Justice and Praise

"Quick get the Women and Children out first!!"

2008-06-11T16:36:00.000-07:00

Someone once said that you can tell a lot about a society by the way in which it treats its women and children and that the difficulty today is that it's really impossible today to assess accurately how a society does treat women and children. And it can be suggested that the media is very much so caught up with the War, Global Warming, the economy, Presidential election (Barack all the way!!lol), and to an indefinite degree (which I am very interested in myself). But the media is also doing a very good job with giving us a distorted and dismaying view of a world that is obviously wracked in violence and death when it comes to our women and children.

Today’s society tends to downplay its dirty and dark secrets of the way we really treat millions of our women and children under the guise of 'the right to privacy' that conceals a flood of domestic violence behind closed doors. But we all know that if we could really see how many women and children are routinely physically, sexually and psychologically abused, as many as one in five in every neighborhood, rich and poor, we would be aghast and outraged, this is especially the case in our beloved neighboring developing countries that provides our everyday chocolate, coffee, gold, sugar, carpet, rice, shoes, cloths, etc. In return we give little pay and much demand on the women and children in impoverished communities around the world.

What can we say? In a crisis, the very first people we are quick to protect are the women and children. But it seems like the “women and children” are silently losing priority in relief efforts everyday when we least expect it, thinking that they are safe as long as the Associated Press gives it an ok.

Success vs Greatness

2008-05-30T06:00:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZ7Nirqxa0A

Perhaps one of the most prestigious and prolific American Scholar, public intellectual, sociologist, critic, pastor, and civil rights activist of our generation, Dr. Cornel West speaks on a theory of Justice and what it means to truly experience greatness. He comments that "Success is a means to Greatness" and "never to confuse finacial prosperity with moral magnanimity(quality of nobility or greatness of soul, high-mindedness).

In our pursuit of success and prosperity, it is easy to forget what it means to actually live for something meaningful and what it means to be human. If we are not careful, we can become "success machines" looking to make our own kingdom in this world, but never know what it means to contribute to a world that needs more than media attention or financial aid, or another "We are the world" hit single (even though it was good). In my personal opinion i believe that first step in connecting with the world to make it better is to understand that we are all already connected. The next i believe is to ask yourself what can you do on behalf of others. Is anybody looking to achieve greatness anymore, or are we looking for temporary success?

Can we really criticize those who openly celebrate and flaunt their financial prosperity in these times? I don't think so, but are we beginning to place finanical prosperity above moral principle and intrinsic good?

Charity: Aid workers raping, abusing children

2008-05-28T17:05:00.000-07:00

This is a heart-breaking report from CNN a couple of day's ago. It hurts to see that even humanitarian workers are doing these things. The people that commit their lives to helping are adding more to the hurt.

CNN REPORT--------

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Humanitarian aid workers and United Nation peacekeepers are sexually abusing small children in several war-ravaged and food-poor countries, a leading European charity has said.

Children like this 15-year-old girl have suffered abuse at the hands of some UN soldiers and aid workers.

Children as young as 6 have been forced to have sex with aid workers and peacekeepers in return for food and money, Save the Children UK said in a report released Tuesday.
After interviewing hundreds of children, the charity said it found instances of rape, child prostitution, pornography, indecent sexual assault and trafficking of children for sex.
"It is hard to imagine a more grotesque abuse of authority or flagrant violation of children's rights," said Jasmine Whitbread, chief executive of Save the Children UK. Watch a report on the abuse »
In the report, "No One To Turn To" a 15-year-old girl from Haiti told researchers: "My friends and I were walking by the National Palace one evening when we encountered a couple of humanitarian men. The men called us over and showed us their penises.
"They offered us 100 Haitian gourdes ($2.80) and some chocolate if we would suck them. I said, 'No,' but some of the girls did it and got the money."
Save the Children says that almost as shocking as the abuse itself is the "chronic under-reporting" of the abuses. It believes that thousands more children around the world could be suffering in silence.
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Read the full report (PDF)
According to the charity, children told researchers they were too frightened to report the abuse, fearful that the abuser would come back to hurt them and that they would stop receiving aid from agencies, or even be punished by their family or community.
"People don't report it because they are worried that the agency will stop working here, and we need them," a teenage boy in southern Sudan told Save the Children.
The charity's research was centered on Ivory Coast, southern Sudan and Haiti, but Save the Children said the perpetrators of sexual abuse of children could be found in every type of humanitarian organization at all levels.
Save the Children is calling for a global watchdog to tackle the problem and said it was working with the U.N. to establish local mechanisms that will allow victims to easily report abuse.
"We are glad that Save the Children continues to shed a light on this problem. It actually follows up on a report that we did in 2002 with Save the Children. I think every population in the world has to confront this problem of exploitation and abuse of children," said Ron Redmond, chief spokesman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Geneva, Switzerland.
"The United Nations has a zero-tolerance policy. It's one that UNHCR takes very, very seriously. In refugee camps, we have implemented very strong reporting mechanisms so that refugees can come forward to report any abuses or alleged abuses."
In 2003, U.N. Nepalese troops were accused of sexual abuse while serving in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Six soldiers were jailed.
A year later, two U.N. peacekeepers were repatriated after being accused of abuse in Burundi, and U.N. troops were accused of rape and sexual abuse in Sudan.
Last year, the U.N. launched an investigation into sexual abuse claims in Ivory Coast.
The vast majority of aid workers were not involved in any form of abuse or exploitation but in "life-saving essential humanitarian work," Save the Children's Whitbread said.
But humanitarian and peacekeeping agencies working in emergency situations "must own up to the fact that they are vulnerable to this problem and tackle it head on," she said.
The aid agency said it had fired three workers for breaching its codes and called on others to do the same. The three men were dismissed in the past year for having had sex with girls aged 17, which the charity said is not illegal but is cause for loss of employment.
Other UK charities said they supported Save the Children's call for a global watchdog.
"Oxfam takes a zero-tolerance approach to sexual misconduct by its aid workers. All our staff across the world are held accountable by a robust code of conduct," said Jane Cocking, Oxfam charity's humanitarian director.
"We support Save the Children's calls for a global watchdog. We will do all we can to stamp out this intolerable abuse."

