In the Spirit of Christmas, Sharing is Caring

This is not really a Christmas post. There is just something that I wanted to share with you guys and I didn’t want to wait to do it.

I have come onboard a couple of linked projects to help in events coordination, fundraiser planning, and philanthropic efforts. One project supports emerging artists, and as a post graduate of an arts degree, I’m all about helping out my fellow struggling artists. The second is a youth-based initiative that focuses on giving inner-city youth the opportunity to develop marketable and transferable work skills. Finally, and the one I really want to focus on right now, is called Mygoma Support.

Mygoma support is an initiative to help fund the Mygoma orphanage in Khartoum Sudan. I’ve just spent a couple of days educating myself on the issues that are occurring there and the entire reason behind this orphanage to begin with. I will start by saying that this is not an orphanage just like any other orphanage. 

A Bit of History:

The Mygoma orphanage opened in 1961 and now takes in more than 30 babies each month either left on the gate or found at the streets. This is a response to the growing numbers of illegitimate babies being abandoned in Khartoum. Mygoma orphanage is not like other orphanages because it is focused primarily on a demographic that has been outcast and is not socially accepted and monetarily supported, or at least receives very minor support.  

Why is there such a growing epidemic of discarded illegitimate children in Sudan you ask? The answer is simple, sex outside of marriage is a crime in Sudan and the children that result from such sexual encounters are evidence of that crime. These children would bring shame to the entire family of the mother and would be ammunition to bring criminal charges against the mother as well. These mothers of misfortune, therefore, feel that they have no choice except to abandon their babies in the streets. Abortion is obviously illegal in Sudan and perceived as wrong, evil, and sinful by all, and is therefore not performed and is not an option. There are also no secret adoption networks in place, and this option would not bipass legal charges and punishment placed on the mothers. Of course only the women are saddled with the “burden of their mistake,” and it is only the women who have to suffer the consequences and the legal penalties. Women who are found guilty of having sex outside of marriage are prosecuted under clause 46 of the criminal law called Zina, which roughly translates to “unlawful sex.” A case file is opened against a woman who has evidently engaged in Zina and she is tried in court for her unlawful behaviour. Once she is found guilty her judgement is to be lashed according to the Sharia. The rise in the abandonment of illegitimate children, then, is a direct correlation to an attempt to escape the severe punishment condemning this action (which is both legal and familial). 

It is estimated that about 1,500 babies are being abandoned every year in Khartoum. The lucky ones make it to Mygoma, but many more die in rescue. Even those who do make it to Mygoma are far from out of danger; the death rate in this orphanage is high. 

The orphanage is the only lifeline for these discarded children, but with its limited resources (it is minimally funded by government grants and private donations), it does not have adequate funding to care for the children past the age of five. Those who are not adopted or fostered by then have to move on to much more crowded state institutions wherein they face neglect and an uncertain future with much slimmer chances of adoption.

This becomes the main issue. There is a serious need for funding for institutions to take care of these children after they leave Mygoma as well as a need for increased funding for the Mygoma orphanage itself so that it can extend the care and stay of these children past the age of 5. The project Mygoma Support that I’m involved with is attempting to do just that.

If you would like to know more about this project you can feel free to contact me at amandallabelle@gmail.com. We also have a book drive happening in March to collect books and educational materials to send over to the orphanage along with the regular monetary support. Also, check out this moving video at http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/witness/2009/01/2009128103742864375.html

Info Source:

http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/witness/2009/01/2009128103742864375.html

Photo Sources:

www.berlinale-talents.de 

oxfordformygoma.wix.com

Are you Frickin’ Kidding Me?!?!?!

Many of you will recall a post from back in July wherein I detailed a traumatic experience where I was assaulted by a bug and then sexually harassed by an asshole. Well, it’s winter….so the bugs are excused, but apparently the assholes still roam free. Yes, you guessed it, the bus top masturbation harassment continues. This is #3 for me (if we really must keep count of something so disgusting).

