"There are no more virgins in Gulu." An overdose of reality.

[shereads]

What would it take to get the developed world to do something about what's happening in Uganda? If they were white? If they had oil?

From the Sunday Miami Herald, under the headline,

There Are No Virgins In Gulu

is a story about the 30,000 children in Northern Uganda who, to avoid being kidnapped from their beds and forced into slavery by The Lord's Resistence Army, walk miles from their villages every evening to sleep together in a tent city. Their parents stay behind to guard the family home. Two young girls, leading their little brother by the hand, tell the reporter that all of the girls they know have been raped multiple times. Another girl, 12, says a man woke her up in the tent city where she goes for refuge each night, and offered her 30 cents for sex. "I closed my eyes and let him. There are no more virgins in Gulu."

From Reuters News online, tonight, about this weekend's massacre:

Local officials said the LRA attacked a camp for some 4,800 homeless Ugandans on Saturday evening with automatic weapons and hand grenades and then set fire to grass-thatched huts in which people were hiding. Victims were found burned, shot, bludgeoned or hacked to death, the United Nations said.

The survivors managed to escape by fleeing into the bush and were being relocated in the town of Lira and other nearby areas, the U.N. officials said.

Lira district already houses some 120,000 people driven from their homes by the long conflict in northern and eastern Uganda, where the Lord's Resistance Army has defied repeated attempts by the army to crush its 17-year insurgency.
The U.N. team on its way to Lira included officials from the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and the children's agency UNICEF

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan issued a statement appealing "to all those at the national and international level who are in a position to stop the terrible cycle of violence in northern Uganda to do their utmost to protect innocent civilians."

U.N. officials said they were stepping up humanitarian efforts in the region, which they say is the world's largest neglected humanitarian emergency.

 

[Madame Manga]

There is a superstition current in some parts of Africa that sleeping with a virgin will cure a man of AIDS. Of course, when even some African heads of state seem to subscribe to magical theories about the origin and proper treatment of HIV, it's not so surprising that ordinary people deprived of decent educations believe this sort of thing.

The UN's theory about action in this sort of case usually revolves around inviolable sovereign nationhood, as it did during the massacres in Rwanda. However, your average African thinks of allegiance to his immediate clan or tribal group first, and that is usually what lies behind Africa's incessant civil wars. European colonization created Africa's synthetic nations in the first place, but also restrained tribal rivalries for a while, and those have been boiling over for decades. It is not clear that further intervention in the continent's problems from other parts of the world is a long-term solution. I wish anyone knew what was.

MM

 

[minsue]

Jesus. I had seen absolutely nothing about this in the local paper or on the news and I had to try 3 online news services before I found anything. I can't decide which is more disgusting, what people can do to each other (and are doing to each other in Uganda) or the fact that no one gives a fuck.

 

[shereads]

Artificial borders created by other nations. Like the middle east, except that we're there.


Edited to add:

Oops. Just broke my vow to post these news tidbits without comment. My bad.

 

[shereads]

Jesus. I had seen absolutely nothing about this in the local paper or on the news and I had to try 3 online news services before I found anything. I can't decide which is more disgusting, what people can do to each other (and are doing to each other in Uganda) or the fact that no one gives a fuck.

Once in a while, some news that is not about Fidel slips through security at the Miami Herald.

 

[shereads]

There is a superstition current in some parts of Africa that sleeping with a virgin will cure a man of AIDS.

Looks like they're out of luck. Btw, there was a similar superstition in Victorian England about venereal disease.

 

[Icingsugar]

It's the common African shitstorm that noone gives a penny about. That entire continent,and specifically central Africa, is a huge blind spot in the western media coverage. We disn't care about the Rwandian genocides, we didn't care about the Moroccan terrorism, we didn't care about the Liberian unrest, the Nigerian religiuos oppression, the Kongo-Kinshasa war, the neverending (just ended?) civil war in Sudan, Eritrea, Zimbaze (well, a little bit, because there were white farmers there getting bullied), Mocambique, AIDS in almost every family...need I continue?

http://www.globalissues.org/Geopolitics/Africa.asp

Sorry peeps, I'm in a sour mood.

/Ice

 

[shereads]

In the U.S., I suspect that the entire African continent is associated in a lot of people's minds with what happened to us in Somalia, where the bodies of U.S. soldiers were dragged through the streets by a cheering crowd and we got to watch it with our morning coffee.

It'll be hard to get the Lord's Resistance Army added to the Axis of Evil or even the War on Terror. Competition is tight.

As of this weekend, though, we have Marines in Haiti. No choice there, with our embassy threatened and Haiti in our backyard. It will be interesting to see how we continue to maintain two dramatically different immigration policies regarding Cuba, whose exile community has enough political influence to sway the state of Florida in an election; and Haiti, whose refugees go through the same hell to get here but are typically denied asylum on the grounds that they are "economic refugees" and not fleeing tyranny.

