jesus fucking h. fucking christ. please donate money.

September 30, 2004

The Op-Ed Sentenced to Be Raped appeared in the NYTimes yesterday (requires free registration to read). Here is an excerpt below. Holy fucking shit.

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Usually we journalists write about rogues, but Mukhtaran Bibi could not be more altruistic or brave, as the men who gang-raped her discovered….

In June 2002, the police say, members of a high-status tribe sexually abused one of Ms. Mukhtaran’s brothers and then covered up their crime by falsely accusing him of having an affair with a high-status woman. The village’s tribal council determined that the suitable punishment for the supposed affair was for high-status men to rape one of the boy’s sisters, so the council sentenced Ms. Mukhtaran to be gang-raped.

As members of the high-status tribe danced in joy, four men stripped her naked and took turns raping her. Then they forced her to walk home naked in front of 300 villagers.

In Pakistan’s conservative Muslim society, Ms. Mukhtaran’s duty was now clear: she was supposed to commit suicide…. But instead of killing herself, Ms. Mukhtaran testified against her attackers and propounded the shocking idea that the shame lies in raping, rather than in being raped. The rapists are now on death row, and President Pervez Musharraf presented Ms. Mukhtaran with the equivalent of $8,300 and ordered round-the-clock police protection for her.

Ms. Mukhtaran, who had never gone to school herself, used the money to build one school in the village for girls and another for boys - because, she said, education is the best way to achieve social change. The girls’ school is named for her, and she is now studying in its fourth-grade class….

She has had to buy food for the police who protect her, as well as pay some school expenses. So, she said, “I’ve run out of money.” Unless the schools can raise new funds, they may have to close.

Meanwhile, villagers say that relatives of the rapists are waiting for the police to leave and then will put Ms. Mukhtaran in her place by slaughtering her and her entire family.

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So, I found a place in the Forums on the Times where the journalist tells how you can donate money. He writes:

I don’t have great faith in the Pakistani postal system. So I’m arranging another route to get reader checks to Mukhtaran Bibi –I’m going to DHL them to an interpreter in the provincial city two hours away, Multan, and he’ll hand-carry them to Mukhtaran. I’ll cover the costs, so the donations will go 100 percent to Mukhtaran and her schools…. You can make the checks out to Mukhtaran Bibi (DON”T MAKE THE CHECKS OUT TO ME!) and mail them to me, and I’ll get them to her. My address is:

Nicholas Kristof

The New York Times, op-ed, 10th floor

229 West 43rd Street

New York, NY 10036

So, please do that. I mean, I’ve been giving money to mariachi bands on the subway. I’m sure a few bucks goes a long way in Pakistan.

Posted by jen | Filed Under Jen says 

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