Verrinneweerde kinders
Namibië is besig om 'n geslag kinders groot te maak by wie die trauma van geweldsmisdaad diep emosionele letsels gaan laat.
Inligting oor die bloedbad by Epatululo waartydens 'n beserker sy ma, broer en eenjarige niggie vermoor, en 'n tweejarige se linkerbeen en twee vingers afgekap het, klink soos die storielyn uit 'n gruwelfliek. Twee kinders kon daarin slaag om te vlug.
Die werklikheid is dat die Namibiese samelewing daagliks in daardie gruwelfliek leef.
Koerante met dié berig op die voorblad was skaars op straat, toe polisie gister inligting uitgereik het oor nog 'n gesinstragedie – dié keer by Olifu in die Oshikotostreek.
Twee kinders moes aanskou hoe hul pa eers hul ma en toe homself doodskiet.
Week na week word berig oor die groot aantal kinderverkragtings in die land.
Namibië se maatskaplike strukture is nie gerat om hierdie trauma by kinders te ondervang en hulle met behulp van berading op 'n pad van sielkundige en emosionele genesing te plaas nie.
Inteendeel, dit is waarskynlik met die grootste uitsondering dat jong traumaslagoffers soos hierdie kinders in landelike gebiede op sulke hulp kan reken.
Ons roem daarop dat ons in 'n vreedsame land woon en ná die vryheidstryd nie meer nodig het om vryheid met die duur prys van bloed te koop nie.
Maar ons samelewing is midde hierdie “vrede” in 'n oorlog van gesins- en geslagsgeweld gewikkel.
Namibië moet dié krisis met kundige ingryping bestuur.
Ons moet hierdie kinders heel maak.
SO SÊ ANDER
The Washington Post, 6 November 2019
Iraqis who helped the United States during the war shouldn't be abandoned
Iraqis who worked alongside U.S. troops during the war provided “essential mission support,” according to former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, a retired Marine Corps general who fought in that conflict.
Iraqis served as interpreters, translators and guides. They “risked their own lives and their families' lives,” Mattis said in a letter made public last year by Politico.
We do. But President Trump is turning his back on Iraqis waiting for the United States to keep its promise of possible resettlement. The president has authorized the lowest refugee ceiling in the history of the program, 18,000 total for the current fiscal year, which will make it that much harder for the Iraqis to win visas. This is a sickening coda to the war and a terrible signal that the United States will not keep its commitments.
One of them told the International Refugee Assistance Project last year that he had served side by side with U.S. troops in 2003 and 2004. “They became my brothers: they relied on me and I relied on them,” he said.
He should not be abandoned. This is a question of duty, honor and commitment — values so often celebrated by politicians but, in this case, cruelly forsaken.
The Washington Post
Inligting oor die bloedbad by Epatululo waartydens 'n beserker sy ma, broer en eenjarige niggie vermoor, en 'n tweejarige se linkerbeen en twee vingers afgekap het, klink soos die storielyn uit 'n gruwelfliek. Twee kinders kon daarin slaag om te vlug.
Die werklikheid is dat die Namibiese samelewing daagliks in daardie gruwelfliek leef.
Koerante met dié berig op die voorblad was skaars op straat, toe polisie gister inligting uitgereik het oor nog 'n gesinstragedie – dié keer by Olifu in die Oshikotostreek.
Twee kinders moes aanskou hoe hul pa eers hul ma en toe homself doodskiet.
Week na week word berig oor die groot aantal kinderverkragtings in die land.
Namibië se maatskaplike strukture is nie gerat om hierdie trauma by kinders te ondervang en hulle met behulp van berading op 'n pad van sielkundige en emosionele genesing te plaas nie.
Inteendeel, dit is waarskynlik met die grootste uitsondering dat jong traumaslagoffers soos hierdie kinders in landelike gebiede op sulke hulp kan reken.
Ons roem daarop dat ons in 'n vreedsame land woon en ná die vryheidstryd nie meer nodig het om vryheid met die duur prys van bloed te koop nie.
Maar ons samelewing is midde hierdie “vrede” in 'n oorlog van gesins- en geslagsgeweld gewikkel.
Namibië moet dié krisis met kundige ingryping bestuur.
Ons moet hierdie kinders heel maak.
SO SÊ ANDER
The Washington Post, 6 November 2019
Iraqis who helped the United States during the war shouldn't be abandoned
Iraqis who worked alongside U.S. troops during the war provided “essential mission support,” according to former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, a retired Marine Corps general who fought in that conflict.
Iraqis served as interpreters, translators and guides. They “risked their own lives and their families' lives,” Mattis said in a letter made public last year by Politico.
We do. But President Trump is turning his back on Iraqis waiting for the United States to keep its promise of possible resettlement. The president has authorized the lowest refugee ceiling in the history of the program, 18,000 total for the current fiscal year, which will make it that much harder for the Iraqis to win visas. This is a sickening coda to the war and a terrible signal that the United States will not keep its commitments.
One of them told the International Refugee Assistance Project last year that he had served side by side with U.S. troops in 2003 and 2004. “They became my brothers: they relied on me and I relied on them,” he said.
He should not be abandoned. This is a question of duty, honor and commitment — values so often celebrated by politicians but, in this case, cruelly forsaken.
The Washington Post
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