I don’t know whether it is because Ghana now has a Domestic Violence Act/ Law thus more people are reporting gender based violence than before or whether it seems we have a few insightful journalists or it’s just an increase in gender based violence in general but about 3 weeks ago I was going through December ‘09 and January ‘10 newspapers for work related purposes and was heartbroken over the reports. Too many gender-based violence reports.
There was a woman seeking justice for having been falsely accused of witchcraft- what her husband's family put her through is quite unimaginable. I dare not repeat the horrific things the report claims this woman went through.
Stories of jealous husbands/boyfriends who had allegedly killed their wives/girlfriends on suspicion of being unfaithful. Some in turn committed suicide… Romeo and Juliet saga, you’d say.
There was a story of a depressed woman who was alleged to have poisoned and killed all her 5 kids. She committed suicide a few days later. In response to the report, an elderly colleague was aghast, “There are many women looking for just one child to claim as their own! Look at this woman, she killed all her five kids like chickens!” The woman was alleged to have left a journal chronicling her sad thoughts.
And of a 9 year old girl raped by a much older man who could be her grandfather.
What did the 9 year old girl do to merits such unspeakable treatment? It is not the old man’s unbridled sexual desire and evil intent that caused this girl’s innocence to be taken rather rudely? If not because of lack of trust, unbridled anger and jealousy, why would a man choose to end the life of the one he claims to love? If only that depressed woman had known that God is the lifter of our heads and could deliver her from the pit then perhaps, at least those innocent 5 kids would have been alive today.
Interestingly, my dad had stopped by my office to look for a specific article in one of the newspapers and as he was going through them, he made a comment, “Look at these” he pointed to several pages in an issue, “there are a lot of rape stories in the papers these days.” He independently made the same observation that I’d made a few days earlier!
This is just Ghana. I know there are all kinds of things happening the world over. And it's depressing to get to read or hear about them. Yet there are many more untold stories that don’t make it to the newspapers, radio, television or the internet. Maybe you have an untold story of a similar nature.
Despite the doom and gloom of such news reports... I do know this: There is
HOPE. Where you say?
In JESUS CHRIST. That’s the only person I know who offers
hope. He can redeem us from self and sin that manifest in such ugly acts and incidents.
While sin and Satan's plans lead to destruction, God's business through
Jesus Christ is
restoration and
life. His business is
salvation. His business is
complete deliverance and
healing. His business is
freedom from sin and Satan
so that one can live an abundant, Christ-glorifying life. And most of all, his business is
making victorious survivors of victims and even perpetrators of such rather unfortunate incidents.
(Every italicized word, phrase in this paragraph is a Hope-FULL link, for your encouragement, so check the links out! :-))As you read the newspapers or listen to the news from now on, see them as tidbits, as it were, for
prayer for the people involved and
for God to redeem the situation. It doesn’t have to be a big thing as Haiti’s earthquake in January or celebrity gossip that we often hear about. Even if the details of the reports are fuzzy, even so, pray for the people involved
so that the Truth will stand out.
Yes, food for thought! Pray for somebody's soul!
God bless ya, Lady Akofa.
Okay, I'd like to think there are some things you'd only find in Ghana like my latest delicacy: Abro ne nkate (corn and groundnut/peanut). Like you see at the side. It's roasted corn (you can see the popped corn) and roasted peanuts. When I bought this I asked for lots of peanuts and little corn. The corn is usually hard.
