Letters to Juliet

by Charlotte Page

This is not a love story.

I took the title for this blog post from the latest summer romance film ‘Letters to Juliet’. It’s a feel-good movie about a lost true love and a letter written to Shakespeare’s character Juliet. However, seeing trailers and posters for the film everywhere just reminds me of a Juliet I met recently. She was far away from the naive and lovestruck teenager of Shakespeare’s creation and even further from the glossy Hollywood film that’s gracing our cinema screens.

Juliet is 15 years old. She lives in Zambia and is in grade 8 at school. She is also a prostitute who supports herself by selling her body for £1.30 – less than the amount we would spend on a coffee. Having lost her parents at a young age to HIV/AIDS, and needing an income to provide for herself and her grandmother, she turned to the only way of making money that she could. Juliet’s story is not unusual. With so many young girls in poverty and a ready market for sex at a price, this happens a lot.

There is a culture among many of the men that buying sex is normal, something they are entitled to do and their wives have no say over. They will also pay up to ten times the normal price for unprotected sex, caring little about the possibility of spreading HIV/AIDS or leaving the girls pregnant. I saw the situation in Zambia for myself when we were taken out to a bar one weekday evening by a local woman who runs a project with commercial sex workers. At first glance everything seemed like a normal night out in the UK – loud music, men milling around a bar, women in groups chatting and drinking, drunk men dancing with girls. However, all of the women in the bar who were not part of our group were ‘working’ the bar and the men with them were negotiating prices then disappearing outside. This scene was being repeated in bars all over town and it was a real eye opener into the scale of the demand for bought sex. Meeting Juliet and the other girls was a complete shock to me, not because I didn’t know this happens, but because it put a real person’s face and story to the theoretical knowledge.

The project I visited is working with the women, bringing them together and helping them to gain skills to provide an alternative income. It seems a small start compared to the scale of the problem, but working with these women and girls to help them shape their own futures seems like the right place to start. I started by pointing out that this is not a love story and it isn’t if what you are expecting is letters, romance and a cheesy soundtrack. The whole reason I wear black on Thursdays is to remind me of stories like Juliet’s and that we are standing beside women who are victims of gender discrimination and violence and standing up for true equality.

I think that is a love story in itself and though at the moment there is no happy ending, at least we’re still telling the story so far and demanding a change in the plot.

Photo Credit: Elizabeth Perry

Unveiled

by Laura McAdam

I walked into an urban slum in India surrounded by the stench of sewage and rubbish through the tiny brick and mud homes, and into a large community hall.

In front of me sat a hundred or so Indian women singing and smiling at me. I knew that four years ago one of the partner organisations funded and supported by Christian Aid was invited by this community to help them from the brink of extreme poverty. As with so many other groups, these people had been excluded from wider society, ignored by the authorities and were plagued by domestic violence. When our partners first visited the women didn't come out of their homes and they wore sheer veils covering their heads - simply as a barrier to the outside world and everyone in it.

I was astonished to sit in front of this group of smiling, unveiled women as they told me what they'd acheived. Our partner had helped both men and women to raise the status of girls and women to have equal standing. For the first time these women believed that they had a big part to play in bringing their community out of poverty, and that they were equal and worthwhile human beings. The men saw too that they needed the women to become economically active.

The women told me how with a loan from us which they've now paid back, they have formed money lending group to help small businesses start and about the training courses they've undertaken to learn new skills including literacy. They told me how the women took off their veils and stood alongside their men to face the world. They told me how their unity was their strength and how they fearlessly take on the authorities to provide their basic rights like clean water and primary education. They told me how they rally and picket the police when they know corruption has taken place, and how they work with families to eradicate domestic violence in their community.

In front of me where the faces changing India from the roots, and they're doing it themselves. All they needed was to be told it was time take off their veils.

My Bracelet

by Laura McAdam

Visiting overseas projects with Christian Aid can sometimes be a bit embarrassing as they tend to give you presents even though they themselves have so little.

I was leaving a women's rights project in Northern India when they presented me with a number of gifts simply for giving them some of my time to hear their stories. One of them was a plastic red bracelet and as I sat in the back of a car on the to the station with a few of the project's ladies I explained to them that my wrist was unfortunately too big to wear such petite jewellery. They suddenly grabbed my hand while simultaneously producing some sort of cream and the next thing I knew my hand was contorted in a way it probably was never meant to be and I had a bracelet on my wrist which I was fairly sure would never come off again.

