Children having children can be halted through social innovation

I recently read an article on child pregnancies in Latin America.  A particular scenario which impacted me involved the disenfranchisement of a young girl; aged 13 who was raped by her school teacher. When the child’s mother found out about the fatal incident, she brutally beat her young daughter. After having cursed the young girl, she threw her into the streets with a warning to never show her face again. Her mum’s explanation for her heartless behaviour towards her daughter:  how can I afford to feed another child?  Now this poor child with no means of survival; turned to prostitution. Needless to say, her baby did not survive the birth. After the miscarriage this little girl resorted to roaming the streets, begging, pimping and selling drugs in exchange for food.

Luckily for this young girl her life did not have to end grimly. At age 15 she was discovered by an international child advocacy organisation. Having being helped by the organisation, the young woman went to stay at a school shelter, and now works in the field and is also a volunteer motivator for young girls.

The point of this piece is that millions of girls suffer the same indignation under arguably worse circumstances daily. Children having children must be halted. Think about it for a second: when a young girl, probably undernourished is made pregnant by her teacher, father, class mate etc. and forced to have the baby. The baby will undoubtedly be born underdeveloped and chronically undernourished in a web of poverty with no motherly compassion.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO) study from 2009, 16 million girls from the ages of 15-19 give birth every year, accounting for 11 % births worldwide. 

Some might even argue that 11% is arguably a small percentage in the large frame of things. However, they fail to realize that as our world is further engulfed by heightened levels of violence, poverty, downward healthcare services and spiralling social norms; we should expect to see this percentage rise. Furthermore, expect to see numbers of children having children going up in developing countries.  This causes for an alarming reaction by every individual in society.

Nonetheless, as governments become more corrupt and enflamed in economic and political turmoil, little attention will be drawn to the most vulnerable in our society. But we shouldn’t lose all HOPE.

Countless organisations such as the child advocacy organisation mentioned earlier, is doing excellent work on the ground, leading to bottom- up approaches to tackling this devastating reality. They should be applauded for their inspirational work, but at the same time we all should begin to think: How can I do my part in reversing this terrible evil?

We cannot save the world, but we can start to nurture new thinking to break the cycle of indifference and thus save another teenager girl by empowering her to empower her fellow survivors.  Social innovation is the way forward.  Stories like this should help us break the mole of convention and believe that our help also counts. These children need us and we need them.

By Charlotte Lazarus

Female disunity is an underlining problem.

Tahrir Square in Egypt, once a plain old square straddled in the heart of beautiful Cairo reveals a two- fold picture. On one hand, the square has become a symbol of defiance against a repressive system, a symbol of breath taking strength, hope and faith. On the other hand, the revolutionary square has opened its arms to heart wrenching bloodshed, sectarian violence and equally disturbing in my eyes, the barbaric violence perpetuated towards women.  Graphic images of women utterly violated have flooded the net and our screens. We have witnessed fully veiled  women  from top to toe, half veiled women, women with no head scarf and females from other countries in countless numbers been sexually molested and stripped off their outer dignity, dragged through the square as if they were mere dirt or an unwanted dead animal about to be disposed of in a garbage container.  

A girl named Natasha from America who was sexually brutally attacked at the square, made me think: Men are often to blame for repression against women and rightfully so in many instances. Nonetheless, rarely do we examine a woman’s role in inciting such behavior.  Before I go any further, this is an excerpt from Natasha’s blog about her ordeal:

Men began to rip off my clothes. I was stripped naked. Their insatiable appetite to hurt me heightened. These men, hundreds of them, had turned from humans to animals.
Hundreds of men pulled my limbs apart and threw me around. They were scratching and clenching my breasts and forcing their fingers inside me in every possible way. So many men. All I could see was leering faces, more and more faces sneering and jeering as I was tossed around like fresh meat among starving lions.

A small minority of men, just a couple at first, tried to protect me and guide me to a tent. The tent was crushed, its contents scattered into shards all over the ground. I was barefoot as they stole my nice new shoes. I was tossed around once more, being violated every second. I was dragged naked across the dirty ground. Men pulled my blonde hair.

I looked up and saw a couple of women in burkas scattered around. They looked at me blankly, then looked away.

I reached the tent and saw my friend Callum. Muslim women surrounded me and frantically tried to cover my naked body. I fell to the ground and apparently temporarily lost consciousness. 

