Honor your father and mother.
June 21st, 2010
Foto luca de mata®
During a trip to Africa the head of an association of women’s rights who welcomes girls victims of forced marriages, said to me:
“I am responsible of the program against this abuse! Abuse against women and against all the commandments, and mainly against the commandment Honor thy father and mother. Under the guise of local traditions marriages are arranged without the consent of the women. In exchange of a basket of cola, a drug that is chewed or a goat. Or just because a tribal chief wants to have a good relationship with another leader he gives a girl as a bride… and so a girl of 12 years is given to a man of 60. Do you understand?! How can this little girl honor her father and mother who sell her, exchange her for a goat, and who give her to an old man. They even go against the commandment you shall not steal… because forcing them into marriage they steal their sexuality. The girls are tied! They tie them because these girls want to escape from the horror into which they are forced … Honor your father and mother who want to enslave you to a stranger … they escape and come here looking for the affection and parental love they were denied. It is very probable that their mothers were also victims of such horrors. Our laws punish these practices … but in reality it’s difficult to enforce them. It is a slavery against which we must all fight, for the emancipation not only of women but also of our nation and of Africa. ”
The suitcase is your shadow.
March 11th, 2009
THE ROPED SUITCASE
(copyright by Luca De Mata © ® All rights reserved 2009)
The cord is tied round your neck. It chokes you and takes away your breath. The cord of criminals, of blackmailers, of usurers without pity, when not fanatics of terror.
