Stolen Innocence
Yes, this is a LOOOONG entry, but please read it. This is something we should all know about:
OK, as most of you probably know alreay, I love Oprah, and I think she does an amazing job of making us aware of the world around us. Today's show was probably one of the most disturbing things I have ever watched. The show was all about atrocities against children. Oprah covered everything from men raping babies (a growing epidemic in Africa), children forced to kill other children, and sex trafficking. There was a girl on the show today from Uganda, Africa. When she was eleven years old, a group of soldiers invaded her school and forced her and thirty of her classmates to become soldiers. They were trained to kill other children who would not cooperate with the soldiers' wishes, and if they would cry (when killing the other children), then they were killed. She was forced to beat two twelve year old boys to death and torture other children for the soldiers. One day she did not exactly follow orders and she was beaten then buried alive. By the grace of God she survived, but she has suffered so much. She is back in school now, but has not been to any sort of therapy. She is forced to deal with the trauma on her own. Despite everything she has been through, her goal in life is to educate the world about this horrible problem so that no one has to go through what she did.
The next topic (sex trafficking) is one that I found the most disturbing. A filmmaker/journalist went undercover in eastern Europe to investigate the issue, so there was actual footage of children being sold as sex slaves. The journalist contacted a man (who they called Tom). Tom had a website on which he advertised sex with young teenage boys for other men (who are usually very wealthy and willing to pay a lot to sleep with these young boys). Tom preyed on these poor young men who were willing to do anything for food or clothes or a place to sleep and then put pornographic pictures of them on his site. When the journalist contacted Tom, he was very willing to provide the journalist with all the boys on the site for one night for the price of $800,000. The journalist rode along with Tom to pick up the boys. Through conversation, Tom admitted that the one of his most popular clients is a high-ranking judge. Because of the journalist's undercover work, Tom was arrested and was put in jail for his crimes. Now, here is the sad part. Tom spent a few MONTHS in jail and was told that he was no longer allowed to use the Internet, but he was set free to go back to the life he had before. It is so horrible that there are no laws to protect these children, and what is even more upsetting is that these young boys have come to accept this as part of their everyday lives in order to survive.
This next story actually made me cry, and I'm sure it will be difficult for all of you reading this to fathom. (Remember that this was all caught on tape and the sex never happened). The same journalist went undercover once again in Milan. He drove down a highway one night that is a popular place for young teenagers to walk around and try to find someone who will pay them for sex for the night. The journalist noticed a young boy and an older man standing together along the highway, but when he drove up, the older man disappeared. The journalist asked the boy if he was available for sex and the boy answered "yes." The journalist then asked how much for one hour, and the boy replied that he would have to ask his father (the older man). Yes, this man forced his own son to have sex for money. The father told the journalist that half and hour with his son would cost $40 and then he gave explicit details of what the journalist could and could not do with the boy. The journalist asked the man if his wife knew that his son was a prostitute and the man lauged and said "No, no, she thinks he goes to work in a factory at night." The boy then got into the car and the jouralist asked him how old he was. 14. He then asked the boy how long he had been having sex for money. 1 year. Finally, he asked whether or not the boy enjoyed having sex with older men. The boy answered that his family needed the money. Can you imagine your own mother or father forcing you into prostitution so the family has food? Can you imagine being that desperate to survive?
This whole thing has made me very angry. I'm not sure at whom or what, but I just know that something has to be done. Oprah always says that once you are made aware of a situation, you cannot go on pretending it does not exist. You have to do something about it. I believe that as human beings, this affects all of us. We have a duty to do something about this, which may seem impossible, but it is not. There are organizations whose missions are to end sex traffcking. Do some research, and see what can be done. These children need us. They have no voice in this world, so we have to give them one.