When we read about her horrific experience, many in highly industrialized countries report without a wink of an eye on how Muslims have no concept of equality and humanity.

But many who utter these comments fail to blame females in their own countries, females in Egypt and elsewhere for being bystanders and even supporters of such heinous acts – only a few women have been willing to overcome culture through courage and sisterhood. Something that also Natasha highlights in her blog.

It is underlining truth, we birth these so called animals, we nurture them, and we influence them, we watch them do terrible things to other woman. But after all this is said and done, we asked ourselves: don’t these women have any heart or compassion? But we fail to ask ourselves from the other side of the pond, where are our hearts and compassion in helping women sidelined by indifference to act and perceive more compassionately?

Poverty, culture and male dominance in many developing societies and developed societies have unfortunately given birth to heartless women, bystanders, but should we let this continue to happen?  NO.

Let Tahrir Square and the suffering of women in every part of the world vividly and fervently remind us that if we want to build a respectable and safe society for women in particular, we must begin to join hands as women and really lend our hearts, minds and resources to helping women in need of help. Even though culture and sometimes religion (I speak of all religions) may encourage odd behavior, we as women must learn to rise above it. This is not an easy task, but through women for women unity initiatives catapulting in many places, Tahrir Square episodes will be a thing of the past.


We make up half of the world population therefore it is pivotal that we as women unit in sisterhood and most importantly nature compassion towards one another irrespective of culture, social status and faith lines.

Female unity must be made a priority.

By Charlotte Lazarus
Source:
Natasha Smith’s blog: Please God, Please Make It Stop

Dalai Lama on the importance of women for world peace

The 14th Dalai Lama, spiritual leader and head of state of Tibet

has gracefully transcended millions of minds with

messages and teachings of love and compassion. He has

extended a hand of warmth and mutual understanding   

to people of all socio cultural and religious backgrounds.

In his teachings for a more compassionate world, the Dalai Lama has also argued

that “females must take a more active role in the promotion of warm heartedness.

Females and world peace
Numerous studies have shown that women tend to be more empathetic, nurturing and thus more humanly compassionate. The Dalai Lama is well aware of the fact that some females can be aggressive as well. Nonetheless, the real seed of compassion comes from females, he asserts.  He also adds that if more women were allowed to step into leadership roles, the world would experience less violence and danger.  But this has yet to be tested.



“Education of the brain alone is not enough”

According to the Dalai Lama, education of the brain is not enough, we also need education of  warm heartedness .  Education in the developed world has indeed produced skilled individuals and advanced technologies, but they have failed to produce warm heartedness. Without warm heartedness, nations have opted for force or the masculine approach rather than dialogue in achieving results. The lack of warm heartedness has also left developed nations experiencing increasing levels of depression and loneliness. Japan for instance has one of the highest suicidal rates in the world. To combat these problems the Dalai Lama believes that “we must attack the problem through dialogue. So in order to carry dialogue, you need will and confidence. Dialogue out of fear, out of mistrust is impossible. Meaningful dialogue must be initiated with an open mind, truthful, honest and transparent. So in order to make this a century of peace, we need actions to be carried out by human compassion. That is why women play an important role in achieving world peace”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPTIv5I8EO8

By Charlotte Lazarus

The heart of Congo is bleeding and why should we care?

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is the second biggest country in Africa and home to over 66 million people. Its size is also matched by an abundance of vast natural resources.  Unfortunately these natural resources have turned out to be more of a crushing burden than a blessing as they have triggered a rush of violence, corruption, wars and dictatorships. In 1877, King Leopold II of Belgium declared himself the owner of the DRC dubbing it the Congo Free State. The Congo Free State had brought the king immense financial fortune all the while by committing heinous crimes against humanity. A supposed estimate of 5-15 million Congolese men and women were killed during his reign. Due to international scrutiny, the king’s powers over the DRC were relinquished and ceded to the state of Belgium in 1908. Lesser abuses and malpractice at the hands of the state of Belgium were now in force. Nonetheless, new times were blowing in the wind thanks to nationalist movements. On June 30^th 1960, the Congolese people achieved long awaited independence.  Europhobia was rife, but it did not last very long. What followed after independence was further socio political decay and unthinkable violence especially against its home of compassion, its women.

