Saving face

One morning many years ago I woke up with a rash across part of my face. Apparently some allergic reaction had caused my skin to break out in swollen, itchy, redness. I felt physically ill from itchiness, but also frightened to see my own face not looking as it was supposed to. Some antihistamines later I recovered and everything went back to normal.

I am among the fortunate on this earth, who suffer such trivial worries. Imagine waking up one morning to find your face…gone..?! Academy award winning documentary film ‘Saving face’ features women who have suffered the loss of their face, because some hateful person threw acid on them.

In Pakistan every year over a hundred women suffer acid violence. It may be done by a man who is angry because the woman of his choice refuses his marriage proposal, or a man who is angry with his own wife, or even by her mother-in-law. The reason for her punishment often comes down to the mistake she made when she wasn’t born as a boy (or maybe when she didn’t give birth to a boy).

Plastic surgeon Dr. Mohammad Jawad tries to give these women their smiles back. “In a way I’m saving my own face,” he says, “it’s a very shameful thing as a society to be living with acid attacks & not be doing anything about it.”

‘Saving face’ is a horrible film, but it is also a marvelous film with heroic stories. It shows women who are willing to face their fears and fight for justice. Women who have found a way to recover their beauty, despite having been robbed of their own face. It shows what deep hate can do, but it also features hope in a very big way.

I don’t know if I could smile if I were in Zakia’s shoes. Yet she smiles again and has hope for tomorrow. Her suffering is beyond anything I could imagine, and so is her courage.

slavery and 'zwarte piet'

The temptation of making a few comments on the discussion over 'Black Pete' has become too much for me, so please forgive me for this post.

It is sometimes complicated to be in a position where you feel you understand the arguments on both sides. It is even worse when you cannot help but laugh at the irony of the UN human rights body having a serious debate with the entire Dutch population over a children's feast.

As every point has been made on the internet, on both sides, I still find it necessary join in by pointing out that slavery exists today. To be honest, I would give up any national tradition if it would stop this from being true.

The International Justice Mission states that there are 27 million slaves in the world today. IJM works to stop the practice of one person owning another. I would agree with Verene Shepherd that this particular practice does not belong in the 21st century. For this reason I think IJM deserves our attention and our help, so do check out the IJM website if you're interested to know more: http://www.ijm.org/

For the Dutch who are still looking for gifts for the celebration of Saint Nicholas or even for Christmas, I suggest looking at the following website: http://www.ijmnl.org/merch/armband.htm

By ordering a Seek Justice bracelet they can contribute to the liberation of modern slaves in India. 

World Refugee Day

We have reached a new world record. One of those records not to be proud of - way too many: 45 million refugees!  

European governments and individuals seem to experience a certain queasiness at this growing number, perhaps not so much because of the horrific meausure of problems faced by the refugees. The greater fear is that waves of refugees will come like a tsunami towards our safe havens. We wish to declare their countries 'safe' so they may go away instead of disturbing our social system.

On World Refugee Day, Syrian children in refugee camps fly kites with messages to the world. They come down to "Please help us return home". They do not wish to migrate to Europe. They just want to go home and they want home to be a safe place.

They probably won't be able to do so if the world keeps her eyes firmly shut.

Photo by Greg Beals, UNHCR

Amnesty

I remember being 15 and passing through the airport at Washington D.C. I saw a coloured man being taken away by border police. Handcuffed, carried by his hands and feet, struggling, shouting: “I am not a criminal!”

I believed him instantly. He may have been carrying drugs or arms. I don’t know. It is likely that his ‘crime’ had been passing through the airport as an illegal immigrant.

I was reminded of this incident by the campaign slogan of Amnesty International right now in Holland. It translates to: “I am deeply ashamed”…and I feel embarrassed as I did at 15. I like to think we are more humane in Europe. I like to think we all remember that we are only lucky to have been born free and safe.

I read the story of Sita Tumba and her brother Hans (a Dutch name as his father had moved to Holland by the time that Hans was born). They come from a country where her mother was taken by rebels from Rwanda. I have read about the Democratic Republic of Congo. ‘Democratic republic’ sounds lovely, but there are many villages where every woman knows exactly what it’s like to be raped.

