Keena Wilson
17 March 2011
African viewpoint: Baby-stealing
Blog #8
Whenever I hear about a child being kidnapped the reasons why they have been taking are usually because of child custody or sexual assault. But, in Africa it seems that they kidnap children for a different reason; for ransom. The most notorious case given worldwide attention was that of 15 children who were seized from their school bus in Aba, south-eastern Nigeria last September. The criminals demanded a five-digit US dollar ransom. Eventually the children were released and no one was hurt, but the police refused to state if and how much ransom was paid. But, it was the case of a ten month- old baby boy that struck a nerve with the author of this article. It was the child’s age, the proximity of the parents to him, and the abuse of trust by the young house-help who was employed by the parents to look after him that upset the author. The “nanny” strapped the baby to her back, like always, and took the kitchen trash out to drop it in the dump outside the gate. Nothing seemed to be unusual until several minutes passed and she was no longer in the vicinity. It turned out that she had fled to deliver the baby to her accomplices somewhere in the city. A couple days later the gang called the parents and demanded a ransom. Although the police were called, the parents chose to take matters into their own hands to secure their baby unharmed. Two weeks later the family was re- united with their baby after being forced to make a dangerous midnight trip to a village far from where the family lived.
Stories like this reveals a lot about the Nigerian society. I feel that it is poverty that causes some of the citizens of Nigeria to do crazy things, like kidnapping for ransom, just to make some money. It seems as if poverty cannot be defeated in any nation of the world. No matter what policies are enacted, there will be people who will fall victim to poverty. In my strongest opinion I feel that people, who are suffering from poverty in Nigeria, have learned that. Nobody wants to be poor all their life, so that is when people resort to such things as kidnapping for ransom. Waiting for the government to minimize the barriers to success or remove most government interventions such as minimum wage laws, work hour laws, taxes, etc, can take a while and many people aren’t willing to wait. This is a big global social problem because every government is tied up in a way and when your plan to help poverty stricken countries does not work quick enough, or not at all, its stories such as kidnappings for ransom that you would have to hear about and deal with.
1 comment:
It makes me feel lucky that we live in a richer nation and good neighborhoods. I have family in a very poor country, the Philippines, and as sad as it is that children and babies get kidnapped for money, when you live as bad as some people do in Africa, India, Philippines, etc.... you will do anything just to eat and to survive another day. Just think, what would you or me or anyone here in America do if we were living the life they do ? its sad to think some might go to that level, because the world is just very unfair and the poor are just WAY too poor.
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