Ruby's Round the World Adventure

I want you to think about torture.

rubyanntravel — Sun, 8 Mar 2015 17:19:00 GMT

I want you to think about torture.

I want you to close your eyes and envision the cruellest form of destroying, of crushing a soul.

Picture disgusting violation.

Can you imagine agonising pain so vivid, so real, that you can almost feel it? This pain is forced upon you by another human. Another living being who bleeds the same blood, breathes the same air and has the ability to feel the same pain.

Now, face the reality of a beautifully delicate 6 year old child in Nepal who is brutally gang raped.

Feel the viscously chilling nature of a wide eyed 4 year old girl being purchased as a mere commodity and sold for sex.

And realise the probability of being raped, sexually abused or assaulted for girls in Nepal is higher than the likeliness of gaining an adequate education.

If you can, focus on what it feels liked to be touched when you don't like being touched, in places of great privacy.

Now, what do you feel? Repulsion…Violation… Rage… Terror...?

Think of having a physically stronger stranger or trusted one violently strip your bones bare and force themself inside of you.
Listen to the shrieks of fear and powerlessness.
You're struggling, biting, helplessly screaming and pleading to die, begging for the sweet stillness of death to stop the torture.

At last you are numb, physically living (barely), but mentally dead. Simply waiting...

Bring your thoughts back to the innocence and purity of a child and finally remember the 6-year-old girl helplessly, powerlessly being passed from man to man.

This is reality…
Not for just one child.
Not for a few…

But for thousands of young girls in Nepal and millions around the world, this horrific reality is a part of their existence.

Yes. What we dare not even think about and feel EXTREMELY uncomfortable in imagining or discussing happens on an OUTRAGEOUSLY regular basis in Nepal and other parts of the world.

Words cannot, and will never be able to validate the level of suffering inflicted by sexual vilification, harassment, rape and sex trafficking. No one individual can understand the type of gruesome cruelty and torture endured by such acts other than the victims. Each act is personal, every experience is unlike the next, and each soul dies in a distinctive, revoltingly perverse way.

Once destroyed, the only way to escape the prison of depression is rebirth. Summoning the strength and support to conquer the fear of life, the terror of potentials, chances and probabilities of ever being tortured in such ways again, is chillingly petrifying. For many this way out, a way of manipulating the trauma and transforming it into empowerment, strength and leadership, is not an option, especially for the children of Nepal. When adults, teenagers and particularly young children encounter such experiences and then lack access to sufficient support networks, a way out of the darkness is almost impossible. Even more demoralising is the fact that for the majority of victims who are trafficked in South East Asia their first experience of sexual abuse is often far from their last. For hundreds of thousands of girls around the globe, the first rape is merely just a beginning of the long, winding and shameful numbness that their future holds.

When we think of Nepal, too often we think of an extremely peaceful part of Asia, the home to the world’s highest mountain range, a tourist hub for the most adventurous trekker, a holy kingdom. Rarely do we associate Nepal as a nation severely poisoned by nauseatingly high levels of gender discrimination and human trafficking. Nearly 7,000 Nepali girls as young as six years old are sold every year into India’s red-light district—or 200,000 in the last decade. Ten thousand children between the ages of six and 14 are in Sri Lanka brothels.[1]

During my time in Nepal I formed relationships with perhaps the most vibrantly energetic and benevolent children I have ever encountered. These girls were victims of the most brutal, inhumane actions of cruelty. One unbelievably fragile girl at the age of twelve had been violently gang raped by prestigious members of the Nepalese community, subsequently she was disowned and abandoned by her family who didn’t want to loose their reputation. The young girl suffered immense physical problems as a consequence of her aggressive rape and neglect. Nearly succumbing to death where she lay in her hospital bed, she resembled a pile of bones with haunted eyes and a broken smile. I now know this young girl as an exuberant, cheerful and healthy child who has been reborn from the torturous life she once lead thanks to the support of one incredible Nepalese change maker named Indira Ghale.

