Ignorance is Bliss
In Uganda child trafficking hasn’t changed much over the years and is still very prevalent. While some cases are reported to the authorities, several go unreported and unnoticed. Their excuse for not following up on all the cases was lack of resources. This seems to be a common trait many countries share when it comes to issues such as these. It seems as though the government, not just of Uganda but other third world countries as well, only intervene enough to make it look like they did give a solid effort to help. In the movie Letters from the Other Side the women of Mexico are given some baking equipment from the government to open up their own bakery since they were poor. Their husbands had gone to the United States to find work and left them with practically nothing. Well the government stepped in and decided to give them a helping hand and donate this equipment. However, the women who received the equipment did not have the proper means to operate the equipment they were given. What seemed like a nice gesture from the government was really just a tease. Although Mexico is far away from Uganda and the cases are not entirely the same, they are very similar in nature. Families were in need of work, and when times were hard they turned to the government who only stepped in so much to create the illusion that they were helping. The real difference between the two situations is the amount of children lives that are being lost and tormented in Uganda. When the government doesn’t step in enough in this case, several lives are lost.
Time for Change
However, several operations are now underway in Uganda to help fight child trafficking and abuse. The Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) is cracking down on the problem of child abuse and not accepting excuses such as “limited resources” to ignore cases anymore. The URA believes that more attention should be given to child trafficking and more awareness to support the fight against it. An ‘Open Minds Forum’ has been enacted to help raise funds to aid in the fight against child sexual abuse. The ‘Open Minds Forum’ would be tax revenue that focuses on helping and educating police officers stop this problem. However, it is not just for the police, but for the public to be aware as well, and so the program opened with a charity walk, where women and children share their own sexual abuse stories.
Realization
What I find shocking are the numbers. There were over 9,000 cases reported in the first six months of 2009 in Uganda. That is only the first six months and that does not include the cases that go unreported. It amazes me that it took so long to start something such as the ‘Open Minds Forum’ for the public as well as the government to really step forward and so something about the obvious problem. It seems as though sometimes a number isn’t enough to get people to really help. A number isn’t personal; it doesn’t always hit home. Anecdotes tend to do the job, so I can see how the charity walk that was put on can really help raise awareness. People listen to other people’s stories. It is also difficult to get involved with something that is far away. Most people don’t want to pay attention to the horror that goes on over sees, because they feel as though they wouldn’t be able to make a change anyway. I think this is a problem the entire world suffers with. A lot of people barely want to help change the problems in their own country, let alone someone else’s. We all want the government to do it for us, and their government to do it for them. However, as stated earlier, the government sometimes only does so much. They put their foot in the door to the problem and offer a suggestion, but feel as though the work is done, when in reality nothing was actually solved.
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