The Voice for the Voiceless
In our fast-paced, digital world, myriads of voices clamour for our attention. Advertising slogans seduce us into buying the latest gimmick. Politicians paint pictures of prosperity for our vote. Hollywood hypnotises us with escapism.
The infrastructure of our information age is communication technology and our rulers are those who make their voice successfully heard. However despite our increasing sophistication, we are growing deafer to those who cannot make a profit from their voice. Even if we are listening, often all we hear is a whimper.
Who are these voiceless?
They are women.
Around the Horn of Africa, 130 million women suffer the devastating effects of female circumcision. The practice is performed on pre-teen girls. As they are circumcised, little girls are mutilated for life and robbed of the joy of womanhood. The wedding night is a torture to be endured. Child bearing can be fatal.
They are children.
Every year according to UNICEF, 1 million children enter the oldest trade in the world, prostitution. From the age of three, they are raped and abused to break their little wills. They are forced to prostitute their innocence to earn their owners color TV’s or their families a tin roof.
They are refugees.
War and genocide displace millions of people. Take the Saharawi for example. 27 years ago they were ejected from the homeland for the minerals and fisheries. For 27 years they have lived outcast and alone. For 27 years they have cried for justice, yet the vast expanse of the hostile Sahara mutes their cry.