I was humbled to work with a woman of power, one of inconceivable strength and empathy; Indira Ghale- a big sister (Didi) to some and a mother to many. Together with the help of a passionate future journalist Joshua Ryan, we started the process of regenerating her organisation Change Action Nepal (CAN) through the development of a website, brochure and distributing new resources for some of the girls. CAN was created 18 years ago, Indira has been resiliently fighting sex trafficking through her organisation which provides girls around the country whom are affected by sexual exploitation a light in the dullest of prisons, an escape from the darkness through the brightness of education. Currently she supplies over 82 scholarships towards the education of girls who have been victims of sexual abuse. Indira’s organisation fights sex slavery, rape, trafficking and gender injustice not with weapons, but with books; through the power of knowledge. A more compassionate and active change maker than Indira would certainly be challenging to find, this is a woman who fights against all the social norms and taboos of her culture and devotes herself entirely to her cause. Indira provides hundreds of girls in Nepal with opportunities to escape their current circumstance and offers her home with warmth to those who have survived sex abuse and trafficking. This is a woman who gives me courage, who motivates me through her actions and words to become fearlessly determined.

For the sake of the girls Indira supports and for many who don’t receive such care, what we need to understand, as a global society is that rape and sexual exploitation exist because the world has generated a demand for sex not only in terms of power and pleasure but also in terms of business and money. Sex trafficking is on a repulsive rise around the globe; according to the State of Human Trafficking in California and many other recent reports, “Human trafficking is the world's fastest growing criminal enterprise and is an estimated $32 billion-a-year global industry.”
There is an unquestionably URGENT need to create an educational approach towards changing the stigma associated with sex and all the fragments of modern sexual culture. When we think of sex we often think of women, pornography, prostitution and stripers these factors are derivatives of sexual commercialisation, money, alcohol, and drugs. Unfortunately in this day and age we have trivialized the act of sexual intercourse and consequently created a world revolved and obsessed by sexual behaviour and all of its miscellaneous implications. The fact that women often become typecasts of sex objects assists in the rapid development of sexual slavery worldwide. It is about time we develop the human decency and dignity to recognise that as long as we continue to sexualise women and worship pornography, sexual exploitation and torture will continue to permeate.

My question is WHY? Why is it that all over the world we value sex over human life? Too many of us sit back and continue to feed an industry which has such horrific consequences for women and children all over the world. Yet we dismiss our indulgence in these sexual commodities like watching pornography, paying for prostitution, dance bars, brothels, participating in sex tourism by attending ‘ping pong shows’ etc, purchasing over sexualised clothing and toys for children, watching movies like ‘50 shades of grey’, listening to sexualised and degrading music, or simply adopting language which is used to shame and objectify women as sexual entities. This behaviour has costs which are so immense, so unfair and inhumane that we feel uncomfortable just thinking about them, we put these concerns to the back of our minds and dismiss them as having any relation what so ever with our actions in the western world. The fact is that human trafficking around the globe is estimated to generate a profit of anywhere from $9 billion to $31.6 billion. Half of these profits are made in industrialized countries. [2] In no ways am I criticizing the individuals who are often simply controlled by the industry, but I am trying to communicate to every person who reads this, that you have power over yourselves, over the choices you make and the actions you take, I am begging you to realise the impact of your thoughts, words and actions and the capacity you have to refrain from indulging in such commodities.

To shine more insight on the consequences of sexual abuse I will share with you a story about a girl I worked with in Nepal. A ten-year-old girl, whom I adored was raped by her grandfather and once again the family was so ashamed that they forced the child to leave her home and community, to live on the filthy streets in absolute poverty, a place where as a result of her circumstance, she now ‘belonged’. In Nepal if a girl is raped and the community finds out this information then the youngster, no matter what age will be publicly shamed, they will pin the child down to the ground and shave off their hair as the ultimate symbol of worthlessness. When a child falls victim to rape or sex trafficking they loose all purity, all respect and are now considered to be the lowest, most despicable and disgusting form of life. This is reality… THIS IS LIFE. This is what it can mean to be a woman in Nepal and in so many different places around the world. All over the globe we value the act of sex more than a life of a CHILD. Not surprisingly, over 71% of trafficked children show suicidal tendencies.[3]As far as I can tell these girls have longed for death to escape the hell of enduring everyday, they've lived in the most sickening, revolting and frightening of nightmares, a hell that they were subjected to simply by being born.

If you are still reading this, solely by spending your time listening to me, you have demonstrated your agency as an autonomous being. I am pleading for you to take that agency and to start using it, perhaps by starting to make decisions you think more carefully about, or becoming actively involved in change through writing, or chatting to your friends about issues that remain unspoken, which are in many ways silenced, or through an organisation, or changing the way you speak, or the things you buy, or the music you listen to. Please if you take anything from these words let yourself feel something towards the suffering of millions of women around the world, don’t be afraid to feel a sense of responsibility, of empowerment, of motivation and compassion, to start fighting back from the atrocious inequality that dominates our world.