After my hand recovered and I had spent a few days with the bracelet annoying me, particularly as I tried to sleep with it on, I returned to the UK. For many many months after I returned from India I wore the same red plastic bracelet on my right wrist. Most of the time I didn't notice it but occasionally it niggled at me. I kept it on for two reasons (other than at the time it appeared to be indestructible). Firstly it reminded me of the strong women I met in India who are working to change the position of women in their country and bring themselves out of some of the most extreme cases of poverty in the world. And secondly, it was annoying. Unfortunately I still needed something tanglible to remind me that for the majority of the world life is more than simply uncomfortable, that if I get too comfortable then I become ineffective and I lost touch with not only my calling as a Christian but my responsibility as a human.

The bracelet eventually broke, but I still have it. It sits in my room, I see it every day and it still niggles at me. And I'll keep it in view as long as I still need reminding.

In her own words: Gita’s Story

by Laura McAdam

Taken from an Interview in Kanpur, India in 2008


‘My father was a very cruel person, he was always beating my mother. After some time my mother died from my father’s torture. Then he married again, and he always beat his second wife as well. He was really very cruel.

He put my [step mother] in a box and locked it, sometimes he put fire so that she burned all up her body. He tied a chain and locked it round her ankle, sometimes he beat her so many times [she would] wet herself.

I was small and didn’t do anything, sometimes he tortured me also. There are still marks on my leg.

My step mother fell down and cracked her hip, nobody took her in so I admitted my mother to hospital. My Father was told, [came to the hospital] and threw my mother onto the garbage and said ‘Don’t bother with her’.

I went to my father and fought – ‘You should take care of my mother because she is injured and needs help from you!’ He refused.

Then Seema and Ranno (pictured below) told me about Sakhi Kendra (A Christian Aid partner organisation) and we contacted them six months ago (August 2007). They came and organised a public meeting at my father’s place. There were approximately 200 people there and they motivated and organised a signature campaign for justice, for shelter for my mother and for her rights.



About 150 women petitioned the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) and gave him the signature campaign. Then the SSP ordered the police into organising an enquiry – the women said no to this [as it wasn’t enough] – so SSP ordered the police in charge to go with the women to the house of my father.

The women threatened that if the police didn’t help quickly then they would have sit down and hunger strike. This made the police help and they evicted my father.

The group of women went to the hospital and took my step mother and put her into my father’s house. My father was chucked out, he came wanted to take food and money but the group of women told him to go away. My step mother told him to go away because now it’s her house.’

All the women now provide support to Gita’s step mother. At present she can walk with a Zimmer frame but is in a lot of pain. Gita added ‘She said she couldn’t come here [to meet us] so told us to tell her story.’

Gita’s friend Seema said ‘We have acheived so much, perhaps we couldn’t have helped without Sakhi Kendra.’

Gita stated: ‘We want to help other women also, and we feel we have power. We can do anything.’

Sakhi Kendra is a partner organisation funded and supported by Christian Aid working for women’s rights, against violence and abuse against women, and helping individual women in trouble.

Life before Death - Madame Boudia's Story

by Laura McAdam

Madame Boudia’s family had been rice farmers for generations in Senegal, West Africa. She was widowed and left to care for her 6 daughters she faced the unpredictable seasons as the climate changed, making farming and harvesting ever more difficult. She soon struggled to sell the rice she did successfully grow at the local market as there were foreign imports bring sold right next to her for a lower price. As the situation got harder, Madame Boudia and her daughters had to do the unthinkable - and leave the land. They travelled to Dakar, Senegal’s capital, and begged on the streets to survive.
After 6 months, Madame Boudia was approached by ADPES, a Christian Aid partner organisation specialising in teaching tie dye. It is back breaking work with chemicals, but the family are committed to tirelessly building a new life.


‘I work with my daughters to make the tie dye cloth. We buy white cloth, the dyes and chemicals & make it here (on the roof of her house). I can make about 12m a week but the time taken for each one depends on the pattern. Some take a month, others a morning. I sell three pieces – 12m – for about £15 to £20. If it’s a good week I sell all of this.’

From the very brink Madame Boudia has been able to reclaim her livelihood, her independence and her dignity. It cost just £5.25 for her to buy the first palette of die and cloth, a loan which she paid back very quickly and now she doesn’t owe anyone anything. Christian Aid work to empower people to escape poverty and build themselves a better future.

But there’s more…

‘We are suffering from foreign cloth coming into our market. The Chinese bring in lower grade cloth with the same print & sell it for £4 for the same amount. But the Chinese cloth is poor quality so it tears easily and the colours wash out easily.’

Once again Madame Boudia and her daughters are under fire. They don’t ask for a life of luxury, simply to do more than just survive. But there will always be someone ready to take advantage, and so surely we must do more than tackle the symptoms of poverty and injustice?