Our Cuban policy is unofficially called "wet foot/dry foot," meaning that if a refugee reaches the shore without being stopped by the Coast Guard, he or she earns asylum. Carl Hiassen, a columnist for the Miami Herald, writing about the treatment of Haitians who reach our shoes, refered to the immigration policy "dark foot/white foot."

 

[oggbashan]

It's the common African shitstorm that noone gives a penny about. That entire continent,and specifically central Africa, is a huge blind spot in the western media coverage.

... we didn't care about the Moroccan terrorism, ...

/Ice

I did. Moroccan terrorism nearly killed me when I was 10. Rudolf Valentino in the Sheik and operetta about "Sons of the Desert" romanticised the unpleasant reality that 20th and 21st Century Africa is like 15th and 16th Century Europe. Death and disease are the facts of life as is man's inhumanity to men (and women).

Og

 

[Boxlicker101]

I may be mistaken but the Lord's Resistance Army sounds like Muslim fanatics. They were or are the terrorists in Morocco and Algeria and fired the civil war in Sudan.

 

[Colleen Thomas]

Sher wrote:

What would it take to get the developed world to do something about what's happening in Uganda? If they were white? If they had oil?


I think you answered the question yourself as far as this country is concerned. It will take images from the media and reports that are graphic enough and strong enough to over shadow the images of smiling Samalies desecrating the bodies of U.S. troops. Until such time as some photojournalist can capture something on film that is more moving or poignant, I don't think you will see any mass cry from the people of this country to send our troops into an african nation. And without a mass public outcry it is unlikely any president will risk the political clout that would have to be invested when the payout is not going to earn a lot of votes and the potential fall out could topple him from office.

-Colly

 

[shereads]

True, Colly. I think most of us are aware on some level that there's an ongoing misery there, but we keep it at the back of our minds filed under "Later" or "If Ever" while we deal with the things that impact our own lives. I haven't given a serious thought to that civil war in recent months. But there was something about the interviews with those young girls - their snapshots accompanied the article - that brought home the horror of it. Just two ordinary girls, speaking Engish, and with familiar names. "Jennifer" and "Caroline." They suddenly seemed like a couple of American kids trapped in someone else's nightmare.

Thanks for being here.

 

[shereads]

I did. Moroccan terrorism nearly killed me when I was 10.

Would you mind telling us what happened? (And pardon me if your posts about your childhood cruise aboard the future Achille Lauro has me thinking of you as Alec in The Black Stallion (specifically the film by Frances Ford Coppola, as I wasn't that big a fan of the books) - a young man having exotic adventures and in and out of scrapes of all sorts, including your dangerous encouter with a cabin stewardess in formalwear.

In my version, there will be a black Arabian stallion accompanyiing you on your adventures as Young Og from now on. It would be nice if you could work a horse into your Morroccan story, but you can keep it true and that will be lovely too.

 

[oggbashan]

Would you mind telling us what happened? (And pardon me if your posts about your childhood cruise aboard the future Achille Lauro has me thinking of you as Alec in The Black Stallion (specifically the film by Frances Ford Coppola, as I wasn't that big a fan of the books) - a young man having exotic adventures and in and out of scrapes of all sorts, including your dangerous encouter with a cabin stewardess in formalwear.

In my version, there will be a black Arabian stallion accompanyiing you on your adventures as Young Og from now on. It would be nice if you could work a horse into your Morroccan story, but you can keep it true and that will be lovely too.

Sorry, Shereads, my Moroccan experience was unpleasant.

I was a very new Boy Scout, camping for the first time in my life, but in Morocco. We were woken one morning to find ourselves in No Mans Land between the government forces and the "rebels". We had camped in a valley and the opposing forces were on the ridges firing at each other.

We learned how to dig slit trenches in a hurry just before mortar rounds landed on our tents and shredded them. None of us were killed but several were injured by shrapnel.

We were in those trenches for three days before a cease fire was arranged to let us leave the battlefield. We had to pass through the fighting area and I saw the sun-bloated dead bodies and the effects of what I think was napalm on humans. Not pleasant for a ten year old who could have been one of those bodies.

Only a few hundred died so it was a minor incident, not newsworthy except to our parents.

Afterwards it was dismissed by the Moroccan government as a "police action". The rumour was that the "rebels" were smugglers objecting to a recent increase in the bribes demanded by government officials. Given Morocco's government at the time that was a likely explanation.

The politics of extracting us from the battlefield are interesting in retrospect but we were unaware of them while we were crouching in our slit trenches.

Og

PS. As a young Og I worked on the maxim of "try anything at least once as long as it doesn't frighten the horses". Unfortunately the horses got frightened sometimes, and my body got damaged - as I found out in my forties. At twenty I thought and acted as if I was indestructible.

 

[shereads]

PS. As a young Og I worked on the maxim of "try anything at least once as long as it doesn't frighten the horses". Unfortunately the horses got frightened sometimes, and my body got damaged - as I found out in my forties. At twenty I thought and acted as if I was indestructible.

Thank you, Og.