Today is International Women’s day.
A day I wish I could celebrate in full spirit and in confidence knowing how much our society values and respects women as humans, humans who are entitled to the same worth, the same level of dignity and the same humanity to that of a man.

But unfortunately today I don’t celebrate. Today I mourn. I mourn the inequality of women around the world, I mourn the horror young children in Nepal and other parts of the globe are subjected to (the lowest forms of torture), I mourn for every girl and woman who as ever felt unsafe walking home at night. I mourn for every child that is killed in China because of her sex. I mourn for every woman in Africa who is born into a life where they have no agency, no control over their circumstance. I mourn for all the girls around the world who, like me have been subjected to sexual abuse, or domestic abuse or to any form of degradation based on what we label as their ‘biology’. I mourn for every spooky catcall, every sly groping, or sexist slur. I mourn for each and every time a victim has been blamed for their abuse. The only thing I celebrate today is the endurance and strength of womankind and even this I concurrently mourn. Today is a day like any other, which calls for reflection. A day, which demands to be heard. A day in which, like every other day requires a change in our attitude, a dramatic shift in our behaviour and values. Let us use this day and every other day to speak about the unspoken, to voice the stories we have silenced and to start talking about things that make us uncomfortable. Let us realise that the suffering and inequality of women all over the world is so much bigger than personal discomfort and more important than embarrassment.

Women from all walks of life, from all around the world have the right to live without fear. We have the right to live in a world, which grants all human beings equal safety, one that doesn’t deal out human rights and access to security based on biology, or other factors such as race and class. A world whereby the ‘fear of being female’ does not exist!

For more information about Change Action Nepal please contact Indira on Ighale@gmail.com, or Ruby at Ruby.ann.thorburn@gmail.com and check out the website below: http://ighale.wix.com/actionforchangenepal

[1]Millions Suffer in Sex Slavery.” NewsMax. April 24, 2001. Accessed: December 26, 2010.

[2]“Human Trafficking.” Unglobalcompact.org. Accessed: December 26, 2010.

[3]Skinner, E. Benjamin. 2008. A Crime So Monstrous: Face-to-Face with Modern-Day Slavery. New York, NY: Free Press.

A man's world, a woman's penalty.

rubyanntravel — Tue, 16 Dec 2014 23:33:00 GMT

I see widows working vigorously to provide food to their offspring who, without a father are subjected to poverty. I hear the cries of children who are malnourished and parentless since the death of their mother and the fleet of their father to a new marriage. I touch the wounds of the women and children who suffer. I smell the familiar stench of sexism and I feel the inequality in my bones. I feel the fear of woman and the dominance of man. With every objectifying glance and comment inside I shrivel. I feel powerless.

Truth will not shine light when it is continually denied its worth and factuality. In a land which shares a commonality with a sad majority of countries and social paradigms around the globe, one whereby the reality of inequality between genders is dismissed and accepted as a mere fact of life as opposed to something which requires action and change; suffering will continue to flourish, inequality and injustice will undoubtably prevail. Despite her vast differences and unique qualities Kenya like many countries is a world socially constructed for and by men, a land where being born male automatically gives one a higher life chance, a place in which the objectification, vilification and social inequality of women is the way of life.

In every woman, in every country, in every level of every social structure there exists a penalty, a price for being born female which must and will be paid for over the duration of a female's lifetime. The price women pay for their existence and the degree one is subjected to suffer varies greatly from different socioeconomic situations, cultural factors and belief systems around the world. Indeed the brutality of paying the gender tax is often at its peak in third world countries where human rights are violated regularly or completely disregarded as basic rights. As long as we continue to ignore these rights, as we silently surpass the obligation we as humans have to stand against the repression of fellow sentient beings I fear we cannot separate ourselves from the perpetrators of repression, that is to say he who stands by silently undisturbed and unaffected by the injustice faced by another is merely another promoter of inequality. Indeed the most poisonous factor to a democratic and liberal society is the silence of the people.

Throughout history human beings have established enormous success in various discoveries and developments, whilst simultaneously we are held accountable for atrocious acts of cruelty and discrimination. It would be ignorant to deny the necessity of change where large populations of people face severe suffering, likewise ignorance can be seen when we deny ourselves the responsibility each person owes to humanity to stand against such suffering. We have created deeply rooted social problems which directly and indirectly affect each of us. Therefore we need to consider ourselves accountable for the problems we as humans have created. When we can recognise the responsibility we have towards problems which exist in our micro communities and macro worlds, regardless of whether we have personally caused or exacerbated such problems, instead simply accepting such truth because the human race, as a whole, as one, have created these problems and as individuals who make up the human race we have a duty not only to ensure our actions do not worsen these problems but also to contribute to the resolution of such dilemmas.