Afghan Women: Continuity or Change?

by Christopher Bowles

The U.S. and N.A.T.O. led invasion of Afghanistan in October 2001 was hailed for attacking, not only the Taliban’s terrorist capabilities, but also their cultural and religious presence. The group’s Islamic fundamentalist doctrine had not only placed them at loggerheads with the West, but had also led them to play a powerful role in gender politics. Laws defended by many as protecting women’s rights and dignity more often resulted in their freedoms being limited. The rights to education, to own property and to move around freely as an individual were all banned.
The triumph of the Western forces in ousting the Taliban from power was celebrated by women’s rights activists within the country and globally. The attempt to introduce liberal democratic practices seemed to offer the prospect of greater freedom and equality under the law. In 2003 the national conference of Women for Afghan Women presented ‘The Afghan Women’s Bill of Rights’, outlining reforms such as the increase of the marital age to 18 and the freedom to vote. The mere fact that the conference was able to present this draft Bill of Rights to the President Hamid Karzai seemed to demonstrate that the situation of women was improving.



However, this success did not go unrecognised. Conservative forces throughout the country have maintained a consistent opposition to any progression of female liberty. The intensity of this protest has increased in the years since the invasion to the extent that some now claim that they fared better under the Taliban. Whilst oppression was institutionalised under the Taliban, this has now been accompanied by random brutality. Traditional punishments of shootings and stonings for women believed to have acted impiously have been added to by attacks involving poison and acid. These punishments can be delivered for actions so simple as attending school or failing to fully veil. Although female education and more liberal dress codes are now permitted under the law, reactionary opposition within the country have prevented many from benefitting from the reforms. Only 5% of Afghan women attend secondary school and female illiteracy is still as high as 87%.

The most recent culmination of conservative opposition to the new prospects of women’s rights came in late March when the President signed the contentious ‘Shia Family Law’. Although only applicable to the Shi’te population which make up around 15% of the population it is seen as representing a shift in tolerance and equality. The law includes stipulations that women cannot refuse to have sex with their husbands and can only seek work, education or a doctor with their husband’s approval. A protest by 300 women against the new law met with violent resistance from both men and women who spat and threw stones until the protestors had to be rescued by police. Although the UN and Human Rights groups have openly condemned the motion by the Afghan government, many have responded that it is an ‘internal affair.’

The awareness of many within Afghanistan, both male and female, about women’s rights generally appears very low. In an interview at Kabul University most were unaware of the existence of the Shia Family Law. Many consider women’s rights to be bound within religion rather than as a cultural condition which can be changed. Attempts to reform restrictions on freedoms and liberties are naturally seen as a challenge to Islam, and one originating from the largely Christian nations of the West. Governments are often criticised for putting pressure on countries to alter decisions which they have made through a democratic process. Instead it may be the role of Charities and other organisations to educate and build change from a grassroots level.

In her own words: Reema's Story

by Laura McAdam

Taken from an interview in Kanpur

'My name is Reema, I wanted to study but when I went to school some of the boys teased me. I answered back to them but they threatened to kill me saying ‘how dare you try and stop us’. One boy proposed to me but I told him I didn’t like him. Somebody told my mother about what had happened and my mother became very angry and suspicious thinking that I was not good. Then my parents organised a marriage for me and forced me to marry a different boy.
After I got married I was not happy. I had been studying and I had wanted to do something in life. My husband and my in-laws said ‘we’ve bought you so we can do anything to you.'

One night my husband made me lie down and then he tied me up and sexually tortured me all night. When I claimed he tortured me all night he said ‘we have bought you so all the rights of your body are mine.’ I said ‘no, this is not right’, and so he tried to hang me.

Then I gave my husband a glass of milk and he put his hand over my mouth saying I had attempted to murder him. I attacked him back and my husband called my parents and told them ‘your daughter is not good and does not obey me.’ My parents took my husband and my in-laws side. I attempted suicide as I thought that nobody in the world who would understand that my pain existed. Then someone found me and my husband carried me to the police. I told the superintendent everything and he didn’t know what to do with me because I didn’t want to go back to my husband and I didn’t want to go to my parents house either. So he called Sakhi Kendra (A Christian Aid partner organisation) telling them ‘There is a girl here who is suffering so much – can you help her?’ I was sent to the [Sakhi Kendra safe house] on 27th June [2007] at 6am.

At present I am very happy here because all of the members are like my family, only better. The best part is that they understand me and appreciate me. When I came here I was frightened but very quickly I liked it better than my own house.

I am [in 2008] 18 and studying for my graduation, and I am trying to become economically self dependent as soon as possible."

Sakhi Kendra is one of Christian Aid's partner organisations in India. Sakhi Kendra campaigns for women’s rights, against violence and abuse against women, and helps individual women in trouble.

Christian Aid works in some of the world's poorest communities in 49 countries through partner organisations. We act where the need is greatest, regardless of religion, helping people build the life they deserve.