Do we welcome those who have fled from war torn situations? Do we tell them they are safe now? No, we put them in cells where they are reminded that no one has ever respected them as a person. They are body-searched, turned upside down to make sure they do not harm themselves physically as we are about to once again harm their souls. Their lives are put on a hold as we try to determine whether they would continue breathing if they were to be sent back to their traumatic beginnings.

Rape - Weapon of War

Robin Hammond has done a lot of photographic work in the battle for human rights around the world. I found one of his photos in the photography magazine FOCUS. I just watched a discussion on euthanasia on Dutch television and then I opened FOCUS and stared in the face of a blind Congolese woman.
It made me think we don't have enough problems in the West that we have time to discuss whether and when human beings should have the right to end their lives in a "dignified" way. Of course euthanasia is a very complex topic and I have no idea of the suffering of some of the people who would consider it. But seeing that photo right after the discussion, confronted me with such a contrast in issues around the world. The 22-year-old Congolese girl called Basemae Maombi, wasn't born blind. She was robbed of her eyes because she recognised one of her rapists and called out his name to make him stop.
Here we are in Europe, discussing how to achieve a dignified death, when there is no chance Basemae Maombi will know dignity in life.

World Food Day

The 16th of October just ended for me, but I would like to make a note that this was World Food Day (WFD or klick here for the Dutch website). The new day, October 17th, is the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty (klick here for a Dutch link). At Taste the Waste you can see the trailer to the documentary on how much food is being wasted, while 1 billion people are still hungry. It is a sickening documentary that almost made me cry. More importantly, it makes me aware that I, you, all of us together, can make a difference and we can start today. If we throw less food away, if we are less picky, people in developing countries may be able to afford to buy food. Doesn't that sound worth looking into?

Nujoud

Nujoud did it! The little Yemeni girl who managed to get a divorce after being forced into marriage at the age of 8, has shaken up her country. Her story brought about a new law, setting the minimum age for marriage at 17. Not only that, the new law gives women the right to alimony after a divorce and grants them custody to their children (under the age of 12). Amendments worth celebrating.

A big step, although it will be a while before true change will come about in Yemen's villages. People need to be told about these new rules and why they are important. Just as it is not enough to forbid female circumcision, in countries where many fathers and mothers don't watch the news.

What can I do about it. Very little. I'll start by saying I'm proud of Nujoud. Such a cool girl. May grown men and women find her kind of courage.

the devil came on horseback

400,000 dead, women raped and branded outside their camps, men killed or castrated or burnt in their villages, children traumatized and orphaned.

This is life in Darfur. This is death in Darfur. It’s hard to tell the difference.

I happened to be in Holland to see “Tot zover Darfur” (“Darfur thus far”), which included a series of documentaries and interviews on the subject of this region in Sudan.

Brian Steidle was an American Marine who became an eyewitness the the genocide in Darfur. He thought America would come to the rescue within a week of his photo’s reaching the West. But nothing happened. He resigned and thought of other ways to rouse awareness. Now we can see his pictures in the movie “The devil came on horseback”. This title refers to the Janjaweed, the government-trained militias which are bringing about a holocaust in Darfur. The name means “devil on a horse, with a gun”.

Meanwhile China is pouring oilmoney into Sudan, helping the government to finance the killing of the non-Arab Darfuri. And we are happily going to celebrate the Summer Olympics of 2008 in Beijing?! They say the Olympics have nothing to do with politics, so it doesn’t make a difference.

Our banks are investing their money in Chinese oil companies and other dubious firms. Have a look on www.bankgeheimen.be to see what your bank’s investing in. I found my bank there and I didn’t like it. Even if only part of this is true, each of us is playing some part in financing activities that violate human rights.

That makes us all guilty, but you don’t need to know about it if you don’t want to.

This isn’t meant to be a sentimental entry to make you feel guilty. I write this merely because I know that I am guilty...guilty first of all of being apathatic. You may have no responsibility until you see, but you must look!

Perhaps one crisis in this world will then catch your eye and perhaps you will act. You will surely feel like a drop in the ocean (yes, I’m still with this drop), but the other drop you touch will be grateful to have company.

And the reason that this makes a difference, I believe, is that God created the ocean.