In Kenya the price a child pays for their gender is high. This can be seen from the day a woman gives birth to a boy. A celebratory ceremony lasts for days with visitors and family members travelling far and wide to shower the baby and mother in gifts. Throughout the mother's life when speaking about her child she will reference her luck in giving birth to a boy- the more boys the better. However when a girl is born celebrations are minimal, boasting about giving birth to a girl is a rarity. In this fatalistic society a baby girl equates to work, insecurity and the necessity of finding a suitable husband who can offer a good dowry and provide for the woman and the offspring she will inevitably hold responsibility for. Money is a limited resource in most families in Kenya particularly those in rural areas. An example of the degree of poverty in Kenya is seen in the lack of basic needs the children have, each day I would speak to the kids about how much food they had eaten and the response rarely varied from 'one slice of bread and a cup of tea'. it is clear that the level of poverty in rural areas of Kenya is beyond what many people from the West could imagine. When a family lacks the funds to send all it's children to school (which is more often than not) the priority becomes providing the males of the family with education, for the women are believed less likely to need an education as their future is dependent on their husband and fulfilling their domestic duties.

Likewise women are considered inferior to their male siblings as they are less likely to leave a legacy and name for the family, therefore many Kenyan mothers hope to give birth to a boy. Similarly a young girl who attends school during her adolescents faces enormous embarrassment and shame when she reaches her menstruation and lacks the monetary supply to buy sanitary towels. Young girls are often humiliated by their class mates to the point where they decide to withdraw from school for one week per month. It goes without saying that missing 25% of lessons in a year puts the young girls at a serious disadvantage in their studies and leads to less females achieving government scholarships for high school, consequently many girls don't go on to secondary school following primary education. Indeed this is one of the most limiting factors in terms of female equality in Kenya. When females are less likely to gain education the likeliness of social mobility and the chance of gaining a higher socioeconomic status is very small. If this continues, the cycle of institutionalised poverty and discrimination will permeate and the future of women in Kenya will remain dim.

Unfortunately the sexualisation and objective attitude towards women in Kenya has created a huge demand for prostitution and sex trafficking. Many of the women and children who fall victim to this vicious cycle of poverty end up being forced into a demoralising way of life as their alternative life-options are extremely limited. In fact according to a recent UNICEF report more than 20,000 girls are trafficked each year. Even more horrific is a report conducted by Crime Scene Investigation Nairobi which found that in the time frame of December 30th 2007 to June 30th 2008 disturbingly 40,500 women were raped out of a total Kenyan population of 33,947,100. This is a shocking statistic considering that 1 in 20 Kenyan women report rape cases and merely 1 in 6 seek medical advice. Given this information one can conclude that the real rate of rape could be well over 4 times as high. When women have a higher chance of getting raped than they have of learning to read, it is abundantly clear that something in this society is seriously wrong.

And so it must be in a world that values one gender more than another that limited life chances and unavoidable suffering of the other, lesser gender will persist. The objectification of women in Kenya Is sickening, as a western woman I found it fearfully confronting, intimidating and shameful that a female cannot walk down a road or along the beach without haunting stares, catcalling and harassment despite asking to be left alone. A day without feeling uncomfortable or objectified whilst walking down the road, a day without a comment about my body or my appearance was a rare and spectacular day.

Of course my reaction to such social norms are naive given the power men have over women in Kenya, a land where rape and domestic violence is outrageously high- I should have expected nothing less than to have been treated as a walking talking sex object, useful only for reproductive and cooking purposes, yet shock and disgrace were difficult feelings to avoid. Indeed it is difficult to observe a land with vastly different social behaviours and ethics in an unbiased way, when we ourselves have internalised a particular set of western values and morals throughout our socialisation. However the one measure of principles and basic rights established after some of the most brutal suffering in history following World War Two by the United Nations and universally agreed to is the Declaration of Human Rights. Using these 30 documents I feel one is able to more accurately evaluate the deprivation of rights and the degree of inequality populations suffer from, with less influence from personal values and subjective opinions. It is clear that my personal values are far from the values and norms in Kenya and many other countries in regards to the treatment and attitudes displayed towards women, however it is through the measure of human rights where we can begin to establish our own values and morals towards such behaviour and understand the degree of inequality ruling women. It is this basic necessity of the right to equality, the right to be free from violence and harassment, free from gender based discrimination which I aim to promote and encourage others to stand for, because if we don't stand for something, we stand for anything.

