child abuse, sex, african men

i read an article about young Kenyan girls in Mtondia village who are pregnant or already mothers. one of the girls states, "I was 10-years-old when I got my first child - I was raped by some young men in our village,...Then two years later while I was going to a local disco, I was raped and that's how I got my second child."*

now while the rest of the community may ostracize them and feel that they brought this upon themselves, i am perturbed with the men and fathers. somehow in time the moral lines became blurred in regards to having sex with a minor. the young girl in the story above was ten when she says she was raped. child abuse is a major issue that needs to be discussed as a community. sometimes it is as if society has condoned it, sure people are angered by someone who molests an infant, but the same outrage and denunciation is needed for all underage children. for surely, a ten year old can not give consent. unfortunately even the courts have failed to properly punish those found guilty of child abuse. below are two cases in Kenya.

May 2002**

In May 2002, the public reacted with consternation after a Makadara trial Magistrate inexplicably handed a lenient non-custodial sentence to a man found guilty of defiling a four-year old girl. The convicted defiler got away with the unprecedented sentence of a 3-year probation. (The maximum sentence is a 14-year jail term). The then Chief Justice, Bernard Chunga, however moved swiftly to redeem the situation when he referred the case to the High Court for review and re-trial.

March 2003**

On March 18^th 2003, a Karatina court acquitted a suspected child defiler, even after the 9-year-old deaf and dumb victim had positively identified the accused, Mr. John Wachira Kiramba in a identification parade organized by the police. The magistrate gave the reason for his ruling as being that the child had not positively identified the accused person “within reasonable time!”

another serious issue with our men is the failure to understand that coerced sex is rape. it has been argued that sex between young adults of the same age can be viewed as consensual; however, research has shown that the majority of African girls report their first sexual experience as coercive.


sources:
* http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6296549.stm
**http://www.chambersofjustice.org/publications/monitoring_reports/key_findings.htm

women, culture, fgm

i wonder why people are able to present crimes against women as cultural significant practices. for example female genital mutilation is not a religious practice as claimed by some it is cultural. i cant understand why women would want to have their daughters circumcised. not only is it dangerous but its ethically wrong. why would any mother want her daughter to suffer so much in the name of culture.