The Natashas
Of all the things that I've been fortunate to enjoy, the one thing I would never want to live without is my freedom.Far too often, I read about someone who isn't as lucky. These past few days, the mainstream press has focussed attention on 18-yr old Natascha Kampusch who recently escaped from her captor. She was abducted while walking to school in March '98 and was kept in a windowless, sound-proof cellar that measured approx. 2Msq., in which she could no longer stand upright. That's hard for me to imagine - my little bathroom is bigger than that space - and she was kept there for 8 years!
Her captor committed suicide after she ran away and in a statement she decalred that she 'mourns' his death. She even expresses gratitude for not mixing with a bad crowd or experimenting with tobacco and alcohol. She still refuses to see her mother. Neighbours where she was held had seen her and now recall that she, like Elizabeth Smart, never tried to escape. Even as Natascha is free, the ordeal has kept her mind captive in what the experts call Stockholm Symdrome.
I think of both those girls and hope that their journey back to reality will be successful, but I'm not sure if it can be called a success when they reconnect and realise that they were deprived of a childhood and their basic right to be free. Then after some more thinking, I come to the conclusion that they are lucky because thay are alive and now they have a chance to have a better life.
Too many women are still being forced to live a life that is not their own. They are as young as 10 and are locked up in rooms for days without food and water - and as if that wasn't appalling enough - they're forced into prostitution. They're known only as the "natashas" and as many as 1 million of them are subject to sexual slavery as you read this.
When the current stories are no longer headline sensations, they'll still need your attention. You are a powerful resource because you can learn more about these issues and actively seek change for all the Natashas.
www.catwinternational.org
posted by S.M. @ 2:13 pm
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