Whilst volunteering at Happy Home orphanage I had the opportunity to visit and work with many women's groups within the community. Each afternoon we would venture out to a different area in the village attending meetings of various women's group. These groups consisting of 30-40 compassionate local women and occasionally a few men, come together to raise funds for their children and the orphans whom they look after. Indeed funds are very limited and progress is a tedious process, however the level of support the members of the groups offer one another is inspiring. The most important thing I learned about the women in Kenya is that they are strong, they are strong because if they want to survive in this man's world then strength is their only option. Hard work and enduring inevitable suffering is their only way forward.

There comes a time where we must ask ourselves, when is enough enough? At what point do we stand up and speak out? When will we admit responsibility for our society? And will we ever openly and willingly accept the truth of the pain and suffering we have caused? Will we ever believe the statistics and numbers social scientists and academics have collected throughout their research? When will we conquer the fear and ease of sitting back and doing/saying nothing whilst over half of the population suffers? When will we be brave enough to take away the superiority and power which has never rightfully belonged to mankind yet has always been possessed and demonstrated by men? When will we summon the courage to demand a world where the full humanity and integrity of a woman is respected as much as that of a man's?

I'm actively waiting for the day I can be fearless of the gender of the child I will one day give birth to, knowing that both a boy and a girl will grow up in a world where each is equally respected and valued. In denying women of their basic rights, of their equal humanity as humans, we are unconsciously creating economies which do not thrive, environments where men are denied their emotions and the freedom to be able to communicate and care about issues without receiving social judgement. We are creating a world limited to and restricted by gender roles and stereotypes, and in doing so we are causing detrimental social problems including sexual abuse, hatred towards women, domestic violence, sex trafficking and rape. If we strive for the equality of women and men, we will simultaneously be creating an environment of liberation for both men and women from strict gender stereotypes, which pose serious limitations and confinements for both genders.

Once again I resort to education and activism as perhaps the most important major actions needed to be taken to change the hearts and minds of future generations, to liberate men and women from ancient typecasts and gender roles around the world. We need to emphasise the importance of education in underdeveloped regions of the world such as Kenya and to teach young boys and girls that women are just as human as men, that girls are equally as entitled to their human rights as boys are. We need to teach men in these areas that rape and domestic violence are not acts of masculinity; they are acts of cruelty and cowardice. We must teach kids the value of activism and the need to stand against sexism through the close monitoring of our thoughts, words and actions. We need to educate people around the world that the word ‘feminism’ is not dirty. That calling oneself a feminist doesn't mean you harvest a hatred towards males, nor does it mean you are seeking revenge, or that you consider women superior to men. Feminism is the belief in, and respect towards the equal attitudes and treatment towards men and women. By accepting that men and women are different we can help to create equality through accommodating and embracing differences, and finding common ground in our similarities.

The belief that feminism is a ‘women’s issue’ which doesn't affect men is completely misplaced, it would be misleading to say that in the process of working towards female equality men wouldn't to some extent lose their birth right of power and social status. The truth is, in an ideal egalitarian society men will no longer be born superior, indeed they might have to work just as hard as a woman to get a promotion and they won't automatically hold the reins of power and status in the social hierarchy. The reality is men will no longer be handed the birth privileges they were never justly entitled to in the first place. This prospect may frighten many men and even women, as our natural instinct is to fear change. However in creating a level playing field men and women will also be liberated and freed from social expectations and gender typecasts. The weight of social problems women and men face on an existential basis will be dramatically lifted. Ultimately the future of women in Kenya, and all over the world depends on our ability to recognise and stand against the basic injustices and inequalities which have been deeply ingrained into our thoughts, words and actions. It is only by recognising these social norms and refusing to abide by such mores that we can create a world whereby women around the globe will no longer pay a price for their existence.

