A Time to Heal

By now I am sure that we are all aware of the shocking gang rape of a 17 year old mentally disabled girl in Soweto, South Africa.  It is time for us to encourage our citizens to investigate the issues of lack of self esteem and self love that causes men and boys to violate women.  We need to start a dialogue of why there is no respect for women in our country.  We are all agents of change and catalysts for social action, we all need to effectively contribute and delve deeper into the deep-seated issues surrounding the spirit of ubuntu, morals and values and the lack thereof.

We have to explore innovative ways to bring emotional balance to our societies to stimulate creativity in order to solve problems and to assist our citizens to prepare our sons and daughters for the future thus enabling them to live moral and ethical lives anchored and driven by the pillars of our value system.  We need to raise our sons to be the type of men that we would like our daughters to marry.  There is a definite need to discuss parenting and the roles that parents should be playing in their children’s lives.  This is an open invitation for each and every soul to play a part in saving our children, our future.  Let us all stand up together from all walks of life to weave messages, songs, arts, lectures, stories, competitions, images and voices of hope to model best practice and be the type of positive mentors that our children follow.  We need to find a 360 degree solution to help our world to heal itself from within.   Sport can be used as a vehicle for social cohesion and to keep our boy children occupied with a sense of purpose; it teaches them values, discipline and creates the spirit of unity in action.

We need to invite our spirit and faith to walk alongside us, hand in hand as we journey towards a healed world inspired to achieve greater possibilities

Rape, including child rape, is increasing at shocking rates in South Africa. Sexual violence against children, including the raping of infants, has increased 400% over the past decade (Dempster, 2002). According to a report by BBC news, a female born in South Africa has a greater chance of being raped in her lifetime than learning how to read (Dempster, 2002). When South Africa became a democracy in 1994, there were already 18,801 cases of rape per year, but by 2001 there were 24,892 (Dempster, 2002). Numbers vary by different institutions, but are nevertheless extremely troubling. The Institute of Race Relations found that more than 52,000 rapes were reported in 2000, and 40% of the victims were under age 18 (du Venage, 2002). The University of South Africa reports that 1 million women and children are raped here each year (South Africa: Focus on the Virgin Myth, 2002).

And so we have to heal our Africa within.  We have tore-discover the true Africa, the Africa of laughter, of joy, of originality, of improvisation, the Africa of legend, of story-telling, of  playfulness, the Africa of brilliant colours, the Africa of  generosity, of  hospitality and kindness to strangers, the Africa of immense compassion, the Africa of wisdom, of proverbs, of divination, of paradox, the Africa of ingenuity, and surprise, the Africa of a four-dimensional attitude to time, the Africa of magic, of faith, of patience, of endurance, of a profound knowledge of nature’s ways and the secret cycles of destiny. – Ben Okri

Source: Medscape