In my composition class last fall, I decided to do my final research paper on sex trafficking of women in southeast Asia and eastern Europe. The situation is unbelievable, and whether or not we want to believe it, these children are even being trafficked to America as sex slaves. This is a part of my paper. It is the true story of a teenage girl from Romania and how she was tricked into becoming a sex slave:
Although she was promised a job harvesting tangerines in Greece, traffickers
took her to Bosnia and Herzegovina. Traveling at night with two male escorts
she and several other women crossed over another river by motorboat, and then
switched back to car, ending up at a small house. There, traffickers ordered
the women to undress. When she refused, the trafficker took her
upstairs where he beat and raped her. Traffickers then sold her to a bar in
Prijedor [in Bosnia and Herzegovina]. (Vandenberg 16)
Here is an interesting statistic. One BILLION people worldwide live off less than a dollar a day. That is about one sixth of the world's population. America truly is the land of opportunity, and it is so easy for us to overlook the horror in other's lives aroudn the world. Because there is NO opporutunity in second and third world countries (especially for women and children), they are so vulnerable to traffickers promises of being able to provide them with better jobs. Parents are even willing to sell their young sons and daughters in order to put food on the table for the rest of the family. These children are stripped of their innocence. They become slaves, sexual slaves.
I cannot even begin to put myself in these children's shoes. It just is not possible, but I can do something about it. Knowing about these horrible situations has put a lot of things into perspective for me. I can't pretend that I do not know that these atrocities do not exist or that they do not concern me. They do. Today's Oprah show strengthened my goal to help countries reform their legal systems and end this epidemic of slavery. I just hope that whoever reads this does something, anything. Pray. Research. Tell others about it. Find out what you can do to help. One person can make a difference, and all of us together can make a HUGE difference. If we make only one person's life better, then we have done something great. We just cannot afford to close our eyes and turn our back to the world's problems. We are so blessed to live in America and to have every opportunity at the tip of our fingers, but millions of children around the world have not been so fortunate. They are being raped, beaten, killed, infected with HIV/AIDS, forced to do hard labor for only a few cents per day, and the list goes on and on and on. Please think about it, pray about it, do something, anything about it. WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE. Final thought - the following quote:
I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And I will not let what I cannot do interfere with what I can do. ~Edward Everett Hale
OK, as most of you probably know alreay, I love Oprah, and I think she does an amazing job of making us aware of the world around us. Today's show was probably one of the most disturbing things I have ever watched. The show was all about atrocities against children. Oprah covered everything from men raping babies (a growing epidemic in Africa), children forced to kill other children, and sex trafficking. There was a girl on the show today from Uganda, Africa. When she was eleven years old, a group of soldiers invaded her school and forced her and thirty of her classmates to become soldiers. They were trained to kill other children who would not cooperate with the soldiers' wishes, and if they would cry (when killing the other children), then they were killed. She was forced to beat two twelve year old boys to death and torture other children for the soldiers. One day she did not exactly follow orders and she was beaten then buried alive. By the grace of God she survived, but she has suffered so much. She is back in school now, but has not been to any sort of therapy. She is forced to deal with the trauma on her own. Despite everything she has been through, her goal in life is to educate the world about this horrible problem so that no one has to go through what she did.
The next topic (sex trafficking) is one that I found the most disturbing. A filmmaker/journalist went undercover in eastern Europe to investigate the issue, so there was actual footage of children being sold as sex slaves. The journalist contacted a man (who they called Tom). Tom had a website on which he advertised sex with young teenage boys for other men (who are usually very wealthy and willing to pay a lot to sleep with these young boys). Tom preyed on these poor young men who were willing to do anything for food or clothes or a place to sleep and then put pornographic pictures of them on his site. When the journalist contacted Tom, he was very willing to provide the journalist with all the boys on the site for one night for the price of $800,000. The journalist rode along with Tom to pick up the boys. Through conversation, Tom admitted that the one of his most popular clients is a high-ranking judge. Because of the journalist's undercover work, Tom was arrested and was put in jail for his crimes. Now, here is the sad part. Tom spent a few MONTHS in jail and was told that he was no longer allowed to use the Internet, but he was set free to go back to the life he had before. It is so horrible that there are no laws to protect these children, and what is even more upsetting is that these young boys have come to accept this as part of their everyday lives in order to survive.
