Diapers Q&A

11 year old girl dies after being raped and babies raped daily?

If this was a headline in the USA people would be up in arms but it is in Africa; why is nothing being done? Where i UNICEF? Where is the Red Cross? Where is Amnesty International? She was so burtally raped that before she died she had to wear diapers and was incontinent... http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/6272043.stm Elf, yes, that belief about raping babies to prevent AIDS is just so dreadful and so horrifying you can hardly wrap your mind around it; what can we do with such incredible lack of education? Yes, I understand the logistics that make it nearly impossible to turn the tide, but surely someday, some group will make a difference. As with Iman (model from Ethiopia, married to David Bowie) is making against female genital mutilation of which she is a victim herself and is now in a position to make her (and all the victim's) voice heard. Yes, thank God for the groups that are there and are trying, it is like salmon swimming upstream to try to help in that vast country with so much opposition from the leaders and politicians; we need to remember these stories and do all we can from here to help. Apathy, which we fall into after reading so much horror, is so dangerous that our outrage is of tremendous value as it will spur us to at least contribute to the Red Cross, UNICEF, etc & pray.

Public Comments

1. Awful story from a year ago, check headline. George Bush ended this by sending in the Marines. Of course he will never get credit for that.
2. Why isn't the NOW all up in arms over this travesty? Or are only American lives worth saving? I think if organizations like that really cared about the plight of women they would be doing more to help women who really need help. Women over here have everything. We can do and be anything. The women in places like Africa and China and the Middle East are the ones who need help.
3. S Africa has been referred to frequently as the 'rape capital of the World', which is why I found it pretty dimwitted of an ex of mine who was adament she wanted to take our children there to meet one of her 'friends with benefits' (she'd met him here, but wanted to meet him again in SA). It's disgraceful.
4. Rape is abhorrent no matter what country it takes place in.
5. As an individual, I don't know what I _can_ do. I feel utterly helpless in the face of this tragedy. Men are raping young girls because it is believed that sex with a virgin will cure AIDS. I don't know where this idea came from, or how such misinformation is distributed, but the effects of it are tragic. And being just one person, thousands of miles away, the most I can do is support an organization like Red Cross, which I do.
6. Somalia rings a bell ? To do something something needs to be done about all the people running around with kalashnikoves technicals and rocket launchers, that means war, essentially a lot of whites (and some blacks) would be using blacks for target practice. How long do you think public support for an intervention in the heated zones of Africa would last ?
7. It makes me nauseated just thinking about it. I wish I knew what COULD be done. How do you stop people in a foreign country from acting like animals? Would education really a make a difference to the sort of person capable of harming another human being to that degree?
8. that's bad, not doubt about it but we can't even stop such things from happening in this country. When America or American based organizations try to police people's actions in other countries that's what makes foreigners not like Americans for sticking their nose in other's business when we can't even fix our own problems.
9. The American and European public have normally been rather blase wiith respect to suffering in sub-Sahara Africa. Terrible, yes, but true.
10. Actually, mystery, I expect that the way we even Know about these things in Africa is from the people in NGOs working there. Believe me that the question is So Not "Where is the Red Cross or Amnesty International?"! They Are There! But they are so thin on the ground that they can't stop the atrocities or even care for all of the victims! The Real question is why isn't more being done by the world to stop atrocities and genocide?
11. The hypocrites who claim this is a feminist problem are incredibly ignorant. UNICEF and the Red Cross are relief organizations; they do not get involved in political conflicts. South African men believe raping virgins will bring good luck or cure them of AIDS. Their countries' leaders need to support prosecution and punishment and work to dispel their myths.
12. The Red Cross, UNICEF and Amnesty International are working to prevent terrible incidences like that one, but they don't have the resources or funding to be everywhere at once. The main thing we can do is bring attention to these problems and support the organisations trying to sort them out.
13. yes, rape on all accounts is terrible, but it would not be possible to do anything. Conflict would begin, America has no power in those kinds of circumstances in other countries, anyone we send would be met with hostility. Plus, even if we arnt the "rape capital of the world", there are quite a number of rape victims in the U.S., and we need to start here instead of worrying about others' problems. It sounds selfish and immoral, but its the only real thing that can be done at all, let alone effectively.
14. Poor thing, this is horrible, but sadly I think it happens more than we think. There was a report on children being used as prostitutes as young as 5 in Cambodia...apparently not just one or two young girls, but brothels...on some major station about a week ago. It was horrifying, I couldn't watch more than 5 minutes of it because it simply made me sick. I never caught the name of the organization, but they were trying to save these girls and prosecute the adults involved.