This article is coming from Aljazeera.net Asia blog, and is about women in Afghanistan setting themselves on fire in an attempt to kill themselves. Most of the women in the hospital burn unit in Herat poured some kind of flammable liquid either gasoline or oil from a lamp etc. on themselves and lit a match in an attempt to escape abusive marriages. One girl (11 years old) found out her father had arranged her marriage to a man 20 years her senior and she couldn't stand the idea so she tried to kill herself. Doctors at this particular hospital say they've seen 66 of these cases this year, of those, 41 have died. Few women, the article reports, even know their rights when it comes to divorce and many that do say they fear the anger and revenge of their husband's and the husband's family if they try to leave.
I chose this article because while I was working on my presentation, following links from pictures and reading blogs I found whole archives of photos and stories of women who have been badly burned in an attempt to escape the pain of abusive relationships. Not mentioned in this article but in one of the websites the other night was a story about a young girl who was told by her father that he didn't want anymore girls in the family, that he couldn't afford her, and then he set her on fire. I feel like this is the most simple expression of how hard the lives of these women are; they would rather set themselves on fire and burn alive than be in their husbands houses for a minute longer. I cannot imagine the pain inflicted on these women, the constant abuse, that would make this a more pleasant alternative. I'm not going to post any pictures because of their too often graphic nature, but I strongly recommend doing a little research of your own, before I did I had no idea this was happening.
http://blogs.aljazeera.net/asia/2009/11/28/domestic-despair-afghanistan
4 comments:
This is just horrible! I mean, I knew things like this were happening but I guess it is just hard to imagine it until you have seen it or read about it in a personal story. Really great job on your blog. I cannot blame you for not putting any pictures up, with what is going on, I believe you when you say that they are graphic.
Wow, this is shocking and absolutely terrible. I agree, I knew what was going on as well, but when I read the blog it just hit me. It's really a shame. These woman have zero rights, and with them trying to set themselves on fire (with the 66 counts)...I would think that it would catch someone's attention..somewhere, so something could be done.Hopefully, things get better.
Suprisingly, I did not know this was going on. It is very sad and disturbing. Hopefully something will be done about it real soon!
I agree that this is just horrible to hear about. To know that these women would rather take their life by setting themselves on fire than to go on living, is eye-opening to their situations.
Post a Comment