At twenty, we were all indestructible. At ten, I wasn't nearly as brave as you, though. This certainly puts boy scouting in a different light. Over here, it's a major concern of the family when my nephew's scout troop endures a night of cold weather.

 

[oggbashan]

Thank you, Og.

This certainly puts boy scouting in a different light. Over here, it's a major concern of the family when my nephew's scout troop endures a night of cold weather.

That was fifty years ago. Boy Scouts have changed. Society has changed. My experience in Morocco was unintentional. Even the "rebels" wouldn't have fired on Boy Scouts IF they had known who we were.

I'm giving a talk to a pensioners' group soon about being a Boy Scout. Some of them will have memories of their own.

During WWII UK Boy Scouts were used as messengers between Air Raid Wardens DURING an Air Raid. A scout hat and a bicycle wasn't much protection against a bomb or shrapnel.

Baden-Powell started his first boys' group in Mafeking during the siege. His boys carried messages under fire. When he set up the Boy Scouts he was thinking that the boys would eventually be soldiers, sailors or officers. He wanted to start them right so that they wouldn't be uneducated seven-stone weaklings as adults.

When I was a UK Boy Scout it was expected that one or two Scouts would die each year while doing Scouting activities. It might be unfortunate but they could easily die hit by a car, falling from a tree, drowning in a river etc. Boys were LESS likely to die as Scouts because they had their leaders with them. They were trained in First Aid and sensible risk-taking but they did more interesting and exciting things than normal boys.

Modern Society doesn't seem to allow boys (or girls) to take calculated risks. They must be protected at all times - so they take stupid risks because they don't know the difference between a reasonable risk and an unreasonable one.

In my day as a Scout, the Girl Guides did 'dangerous' activities that modern Scouts are not allowed to attempt.

As a scout I always wore a knife. At first a sailor's clasp knife; then a ten inch Bowie; and finally a twentyfour inch Machete. All were razor sharp. I walked the streets to and from my Scout meetings wearing the Machete. I even wore it on parade in Trafalgar Square; in the forecourt of Buckingham Palace as a car park attendant for Royal Garden Parties. No one objected. Why should they? I was a Queen's Scout. I was trusted. The knife was part of my uniform and I was trained when and where to use it.

Can you imagine an Eagle Scout at The White House today carrying a 24" razor sharp Machete?

Og

 

[shereads]

Can you imagine an Eagle Scout at The White House today carrying a 24" razor sharp Machete?

Og

No, but I can imagine that my nephew would give almost anything to be allowed to carry a machete.

 

[The_Fool]

No, but I can imagine that my nephew would give almost anything to be allowed to carry a machete.

Similar to a strong desire I've heard expressed by adults to wear a gun (concealed or otherwise) or fire automatic weapons. Been there, done that. No mystique. Ditto with hand grenades. Those scare the piss out of me.

 

[shereads]

Similar to a strong desire I've heard expressed by adults to wear a gun (concealed or otherwise) or fire automatic weapons. Been there, done that. No mystique. Ditto with hand grenades. Those scare the piss out of me.

I keep hand grenades in a fruit bowl on the kitchen counter ever since the second break-in and burglary at my home. There's really nothing to it. Just don't separate the fruit from the stem.

 

[shereads]

Similar to a strong desire I've heard expressed by adults to wear a gun (concealed or otherwise) or fire automatic weapons. Been there, done that. No mystique. Ditto with hand grenades. Those scare the piss out of me.

Is there a male gene that leads to a love of weapons? While I try not to believe in stereotypes, I noticed when my nephew was barely more than a baby - and his mother hadn't yet given in and allowed him to watch violent cartoons or own a toy gun - he would pick up a stick or pine cone or other handy object, point it at you, and announce, "This is a gun and I'm shooting you," or "This is a sword and you're dead."

I've been told by a woman who teaches pre-school that it she gives modeling clay to her group of 5-year-olds, the girls will sit down and make something and the boys will look for someone to exchange clay-smashed-in-the-face with.

Hence the world.

 

[Guest]

No, but I can imagine that my nephew would give almost anything to be allowed to carry a machete.

He can always work the cane fields in Cuba . P.

 

[shereads]

He can always work the cane fields in Cuba . P.

Hell, he can be a lawn man in Miami. The last one left his machete here by mistake. Quite the thing for disciplining the shrubbery or trespassers.

 

[Madame Manga]

Is there a male gene that leads to a love of weapons?

If there is, I must have gotten it too. I loved Robin Hood when I was a small girl because he got to shoot arrows with his yew bow and hit people with quarterstaves. I longed for a real sword and made myself one from a couple of slats of molding. Of course, I WAS a girl, and so I painted the hilt gold and stuck plastic jewels on it, but I also dueled with my sister when Mama wasn't around to yell about putting out eyes by accident. I guess you can find fencing lessons for second-graders in the modern world, but they didn't exist at the time or I would have begged for them.

These days I collect gun magazines--no actual guns, however. I have small boys in the house.

MM