Photos: Kenya

rubyanntravel — Sat, 13 Dec 2014 23:36:00 GMT

Photos: GSESC

rubyanntravel — Sun, 29 Jun 2014 08:21:00 GMT

The Fear Mongrel

rubyanntravel — Sun, 29 Jun 2014 08:18:00 GMT

As the new-old saying goes ‘a woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle’. Well at least that is what I thought before attending the Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict in the UK, I know now that the international fight for feminism is not just a matter of ‘people need people’. The longest social movement in history of what seems like a perpetual fight for the rights of women around the world is much more than this, it is a matter of women need change. The cold truth is that within our patriarchal society men sit at the top of the social paradigm and posses the power to enact such change. So finally I recognise that whilst a woman might not ‘need’ a man as such, feminism needs men. Social change and the progression of female kind is dependent on all you males out there who often cringe at the word feminism.

The truth of the matter is that to many men the word 'feminism' means nothing more than a group of extremist, bra burning, men hating women who need to 'chill out' because in the 21st century they have nothing to complain about! Sadly many men and women are of the opinion that now females have the right to vote, work, divorce, use contraception and wear pants to work inequality is a thing of the past. Sexist jokes are still the funniest, pornography is still harmless, catcalling remains a matter of fun not objectification and rape is still the fault of the victim not the perpetrator. Until we can change these social norms and attitudes towards women and feminism we cannot expect further progression, but the biggest problem is that we don't expect change for as far as most are concerned females and males now equal.

Well I hate to break it to you ladies and gentlemen but sexism is (whether we believe it or not) enshrined in our daily existence and accounts for an extensive list of inequalities, causing universal problems in developed and undeveloped nations. Some of these include the incredibly low percentage of working women in top positions, disgraceful pay inequalities, the transnational sexualisation of women, a shameful rape culture of victim blaming, genital mutilation, disturbingly high figures of sexual abuse and the list goes on.

Upon first glance of the Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict my heart jumped with excitement, the fire in my belly roared and rumbled with growling hunger. Upon closer observation of the exhibition audience I saw hundreds of people from mixed classes, ages and nationalities (117 different countries were formally represented at the summit), yet to my dissatisfaction I soon realised that the one trait among this vibrant, diverse crowd which was lacking; men. Yes, there appeared to be a shocking (or not so shocking) underrepresentation of men! I tried my best not to let this sad reality change my experience of the summit. As I roamed I chatted with the different members from various organisations within the summit, I started by gathering some facts that could help to enlighten those people who (god knows how) still believe that sexism, gender based conflict and inequality ceases to exist, some of these include the facts that:

- In the Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo half of all women have experienced sexual violence from a husband or male partner.

- In Commonwealth countries more than 10% of women aged 15 to 49 undergone genital mutilation. According to The UNICEF’s State of the worlds have children’s report on hidden violence in the commonwealth Sierra Leone (88%), Nigeria (27%), Kenya (27%) and Tanzania (15%) all have prevalence above this threshold.

- In 19 commonwealth countries the prevalence of child marriage is well over 40%

- Around the world an average of 35% of women report sexual harassment, violence and abuse with unreported cases estimated to be almost twice as high.

When people ask me why I fight for feminism instead of other ‘more relevant issues’ my answer rarely differs, I look them straight in the eye and explain that I fight for feminism because gender inequality has direct consequences for 52% of the worlds population whether we like it or not. I then go on to elucidate that there exists an inextricable relationship between our patriarchal society and poverty, that gender based inequality is undeniably interconnected with the growing gap between the rich and the poor AND because out of 7 billion people on this planet, over 1 Billion women will be raped or beaten over the course of their lifetime.

And it comes down to nothing more than Fear.
Fear towards the freedom, independence and advancement of female kind continues to be the leading cause for inequality in the 21^st century. Fear held by both men and women. Fear, yes FEAR. To think that centuries of discrimination, poverty and inequality is a result of men being afraid of women and women being afraid of men is enough to make me scream. Because it is not okay that today women walking home at night all over the world feel ‘fearfully female’, nor is it okay that rape culture, pornography and the sexualisation of women throughout history allows victim blaming to excuse acts of rape, violence and torture.

Fear of violence and sexual vilification in underdeveloped countries like Peru and regions of Brazil is a part of everyday life; it is as much a part of poverty as hunger, disease or malnutrition. This was made abundantly clear to me upon my arrival in Cusco; If I thought being a woman could be scary in Australia, then I was in for a big shock.

Most of the time I found it difficult to deal with the masses of poverty on the streets; mainly comprised of women who placed themselves on the ground trying to take advantage of the tourist market by selling goods. I began to understand what it means to be born female in the developing world.

