Nzingha's Soapbox
This just makes me sick. Seriously
Nzingha,
Imagine me and 7 kids have a bad case of pig flu, I told u so. It was so bad I was going to call an ambulance as I almost couldnt drive, didnt want to infect any of my neighbors and anyway 5 days later and I am soooooooooooo sick.
All duas appreciated.
This may sound crazy but bear with me. As an American this child rape thing (especially boys, dont know why) is the worst thing I can imagine happening to a child. May Allah protect all of our children. My children of course go no where unless I or hubby drive em, arnt even allowed in friends bedrooms. etc.
But I wonder do Arabs feel the same like it is a huge scar on the childs life? I mean of course with a girl it would some how be her fault. But with boys, do they see it as such a terrible unimaginable event that can destroy lives as we do? Or is it just an unfortunate event like any other?
The reason I ask this is cause I was discussing w/ a friend who is american and married to an omani and living the secluded village life, she was saying when it comes to lil boys doing it to each other that 1) it is so common in the gulf (and im talking lil boys I guess doing full on sodomy) that lots of parents brush it off as like oh kids experiment. And 2) That most lil boys believe they have to do this to each other so they can become strong as they get older.
Now as an American I have to scream WHAT THE F ???????????????????????
But I would seriously like an answer if they simply dont see it as something that can destroy your life?, unless your a girl and then you should be stoned or honor killed or whatever?
i always wonder how do parents allow children out alone, i have seen them at very early in the morning and then late at night. i think such parents should be prosecuted , too. oh i forgot, there is no law for protecting children in ksa.
I have seen the phenomena of young children (most esp boys) running errands by themselves all over the ME. In many places, it seems that while it is ok for these children to sent out to navigate dangerous streets by themselves (and rape is only one issue - just crossing a street in many of ME cities is life-threatening), it is not ok for their mothers or older sisters to either accompany them or go out alone on these errands. No-it is not "illegal" but the wagging tongues of the neighbors etc - so the family honor requires that mothers sit at home while their young son's risk their lives to go to the store and pick up some bread or whatever. Times have changed yet customs haven't.
When I was a kid, I grew up in a small New England town where kids as young as 4 or 5 could go out and walk places in our village alone or with older siblings. It WAS safe then, but it wouldn't be today, mainly because communities are not as tight-knit as they once were. I think that something similar has happened in the ME - like most Americans, most people do not live on the same street or the same neighborhood in which they grew up. But they are behaving as if they do.
The young children out late at night (very late ie 10pm to midnight) was one of the surprising things about any 3rd world country I have visited. They do errands, mind the younger children and mind themselves. I've learned not to feel so sad about it.
Meanwhile in suburban Canada, AKA where my nephew lives, children are not allowed beyond the end of the street unaccompanied until age 10 or 12. The is a great fear of child abduction, in part hyped by the media. Children are accompanied to school as well which is shocking compared to the "Mother present for first day of kindergarten, and after that at home or child dies of shame" mentality that prevailed when I was a child.
Off topic--I just did a post on Tara's blog on Blogging & Ethics, and I linked your blog. I'd love your opinion on this very important (in my opinion) topic. Thanks.
http://taraummomar.blogspot.com/...-fhws-
elsi.html
I know there's media hype, but this really happened to a seven-year-old just this month.
Somer vanished while walking home from her elementary school on Monday afternoon. The vacant house is on her route through a heavily populated, well-manicured neighborhood, and witnesses last saw the girl alive in front of it. She had gotten upset as she walked home with other children Monday and ran ahead of the group. Somer never made it home.
Neighbors said they were used to watching out for each other's children as they walked to and from school.
"Everybody knows everybody here. If there was a stranger on the street, we'd be looking at watching where they were going, seeing what they were doing here," said Monica Loeb, a family friend of the Thompsons.
The odds are slim to none that this will happen to your child, but for Somer's family, it was 100%.
Nzingha...............
WHERE ARE YOU???????????
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