Knit & Play with Fire

Disturbing Story

Okay, I try to keep my activism side in the background here. But I had to post a link to this story from a Kevin Sites Yahoo blog about an 11 year-old girl in Afghanistan. The story in a nutshell is that this very young woman was sold into "marriage" at the age of four and ended up in a life of slavery. She escaped at the age of eleven. She is now twelve. Be prepared before you look at the photos of the scars on her body. It can be difficult for the western mind to imagine the life this child has lived. But her story is common in Afghanistan and other parts of the world. If you would like to do something, check out and support organizations such as Women for Afghanistan, UNICEF, and Save the Children.

I have been a long time supporter of Amnesty but I am going to be adding Women for Afghanistan to my list. We should never take it for granted how easy we have it here in the US and western Europe as women despite how hard it seems at times.

Honor Killings

There is an article in today's Chicago Tribune about honor killings in European countries. The issue of honor killings are slowly being documented in the Middle East where the bulk of them occur. Honor killings occur when the male members of the family feel that a female member of the family has disgraced the honor of the family in some way. After a family meeting, some one in the family, generally the youngest male member, the female victim is lured into meeting with the family member at a remote location. Although, there have been cases where the victim has been murdered in her own home or in public. When caught by law enforcement, the youngest male family member generally takes the blame and states that she dishonored the family. And the punishment, if any, has always been light. Although this is slowly changing.

With more and more Arabic immigration to Europe, European police are slowly becoming aware of this horrible crime against women. And all that the female victim has done to be killed is live a Western lifestyle. Or she may have just been accused by another male member of her family or a family friend of having a boyfriend.

This is something that we need to keep an eye on here in the US because they are occurring here as well.

(And yes, I am really into international politics and women's issues but I generally keep it off the blog.)