The harsh reality for most women and their offspring in third world countries (the satellites of the rich), is facing a way of life shaped by a vicious cycle of poverty and violence, but to their credit these women get by and by god they do it with their chins held high, wearing their bravest and toughest face. I have known some very strong women in my life, but the women of Peru have revolutionised my knowledge of the strength of woman- both emotional and physical, I was and remain left in awe. Babies, grown children, crops and goods heavier than I can fathom are carried daily by the sturdy backs of the Peruvian women, however poverty in the city of Cusco is different to the poverty experienced by those who cannot gain from the tourist industry, as a result many of the rural workers experience high levels of exploitation and many tourists don’t get to witness this reality for most Peruvians.

This in mind, it must be noted that whilst life is hard many Peruvians are extremely happy people who don’t sing a word of complaint. It's really important to understand that whilst a behaviour may be considered as socially unacceptable in one society in another it may be a social norm and general way of life, for example according to a researcher at the Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict, one study in Sudan found that when questioned 72% of men said that they felt it was their duty as a husband to ‘have sex with their wives be it forced or consented’. Whilst in the Western world this statistic would be appalling, the fact of the matter is that in some cultures forced sex, AKA rape within marriage is a social norm and as inhumane as it may be (using the international declaration of human rights as a basic measure of justice), there is little good that can come out of forcing western change upon a culture. In these types of situations whilst western standards (which themselves need improvement) towards human rights and the treatment of women can be used as a point of influence, the most important lesson we can learn from history is that positive social change is generally far more successful when it comes from the people and by the people. That is to say when it is forced or carried out by others chaos and disintegration of culture and tradition often results. The difficulty in advancing the position of women in underdeveloped nations is that it needs to be done in a non-compromising way to the culture and traditions which distinguishes a land and culture from another.

Ultimately it is education which plays a crucial role in changing the hearts and minds of generations and cultures around the world of the treatment and attitudes towards women. Such treatment has always been dependent on the socialisation of young boys and girls and is interrelated with perceptions of masculinity and femininity. In order for real success in terms of the advancement of women worldwide we need to teach young boys all over the world that it is okay to cry, to play with dolls, to like to cook to play dress ups and dance. We need to tell our young girls that it is okay to play with cars, to wear brown and black, to build and to have short hair. What we need is to teach girls and in particular boys that standing up for women, speaking out for the rights other human beings is not something to be ashamed of; it is something to be proud of. I hope my children are raised in a world where both men and women universally take pride in calling themselves feminists. I hope that my little boy grows up knowing that sexist jokes are not jokes, that catcalling is objectification, that pornography creates a demand for the sexualisation and demeaning of females and I am certain that my little man will know that there is NO excusing sexual vilification of any kind, in any circumstance. I wish for my daughter and son to grow up in a world where those in positions of real power are not afraid to stand against discrimination of 52% of the world's population. Feminism needs strong male and female leaders around the world to fight, and to fight now.

Photos: South America

rubyanntravel — Mon, 28 Apr 2014 01:47:00 GMT

Volunteering at Aldea Yanapay, Cusco, Peru

A child's mind is everything (volunteering, Cusco)

rubyanntravel — Sun, 20 Apr 2014 04:05:00 GMT

A child’s mind is everything.
Volunteering in Aldea Yanapay, Cusco was an experience of joy. Each day despite sickness (usually food poisoning from the day before), or lack of energy (staying up all night on the toilet can be draining…), felt almost impossible not to smile in bewilderment of the beautiful and at times unfathomable workings of a child’s mind. Children have a magic within them that sadly most adults lose as the societal pressures of conformity creeps into our minds dictating our every thought, word and action.

However the magic most Peruvian children possess is different to the magic I had witnessed back home, this new magic came with a sense of hardship and endurance, disguised by overwhelming affection. For many of Peru’s children home life is often violent, impoverished and lacking the tender love and care that most children in the Western world are nourished by. As a result the kids often feel a strong attachment to the Aldea Yanapay volunteers and grow accustomed to giving and receiving lots of hugs and find all sorts of ways to physically hang from the volunteers like monkeys at all times of the day.

A typical day at Aldea Yanapay starts at 8:20 and lasts until 12:00pm the school then starts back up from 3pm until 7pm. The hard reality for most children in Peru is an education system which lacks stability and adequate funding making access to education unattainable and unaffordable for many children. The kids that do attend school often do so with weary eyes and suffer physical exhaustion because during the daytime many children work to support their families and those who do not work in the day generally work at night. Here child labour is an apparent part of daily existence and as a result the schooling system caters to this way of life by offering morning classes and night time classes. For the children of Peru this is their reality. This is their life.

