I haven't forgotten the mission of this blog. I haven't even been updating as I've just been bookmarking the news stories of interest.
Foundation plans are on hold as of the moment, but it's only temporary, other areas all of a sudden have more pressing needs. I've disabled commenting in the interim, I'll still update with articles every now and then and God willing, at some point in the future I'll be unveiling a website.
There's a lot of things in the works, but it's all in due time and as I've come to learn, in God's time. In the meantime, I'm on twitter (see link to your right) and have a cooking blog I update more frequently (see above).
That's it for now folks, just wanted to give an explanation as to my blog whereabouts!
I'm quite sure most people must have heard of this outrageous story out of Phoenix, AZ. An eight year old Liberian girl was raped by 2 Liberian boys aged 9-14. She was lured into a shed on July 16 with the promise of getting a stick of gum.
It's bad enough that she was raped at EIGHT years old, but what's even worse is that her parents' disowned her for bringing the family to shame.
Honestly, I don't get that. I know it's got to be rooted in tradition and culture, but she is EIGHT and at EIGHT, she probably knew nothing about intercourse. So, for them to disown her at a time when she should be brought closer to the family fold and nurtured so she could get over the trauma, she is being disowned by her family. I watched the clip on CNN where the mother, sister and some male relative were interviewed and I don't want to be mean, but it's just ignorance. The mother was just in denial that nothing happened to her child. I mean seriously?!!!!
How do you justify the rape of an eight year old girl in your mind?! She is not eighteen, she's eight. She's not even in double-digit age range yet. She's so young and a child at that. She didn't ask to be raped!
The girl in question is now under the care of Arizona Child Protective Service (ACPS) and they have been fielding numerous phone calls of people wanting to help and even adopt the girl. It's so outrageous that even the President of Liberia, Mrs. Johnson Sirleaf, said the family was in the wrong and that a child that has been traumatized needs help not neglect.
I can rant on and on about the mess that is this situation, but I'll leave it at that. I sincerely hope this child, this raped eight year old girl gets appropriate help, the juveniles are brought to justice and she is adopted by a caring family that will smother her with love.
I haven't seen the movie Slumdog Millionaire, but it racked a bunch of Oscar awards and is reported to be an extremely good movie. It thus goes without saying that this movie must have made the producers a lot of money, not so?
So why was the home of one of the young actors, Azharuddin Mohammed, demolished by the Indian city authorities and most importantly why oh why are they homeless? They reportedly smacked the boy in the head before proceeding to demolish the home in Mumbai.
The movie's director, Danny Boyle has denied charges of exploitation but man please, give me a break. The only thing done so far for the children was to enroll them in school for the very first time, which in itself is a good thing, but for a movie that grossed over $200m, are they not supposed to be relatively well off?
Would child actors here like Dakota Fanning be paid peanuts? Hell to the no, so why these children? Are they any different because they're Indian? I'm enraged, it's some major bs and highly unfair.
Apo Six is the name given to six individuals who were brutally murdered by the Nigerian police in Abuja on June 7-8, 2005.
The deceased are:
Ekene Isaac Mgbe Ifeanyin Ozor Chinedu Meniru Paulinus Ogbonna and Anthony and Augustina Arebu
Below is the timeline of the murders:
7 June 2005: 2200 Apo Six meet Danjuma Ibrahim at a party
8 June:0200 Four shot at police roadblock
0400 Ifeanyin and Augustina seen alive at Garki police station
1100 Police try to bury six in a cemetery near Apo
Two days of rioting in Apo and Garki districts
13 June: Police begin internal investigation
24 June: President Obasanjo orders inquiry
5 July: Police witnesses testify the six were slain in cold blood
6 July: Police armourer admits weapons planted on bodies
13 July: Court rules the suspects will face trial
15 December: Bodies buried by families
18 January 2006: Trial of police officers begins
3 August: Danjuma Ibrahim released on "exceptional and special" medical bail
It's ridiculous that almost four years later, justice has still not been served and to make matters worse, the culprit is out on 'medical' bail, how insensitive.
Update: 8/14/09: She has been released into UK custody where she will serve out the rest of her sentence **Sentencing Update: BBC*** ***UPDATES HERE: BBC and CNN***
Ms. Samantha Orobator is a 20 year old Briton, of Nigerian heritage, who was arrested August 5, 2008 in Laos for smuggling a little over a pound of cocaine.
It is the law in Laos that anyone caught with more than a pound of cocaine will face the death penalty. Ms. Orobator has been sentenced to death by firing squad. To make matters worse, she got pregnant in December while in prison. A legal charity in the UK, Reprieve, has said that things that happen in prison are usually not voluntary, in other words, she was probably raped by a guard. She is due in September.
She was born in Nigeria, but lived in Britain since she was eight. Her father still lives in Nigeria while her mother and three sisters live in Ireland. Her mum only just found out in January that her daughter is pregnant, she also didn't know what her daughter was doing in Laos.
Legal director for Reprieve, Clive Stafford Smith, stated that Laos authorities have now decided to bring her case forward by a year to next week. This has been done because arrangements were only just made for her to see a lawyer and the authorities want to avoid her meeting with one.
Reports state that she is being kept in the most inhumane condition, not conducive to a pregnant woman, her needs are not being taken into consideration.
At this point, she has no lawyer and it is common in Laos for a defendant to get a lawyer only a few days before trial. If something is not done pretty soon, it might be too late.
It's sickening to think a pregnant woman will be executed without fair practices. Guilty or not, human rights still needs to prevail, given her condition, I can't even begin to imagine how she must feel, it must be torturous mentally and physically.
I hope the best for her and her unborn child. Hopefully, she can get a reduced sentence as opposed to the death penalty. I am wholly opposed to the death penalty because it's simply ineffective and doesn't serve it's purpose, so really what's the point?
This hits home even more for me because she is Nigerian and so young too, only 20. I'll definitely be following this story closely and not wanting to start writing in the past tense, I'll leave it be for now.
**The Reprieve lawyer handling her case, Anna Morris (who was refused access) stated that Orobator will not face the death penalty because she is pregnant. Apparently, Laos law prohibits the execution of pregnant women. The UK Foreign Office states that she became pregnant in jail while the Laotian government states she was pregnant when she was arrested. She is yet to go to trial.**
I started this to help me along my journey in starting a non-profit foundation. It'll document various human rights stories among other things. Most importantly, for me it is a constant reminder that God birthed in me this plan, so no matter how daunting it gets, I will see it to fruition.
"The Avartsy Poverty Foundation is an international non-profit organization that seeks to empower Nigeria's children by fighting poverty through the power of education."
Philosphy
It is the belief of Avartsy Poverty that every child should be able to attend school and worry about grades as opposed to not having the basic necessities with which to succeed in school. The saying by Lao Tzu "give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime," holds true in the philosophy of TAP.F, because by ensuring that children attend and stay in school, they will be able to determine their own futures.
Vision
In keeping with theUN MDG'S, Avartsy Poverty is committed to goal number 2 which is Universal Education for all. 2015 is not feasible for Nigeria, but irrespective of date, we eventually want to support as many children as we can in as many schools as possible, in addition to providing them with the necessary resources to remain in school.
