Looking Beyond Our Borders

UGANDA, AFRICA © MARIE HAVENS

We can no longer afford indifference outside our borders.

The words of President Obama rocked the nation today. We have found ourselves at the point where our “collective failure” to make conscious decisions have led us to the current climate in our country. Not only has our economy collapsed, but the social system can no longer support the citizens of the most powerful and technologically advanced nation.

If there’s one thing today’s age of globalization has taught me is that we are all connected in our humanity.  Internet and social media platforms have allowed for global unity and despair. When the planes attacked the World Trade Center on 9/11, the world wept in sadness. When the NY stock market crashed, economies all over the globe felt the fall. And today as we inaugurated the first African American president, other nations felt the joy and pride in our hearts. Read More…

Posted under Everything Else

Child Rape in South Africa

According o a report by BBC news, “a female born in South Africa has a greater chance of being raped in her lifetime than learning how to read”. The number of child rapes in South Africa is so embarrassing that the government has placed a moratorium on government crime statistics, stating that they needed reassessment. There are many reasons contributing to this issue.

One is the belief in the “virgin myth”; that sex with a child or baby will cure AIDS. Virginity testing is growing and often occurs in schools, where the girls must lie on their back with their pants and underwear off and legs in the air. Poverty and lack of access to AIDS drugs is another reason for these atrocities. The median income for Blacks and mixed race in South Africa can be as low as $300 a year, and the cost for AIDS drugs average $40 to $50 per month. Desperate people seek desperate measures.

As a woman, a mother and a human being I am beyond disturbed. While our children are worried about cliques and fitting in at school, those in South Africa are concerned about personal safety and whether their teacher, classmate, uncle, neighbor or stranger on the street will rape them.

How can a country with so many natural resources watch their people become so desperate?

How can we as a nation with so much luxury look the other way?

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Posted under Post-rape care

This post was written by Rashin D'Angelo on September 24, 2008

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