeeding Association, also led a breastfeeding education campaign among its retailers.
The details of the conciliation held at the Victorian Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Community were confidential. However Ms Ky, who was seeking an apology and a donation to the Australian Breastfeeding Association, was satisfied with the outcome.
“It shows that speaking out changes minds,” she said.
After last year’s incident at Cloud Cafe, Ms Ky received widespread praise and empathy but also felt “stigmatised”.
She was confronted at her door by a male stranger in his 30s, who told her she did not need to breastfeed her then eight-month-old daughter Sophia.
She said the community needed to be more supportive of bullying victims speaking out. “To me, there’s too much onus on the victim to get help. More people have to speak out when they see bullying take place, not just leave it in the hands of the victim.”
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