In saying that, for most of these children this is all they have ever known; a way of life that is indeed unimaginable in most developed nations. Children are out on the streets late at night playing, roaming and sometimes just wandering and I am not just talking about older children, no. I am speaking of children younger than 5 playing on the streets in the pitch dark. But this is just how it is in Cusco. This is their childhood.
Sadly the consequences these social norms have on the education of children is massive and greatly affects the ability of a child to absorb information making the few hours at school extremely difficult. The problem is that an adequate education, one which allows access of good quality learning networks to all children must be met in a non-compromising way to the traditions and cultures that are sacred to the Peruvian people and which make the country the special land of which it is.

On another note, possibly the biggest challenge I faced working in the school was the language barrier- boy did I underestimated just how difficult it would be to communicate and understand the children (who speak their own language most of the time) with my limited Spanish vocabulary! One of the problems posed by the language barrier is that I found myself both unconsciously and sometimes even consciously spitting out lies when the kids ask questions, for instance a common question was 'what's your favourite animal?' rather than responding with “well children my favourite animal is the snow leopard (Pantherinae Uncia species) for they are solitary in nature and have beautiful eyes, the answer becomes a mere one worded lie, ‘perro’ (dog).

The most embarrassing example of miscommunication was during my first week at Aldea Yanapay, after school I would walk this one little girl named Cynthia home (before I realised that this was actually against the Schools policy and had to stop). During our walks home the young girl was ever so patient, always helping my with my answers and asking her questions to me very slowly and clear as if speaking to a 3 year old- for this I was ever so grateful.

One afternoon on our scheduled walk home she turned to me and asked ‘Tienne hijos y hijas?’ Instantaneously I answered thrilled for at last I understood exactly what she had asked, (or so I had thought), ‘do you have brothers and sisters?’ Of course!
I began telling her about my eight brothers and sisters happily going into detail as much as possible about each as I missed them all terribly. The next morning in the school I sat chatting away to Cynthia and asked her ‘Tienne hijos y hijas?’ after a strange look she shook her head vigorously from side to side. I thought to myself ‘what a strange reaction she must really not like the idea of siblings’. When I arrived to my afternoon Spanish lesson I thought I’d better double check what ‘hijos y hijas’ meant. Staring back at me on a page in my Spanish book was the English translation ‘sons and daughters’! So I had shamelessly lied to this 11 year old about the 8 offspring I had, and then what is worse I followed up the question the next day by asking this child in a inquisitive and quite serious manner if she too had sons and daughters! So the moral of the story for any of you potential volunteers is try to have a proper understanding of the language when working with children because you will find it hard to connect and communicate properly.

Admittedly I have had a few problems with composing and publishing this blog along with the following blogs which are yet to be posted as I found it difficult to come to terms with the controversy I found in volunteering with children. Before I set out on my round the world journey I was rather naive in my goals and attitudes towards volunteering, which I guess is derived from lack of experience. The emotional attachment many of the kids develop towards volunteers can have detrimental long term effects as a lack of emotional stability and feelings of abandonment may result from the constant change of volunteers. The development of the relationship and trust process is constantly starting over as the old volunteers leave and are replaced by the new. This was made abundantly clear to me after one of the Friday night drama shows that the kids perform, on this particular night about nine long term volunteers stood up to say their farewells, the children would bravely stand and say something to their favourite volunteer in front of the crowd, most of them with tears streaming down their faces and choking on their words.

This was a little bit devastating for me because it really made me question how beneficial volunteering is for the children, volunteering almost seems to be more beneficial for the individual doing the work than for the children. However this is only one experience out of the many I have yet to encounter and my attitude towards volunteering is bound to consistently change along with my experiences.

Finally I apologise for the extremely late posting of these blogs and for all those people who may have wanderlust in their hearts my advice is to travel without hesitation. Travel is the key to opening the mind, developing empathy and passion and all of these are essential ingredients for social change and positive activism. My experience volunteering in Aldea Yanapay has broadened my mind whilst spurring a lot of questions towards my own understanding of volunteering mainly concerning the benefits and the losses for children. For now I am extremely excited to continue learning about different cultures, customs, values and beliefs which is what travel is all about :).

I'd like to also say a very big thank you to my sponsers particularly Zonta and The Nepean Rotary Club, for their donations which will make a huge impact on the life and education of the kids in my next project in Kenya.