This next story actually made me cry, and I'm sure it will be difficult for all of you reading this to fathom. (Remember that this was all caught on tape and the sex never happened). The same journalist went undercover once again in Milan. He drove down a highway one night that is a popular place for young teenagers to walk around and try to find someone who will pay them for sex for the night. The journalist noticed a young boy and an older man standing together along the highway, but when he drove up, the older man disappeared. The journalist asked the boy if he was available for sex and the boy answered "yes." The journalist then asked how much for one hour, and the boy replied that he would have to ask his father (the older man). Yes, this man forced his own son to have sex for money. The father told the journalist that half and hour with his son would cost $40 and then he gave explicit details of what the journalist could and could not do with the boy. The journalist asked the man if his wife knew that his son was a prostitute and the man lauged and said "No, no, she thinks he goes to work in a factory at night." The boy then got into the car and the jouralist asked him how old he was. 14. He then asked the boy how long he had been having sex for money. 1 year. Finally, he asked whether or not the boy enjoyed having sex with older men. The boy answered that his family needed the money. Can you imagine your own mother or father forcing you into prostitution so the family has food? Can you imagine being that desperate to survive?
This whole thing has made me very angry. I'm not sure at whom or what, but I just know that something has to be done. Oprah always says that once you are made aware of a situation, you cannot go on pretending it does not exist. You have to do something about it. I believe that as human beings, this affects all of us. We have a duty to do something about this, which may seem impossible, but it is not. There are organizations whose missions are to end sex traffcking. Do some research, and see what can be done. These children need us. They have no voice in this world, so we have to give them one.
In my composition class last fall, I decided to do my final research paper on sex trafficking of women in southeast Asia and eastern Europe. The situation is unbelievable, and whether or not we want to believe it, these children are even being trafficked to America as sex slaves. This is a part of my paper. It is the true story of a teenage girl from Romania and how she was tricked into becoming a sex slave:
Although she was promised a job harvesting tangerines in Greece, traffickers
took her to Bosnia and Herzegovina. Traveling at night with two male escorts
she and several other women crossed over another river by motorboat, and then
switched back to car, ending up at a small house. There, traffickers ordered
the women to undress. When she refused, the trafficker took her
upstairs where he beat and raped her. Traffickers then sold her to a bar in
Prijedor [in Bosnia and Herzegovina]. (Vandenberg 16)
Here is an interesting statistic. One BILLION people worldwide live off less than a dollar a day. That is about one sixth of the world's population. America truly is the land of opportunity, and it is so easy for us to overlook the horror in other's lives aroudn the world. Because there is NO opporutunity in second and third world countries (especially for women and children), they are so vulnerable to traffickers promises of being able to provide them with better jobs. Parents are even willing to sell their young sons and daughters in order to put food on the table for the rest of the family. These children are stripped of their innocence. They become slaves, sexual slaves.
I cannot even begin to put myself in these children's shoes. It just is not possible, but I can do something about it. Knowing about these horrible situations has put a lot of things into perspective for me. I can't pretend that I do not know that these atrocities do not exist or that they do not concern me. They do. Today's Oprah show strengthened my goal to help countries reform their legal systems and end this epidemic of slavery. I just hope that whoever reads this does something, anything. Pray. Research. Tell others about it. Find out what you can do to help. One person can make a difference, and all of us together can make a HUGE difference. If we make only one person's life better, then we have done something great. We just cannot afford to close our eyes and turn our back to the world's problems. We are so blessed to live in America and to have every opportunity at the tip of our fingers, but millions of children around the world have not been so fortunate. They are being raped, beaten, killed, infected with HIV/AIDS, forced to do hard labor for only a few cents per day, and the list goes on and on and on. Please think about it, pray about it, do something, anything about it. WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE. Final thought - the following quote:
I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And I will not let what I cannot do interfere with what I can do. ~Edward Everett Hale