Fighting Poverty To Reduce Rape

According to an article in the news website, Christiantoday.com, a group in Zimbabwe is fighting to reduce rape and AIDs in the country. The Girl Child Network (GCN) is using a different approach to do this, they are attacking the root of the problem which is poverty. The organization’s founder, Betty Makoni, is also a rape victim and she believes reducing poverty will help solve the other problems.
Many of the girls in the country are without food, water, and basic necessities. When a man comes and offers them money for sex they are very likely to accept. As a result many of them catch AIDs. Zimbabwe has one of the weakest economies in the world, with less than a quarter of its citizens employed. According to the United Nations, one in five adults in the country has AIDs. This has led to a drop in the average life expectancy from 60 years in 1990 to only 30 years today.
There is a myth in the country that the blood of virgins, mixed with herbs, cures AIDs. In parts of the country where that myth is strong some men collect blood after breaking girls’ hymens or cutting their breast. Thanks to the GCN that myth has been eliminated in some parts of the country and the number of rapes had reduced drastically.
The GCN works in rural areas of the country serving 30,000 girls. The organization encourages girls to stay in school. It teaches girls to resist male attacks, early marriage, and religious sects that perform illegal virginity testing.
I think that poverty really is at the root of rape and AIDs. If the women were not so poor they would not have sex for money, which is a major way AIDs is spread. Also as poverty is reduced, education increases and many of the myths are dispelled and safe-sex practiced are learned.
Source: http://www.christiantoday.com/article/zimbabwean.targets.poverty.in.fight.against.rape/13112-2.htm