Congolese Women and War

The DRC has been reported to be one of the worst places to be a woman. Women are never safe. They risk being raped while going to the fields, the market to buy food or to a stream to fetch water. Babies and even women in their 70s and older have also been raped. It is estimated that roughly 1 rape a minute occurs. After decades of terrible violence, the DRC is burning again. Reports say that tens of thousands are fleeingextreme violence including rape in the Eastern part of Congo. Rape is used as a weapon of war with no disregard in the DRC.

Why Should We Care?

It has been widely proven that sexual violence leaves immense physical and mental strains on its sufferers.  As rape is a weapon of war, Congolese women targeted by rape have in most cases, all given birth to their aggressors’ children. In the DRC, we are talking about millions of children being born under such circumstances. When these unwanted children come into the world, many mothers cannot give their children the love and nurturing they need to become healthy and well-functioning citizens. According to psychotherapists, children who experience severe neglect in the early stages of their childhood are likely to suffer severe mental illnesses which then make it difficult for them to lead loving and sustainable lives. There are naturally cases where some children overcome their illnesses, but in most cases it is very difficult.  

We should care about these women because the very foundation of their country is dying. Women embody the true essence of love, nurturing, kindness and love. When women are unable to tap into their inner essence and pour it our into society, an entire society suffers.

The Dalai Lama has said “we need more warm-heartedness. We need more compassion” His words echo such truth. In Congo, the women of this great country who bear the seeds of compassion have never known proper love neither from their colonizers, their own government or even their own people and as such have never been able to fully exert their compassion into Greater Congolese society. The aftermath of this reality is clearly evident.

CONGOLESE WOMEN DESERVE A VOICE AND DIGNIFIED LIFE FREE FROM FEAR. THE VERY SURVIVAL AND HEART OF THEIR SOCIETY DEPENDS ON IT.

By Charlotte Lazarus

The suffering and defiance of Dalit women

There are about 167million Dalits also known as untouchables in India of which 49.96% are women. Dalits, especially Dalit women face immense economic, social and educational deprivation. Their jobs provide hardly enough income to fund their kids’ education and feed their own families, thus reproducing the cycle of impoverishment. The Indian government has tried to eradicate this systematic discrimination by way of stipulating in the constitution that all forms of discrimination based on caste must be abolished. The constitution was adopted in 1949.  

According to the International Dalit Solidarity Network (IDSN), Dalit women suffer multiple discrimination: “first as Dalit’s, second as an impoverished underclass and third as women”

Dalit women have been systematically raped, forced to parade naked and have endured sickening accounts of sexual assault. Specific forms of violations have been forced prostitution where thousands of Dalit girls are pressurized into prostitution every year, or born into the trade. The second form of extreme violation against Dalit women is manual scavenging. Mostly Dalit women earn their living through this degrading form of labour. Manual scavenging signifies the removal of human feces. The human feces are usually removed by use of simple methods, put into buckets and then carried on their heads. These women, who are subjected to such jobs, earn very little and often become ill due to the unhygienic nature of their work. Most depressing is the stigma tied to this job, leaving the majority of these women unable to seek another means of living, if they choose to do so (IDSN).  

 Unearthing what lies behind this  vile treatment of Dalit women is found in Hindu religious books, particularly  the  Manusmriti,” women have no right to education, independence, or wealth (n.pag)” Even the killing of a dalit woman is purely acceptable as a  small offence for the Brahmins: equivalent to the killing of an animal (Manusmitri)” (Report : Unheard voices-DALIT WOMEN).

Stigma and religion have prevented many Dalit women in building a better future for themselves. On the other hand there are some who are stepping out to challenge the establishment and raise their voices. Many Dalit women have been mobilized in demanding their rights for dignity and security in the form of land rights.

Securing land rights entails enabling these women to become substance farmers thereby growing their own crops and thus providing a staple diet for the entire family. Becoming substance farmers would allow them to save money, which they can use to send their children to school. Securing land rights would also help the husbands of Dalit women stay with their wives. Many Dalit men leave their poor families in search of work.

Some Dalit women have taken the fight for dignity and security further by becoming successful politicians and millionaires.

Discrimination against Dalit women still continue on a large scale. Nonetheless there are stories of hope and defiance.  Let’s hope that these stories increase.  




By Charlotte Lazarus