WHY CHRISTAIN'S AVOID SOCIAL AND POLITICAL ISSUES

2008-05-28T16:57:00.001-07:00

Alright now i know many have a hard tim reading long notes, but i assure you that this powerful and politically historic statement from the book "The Kairos Document" is a note that WILL BENEFIT AND INSPIRE EVERY ONE, to expand your perspective on why Christains knock down the notion of being socially aware in today's society. ------------------------------------"As we know, spirituality had tended to be an other-worldly affair that has very little, if anything at all,to do with the affairs of this world.Social and political matters were seen as worldly affairs that have nothing to do with the spiritual concerns of the Church (which is why you have alot of Christians saying "I don't like to get into politics"). Moreover, spirituality has also been understood to be purely private and individualistic. Public affairs and social problems were thought to be beyond the sphere of spirituality.And finally, the spirituality we inherit tends to rely upon God to intervene in his own good time to put right what is wrong in the world that leaves very little for human beings to do except pray for God's intervention.It is precisely this kind of spirituality that, when faced with the present crisis in South Africa (i will also add, human-trafficking, Sudan, Haiti, Poverty, Uganda, AIDS epidemic in Africa and other countries,etc) leaves so many Christians and Church Leaders in a state of near paralysis.It hardly needs saying that this kind of faith and this type of spirituality has no biblical foundation. The bible does not separate human person from the world in which he/she lives; it does not separate the individualfrom the social or one's private life from one's public. God redeems the whole person as part of His whole creation(Rom 8:18-24)A truly biblical spirituality would penetrate into every aspect of human existence and would exclude nothing from God's redemptive will. BIblical faithis prohetically relevant to everythingthat happens in this world." -----------------------------------hope this inspired you, feel free to comment

Meet Nelly (story of trafficked vitim)

2008-05-28T16:54:00.000-07:00

These are fictional, untold stories of different children around the world that share one thing in common, human trafficking.

Meet Nelly, the very definition of beautiful. Her almond shaped eyes and puffy cheeks were irresistible. Her mahogany skin was as smooth as it looked. And her little hands are as hard working as her little feet.This twelve year old carries two buckets of water, also known as jerries, to and fro. She is also quick on her feet when it is time for dinner or child care. She lugs in loads of dirty laundry and has clean pants, shirts and jackets available and dry within two hours. Anyone would like someone as beautiful and reliable around as Nelly.However, Nelly hates when she is needed by the soldier of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). At age 9, Nelly was snatched away from her tiny village in northern Uganda. Since then, she became a slave to the rebels, better yet, scoundrels of the LRA.In her village, Nelly would sing songs of birds chirping away in nearby trees and songs of cool breezes and laughter. Her brothers would run around her and scream with joy, as she whipped their legs with shirts from her mother’s laundry line.Nelly will never forget the night hen she awoke to her brothers screaming. The screams were those of something terrible and deafening, it could wake the deceased in the village graveyard! The LRA had come and were lighting fire to the villager’s meager huts and grabbing every child they could find. Nelly stood frozen as she watched her mother beat a child soldier to let go of her brother. Some blood even trickled from her mother’s strong fists. An older soldier approached behind Nelly’s mother and slammed a wooden club behind hr head. Her body simply slumped to the dusty floor and she lay there, motionless in her own pool of blood. Nelly’s brother was thrown into an rusted pick up. She was next. After what she had seen the brute of a man do to her mother, she didn’t even put up a fight.Now, Nelly was in the fight of her life. A girl I the midst of LRA men, is like a small cub surrounded by vultures. Both can’t get away and will be eaten alive! LRA men are taught that women are to be used for their own pleasure. And whenever they wanted, whether it be sex or food, their “wives” should give it.When Nelly was given to soldier on afternoon in the camp, she was told it was her beauty that blessed her. However, Nelly thought it was her beauty that cursed her.
She knew her new husband would be looking forward to night with Nelly. She came up with a solution. As long as you were seen as unattractive, you would not be called into a soldier’s bed chamber. With all the strength this girl could muster up, Nelly came upon a mound of jagged rocks and chose one of the sharpest. She looked around and miraculously no one was in sight! She crouched down, put the sharpest rock to her face and closed her eyes. With the speed of a rabbit, Nelly dug into that beautiful mahogany skin of hers. She bit her tongue, until she tasted blood, so she wouldn’t scream. Skin slowly fell away on her ragged shirt. Blood and tears ran down her swollen cheeks. When she couldn’t take her own skinning anymore, she let out a screech. Immediately, two soldiers appeared. She laid prostrate, face forward, to give the impression that she had slid on the rocks.A soldier pulled her up roughly, as if she wasn’t covered in blood. He grimaced in horror. “Ugh! Your beauty is gone now, you foolish girl. You could never please a man with such a hideous face!” he spat.Nelly’s face would never be the same. Those scars would last a lifetime. But for the first time in two years Nelly never felt better! And the soldier was right, her assigned husband was so displeased with the gashes in her face, he said she was not worthy of being touched. Hence she became his other wife’s servant. Nelly had lost so much. Her mother siblings, and community. Even her beauty, however she kept one thing little to no girls keep around the LRA -- her virginity.-Deborah Michel (thanks for your contribution

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