While I work at the circulation desk at the public library, I often have time to thoroughly read through the BBC News website. This practice, more than anything else in my life right now, is what keeps me grounded in what is really important. When I think about the things I complain about during my day, or the things I wish I could have, and then read through the BBC, I remember how richly I am blessed, and how much work there is still to do in the world.
As a woman, there are few things that I could have been blessed with that would have affected me MORE than this simple fact: I was born in North America in the 20th Century. Am I truly thankful enough for this “simple” fact? And what am I doing with the blessings that are a result of it? Read the story- it’s not getting much leading coverage here in the States. I ended up writing some more at the end, too. J
From the BBC News website:
In the remote Indian village where two low-caste girls aged 14 and 16 were gang-raped and hanged, there is a sense of powerlessness and anger. The BBC's Divya Arya travelled to Katra Shahadatganj and sent this account of the people she met.
The village of Katra Shahadatganj in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh is difficult to get to. The roads are in a poor state. There is hardly ever any power here and few homes have toilets.
Days ago it was the scene of a brutal rape and murder. In the late evening on Wednesday two cousins left home to visit a nearby field, which they used as a toilet.
They never returned and by the next morning they were found hanging from a tree in the village. They had been gang-raped.
'The danger of having no toilets'
Having to go to the field to defecate is the real problem identified by many villagers.
For women it's a huge issue. They have to venture out early in the morning or late in the evening, as defecating openly in the middle of the day is too embarrassing.
"It is easier for men but it gets very difficult for us, especially during our menstrual cycles," the mother told me.
Women said they find themselves structuring their entire lives around when they can go to the toilet.
She said that it is a 15-minute walk to the field their family can use.
"I always keep my girls' safety in mind. I always accompany her and other girls in the family to the field. But that evening I had to help my husband in tending some animals so I let them go on their own. I asked them to be quick."
Mother: My girl was ambitious
The mother of the younger girl said her daughter was ambitious. This picture has been blurred to prevent identification.
The mother of the younger girl showed me her daughter's school notebooks lined with neat Hindi script.
She said that her daughter always wanted to do something more with her life than get married. She wanted to work and get a job.
"She wanted to study until college just like the boys in the village," her mother said.
She had told her daughter that she would be allowed to progress with her studies unhindered because she was the youngest girl in the family .
The mother said that in her generation women did not work but they have tried hard to educate their children.
She was composed but also full of anger. The mother of the older girl was howling and unable to speak.
Neighbour: This could have been prevented
A neighbour says he saw the girls being harassed by a group of men and reported this to the parents who then went to the police.
They claim they were rebuffed.
The neighbour, Ramesh, told me he was not surprised: "Even though the police suspended some constables, the ones who replace them would not be any better. They would discriminate too."
"People from our caste are poor and illiterate and do not get employed in positions of power and influence."
Father: The police ridiculed me
The girl's father is poor farm labourer.
When he went to the police outpost at the village one of the men seen by the neighbour harassing his daughter was with them.
The father claims that police then ridiculed him for his low-caste status. "The first thing I was asked was my caste. When I told them they started abusing me," he said.
Even though the accused and the victims are from the same broad category known as "Other backward classes" the victims were lower down within that hierarchy.
The father said he had to go down on all fours and literally beg the police.
He said the officers and the man with them kept laughing and told them to go home and the girls would be back in two hours.
They went back and waited. The next morning, police told them the girls had been found in a field in their village.
While living in Chicago, I worked twice at the world headquarters for Rotary International. The first time, my job was to enter data from applications from Rotary groups around the World, who were submitting information to receive awards for their humanitarian work, specifically work that impacted lives of children and youth. I loved this job- I loved handling letters with exotic stamps and written on paper in odd, NON 8.5x11 sizes and weights. I loved reading the foreign names of cities and villages, and looking them up on maps. And most of all, I loved reading through the descriptions of what they had done, and how that work was impacting lives.
I remember being surprised at how many Rotary Chapters existed in India, and how many of them were from very small, tiny, rural areas. And I remember being thoroughly surprised at how many entries, from many, many countries (not just India), were focused on one main thing: installing (and providing infrastructure for) working indoor plumbing, especially toilets. Many times, the poor communities being served had community clean water taps, but no indoor plumbing. The details in these applications of all the ways that INDOOR TOILETS would positively impact the lives of children and youth amazed and mortified me.
I detest and despise public restrooms. But, I have a GREAT APPRECIATION for even the worst U.S. public restrooms after travelling in rural Peru. And I’ve tried to stop COMPLAINING about them- about having to use them. I may not enjoy it. Especially at “that time of the month”, I still do my best to think ahead so that I don’t “have to” use a public restroom. But the truth is that there ARE PUBLIC RESTROOMS to use.
And when compared to the women in India, who plan their days around having to go to the bathroom in fields, and only at certain times of day, and even at that “time of month”—really, what have I got to complain about?
