In a recent local workshop that I attended, some of the information disseminated was of the kind that is hard to come by, especially the statistical kind and especially on an everyday basis. I'd like to share some of that:
According to UNICEF, in Botswana, 44% of the population are children under the age of 18. More than 100,000 children were orphaned in 2008.
In the Ngamiland District, where I reside, we have 2457 registered orphans.
Children's rights is still a rising issue waiting to be address. While the Child Act and several other laws were passed in 2008, many people, law enforcers, social workers, teachers, school administrators, often do not know the laws that were recently passed. Child abuse and defilement cases (known as statutory rape in the US) is rarely reported to the police.
Defilement is an issue in the Ngamiland District. Thinking back, this practice was very common, even in the western world. It was common for young girls to be married off to older men and for women to give birth during their teens. However, in today's times, the girls are not being married off as they used to; instead people are delaying the marrying age but not the conception age. Most girls in their teens who are pregnant, were impregnated by much older men, rape or sometimes as the inadvertent result of some sort of economic transaction either between the girl and the man, or the girl's family and the man (It is also not uncommon for this man to be a family member).
At the Letsholathebe Hospital in Maun, the Superintendent reported the number of teenage deliveries.
Last year, in 2010, of 2672 deliveries, 286 were from teens (about 14.4%). Of those teens, the breakdown of deliveries followed:
1 from an 11 year old
1 from a 12 year old
1 from a 13 year old
5 from 14 year olds
31 from 15 year olds
It's important to note, that not everyone goes to the hospital to have their baby delivered.
When these statistics were disclosed, the representative of the police said he had no idea, these rapes were not reported to the police.
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I apologise if this turns into a bit of a rant - I don't intend it come out that way, but it might because I am PASSIONATE about this subject. For years the "health food" industry has spent millions on positioning Soy as a health food and now it is in EVERYTHING! Even baby formula.
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