I received an email this morning from my good friend Margie who works in Dubai. Ironically I was texting my friend Bags earlier that I'm suffering from a 'happy-day' syndrome. Apparently everything, I stress only for today, brightens me up. I had a good..wonderful sleep. (Snicker!) I had a good talk with my dad on the way to work and I had basically a hassle free morning. Also I thought absolutely no one or absolutely nothing could rain on my parade, but I spoke too soon.
The topic of this blog is an email I received from Margie, a sort of chain mail for a cause that asks for number of signatures. Usually it's something about a child or a political movement, but I wasn't prepared for this one. Somehow my momentous happy morning shifted gear and turned into a red fiery and rather bitchy one.
The chain email is requesting for a target number of signatures as a form of strong pledge to keep the Child Protection Unit open and show our support in their existence. The next specification is, the reason behind the existence of this Child Protection Unit. The unit aims to protect children from the ongoing violence in Southern Africa, and the type of violence they are prone to are so hideous, so inhumane and so unjust.
Children. Babies. Specifically females are constantly being raped in Southern Africa as young as 9 months old! Living in this tainted world, we are aware of cases of children being raped. But these are often isolated cases, things done by psychologically incapacitated people. But in Southern Africa, now it was made known to me that it's regularly or massively done! It's like how their societal system works. They don't go against it because it is often the norm. 3 yrs old kid being ganged rape. 4 year old girl being raped by father. 14 month old girl being raped by 2 uncles. It's insane!!!
Why? It seems in that place, rape's been turning into a predominant and common activity and the whole thing isn't helped by the fact that in unfortunate places in Africa, or Africa in general, suffer from high percentages of people infected with HIV/AIDS. Why would these men continually rape innocent children...I rephrase...innocent babies for that matter?! One explanation given in the email was that men, who are infected with the virus, believe that having sex with a virgin would cure them. That's stupid.
After reading the mail, I relied on my researching skills to do some work. I wanted to verify. I wanted to know the exact report if there ever is one...and unfortunately....there is.
According to medscape.com by Eileen Meier, a 20 yrs. nurse professional, lobbyist, US senate staffer, director of a health policy consulting firm and advocacy groups, and a health attorney, this started to be recorded last 2002. Yes, we are aware of the child rape occurring in South Africa but it's different reading the exact facts.
According to the report, Sexual Violence against children, including the raping of infants has increased 400% over the past decade. A female born in South Africa has a great chance of being raped in her lifetime than learning how to read. When South Africa became a democracy in 1994, there were already 18,801 cases of rape per year, but by 2001 ther ewere 24,892.(www.medscape.com)
The numbers are really alarming. I don't even want to begin to think the real numbers of unfiled rape cases. But the most prolific area of study of this report focused on the HIgh Profile Baby Rapes. There was a record given that in 2001, a 9 month old baby was raped by 6 men aged between 24 to 66, after the infant had been left unattended by her teenage mother.
Violence in these areas are apparently everywhere. Being a gang member translates safety and protetion, but they do not cause any help to alleviate their poor health and education conditions. Schools instead become places of terror and students (girls) are often than not raped inside their classrooms.
Rape through (gang initiations etc.), done in every areas possible (fields, comfort rooms, schools, houses, roads) screams for an explanation. Are the males there naturally retarded and beastly to do this? Hence I present to you reasons behind these rape cases:
Culture- Rapes are not filed or in short, being condoned because their belief is that women CAN'T say NO to sex. Women actually allow their boyfriends or male friends to rape them because culture imposes it as a duty. It's slowly becoming a norm that no one complains about it. Men in result, harbors a supreme ego believing they are godlike descendants and are therefore entitled to sex with anyone. Masochistic as it may, they even believe that women actually enjoy being raped. In that country SAYING NO means SAYING YES.
Survival- Since most of them are uneducated, they believe that raping infants, virgins or children will actually cure AIDS. They even hold VIRGINITY testing in schools wherein they students are one by one being raped. They continue to fuel the insane cycle of this absurd AIDS medication.
It is a sickening story, and unfortunately a sickening fact. Mere counseling is not enough to shield and rebuild those girls' lives. They are innocent, yet violence and injustice continue to plague them. We do live in one world, but it seems the political protocols and ignorance make the solution process slow. People, this is a social RED ALERT.
It is obvious that the world is sick; and to act upon it is duty to ourselves and to one another. We can choose to support and participate or we could either easily ignore and thank god on how lucky we are. But in every choice we make, those kids suffer because we make the wrong choices, slow choices. They are being robbed of anything but hope, a hope that somehow someone outside their tainted lands would make the right moves and choices for them and fast.
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