I still DON’T GET IT!!!! Why would anyone want to do that? First of all, buddy….it’s freezing out….we know that nothing is going to be impressive in this temperature. Or actually, really first things first, what do you hope to achieve by this? All that I’ve been able to come up with is that these sickos desire to make someone feel uncomfortable and derive pleasure out of doing something so socially unacceptable. I’m just hoping to never be around for when one of these situations escalate into an actual assault. That’s the really disconcerting part about all of this. I tell this to people and they laugh, and rightly so because it’s so absurd that you kind of have to laugh, but at the same time it’s very concerning behaviour that can easily turn violent. How safe are we women really on TTC and Mi Way public transit?

In the end I do my due diligence and file a report, but beyond that there’s nothing anyone can do. And although there are cameras on all of the buses and at the main bus terminal, none of the bus stops have any type of surveillance. This is obviously too expensive to be an option, especially when these cameras would most certainly be vandalised anyway, but is there anything that can be put in place to keep our public transportation safe?

Another really concerning question, besides why on earth this keeps happening to me and what exactly it is about me that attracts this type of attention, is why there are so many creeps in this city! WHY???? Aside from sheer population and the law of averages, what exactly has occurred in these people’s lives or is occurring in their brains to make them act this way? And it’s not like these guys were intoxicated or mentally ill, although I guess the second might be open to speculation. These guys, however, were (as it appeared to me) fully functional adult males. Capable of having a drivers license and owning a car, capable of holding down a job, capable of knowing that what they were doing was wrong and that they needed to get out of there before the cops showed up. These are conscious acts, although they are spontaneous acts of opportunity, they are still thought through. So, to me, this isn’t a matter of a very unbalanced mentally ill person acting in a way that he is not conscious of and does not register as wrong. These men specifically went out of their way to seek me out and make me feel violated and uncomfortable. What is more, they never back away until they are sure that I have seen them. There is something in that aspect that they get a thrill out of. It’s probably because the moment when I finally realize what they are doing I am filled with rage and disgust, which is exactly what they’re going for. Why anyone would enjoy evoking that reaction in someone else is beyond me.

Well I guess I will never know why. I sure would like to know how I can avoid it though. If you guys have any suggestions please feel free to let me know. So far I have concluded it is because I look quite young and innocent, so perhaps I am a target that would be most shocked and appalled. But if this has anything to do with looking young then that is the most unsettling thing because that means that we have sex offenders who are strolling these streets looking for young girls.   

Anyway, this post really offers no insights, I just figured I would share because I’m so shocked that this is becoming such a regular occurrence in my life and I am very disgusted and just lament what humanity has come to. I also want to urge that please, if anyone experiences the same sort of thing DO file a report. I know it doesn’t really seem like anything can come out of it, but if enough reports are filed with the same sort of description, that’s a big step towards catching the guy when he does it again and is stupid enough to get caught.

A Little Bit of Ellespiration

I haven’t written in a while because I kind of got lost in a cloud of doom and gloom and didn’t want to seep that poison out into the universe. I've also been without internet and that's slightly essential for any blog post. Nevertheless, here is a little bit that has been going on in my life as of late.

November was particularly rough because I found myself without money, without a job, and suddenly without a place to live. Remarkably enough, I managed to rectify the job and living situation within two weeks and then the money eventually followed. What job you ask? Old faithful - retail. I’m currently employed in a junior management position with Calvin Klein. So, essentially, I’m pretty much exactly where I was one year ago…working retail (which I hate) and making do for the time being until something else finally comes along. I have to be thankful though, because I found a job quickly when I was in serious need of money, one that guarantees me 40 hrs a week, and I found a very reasonable place to live with two wonderful roommates. With a steady dependable paycheck, I’m slowly working towards getting back on my feet. All things to be thankful for indeed.

And yet, grumbly old me, despite feeling relieved that I could pay rent, buy food, and not have to move back in with my parents, I was still feeling hopelessly depressed and lost. I felt like I was back tracking, because back to retail, back to essentially what I was doing before, felt in no way like a step forward in my career. And perhaps it’s not, but perhaps forward isn’t the only way to move.

I was fortunate enough to attend the Elle Canada Shine On nail event held this past Wed Dec 11^th at Tips Nail Spa in Toronto. Not only was this a wonderfully relaxing event that allowed me to feel pampered (which I have been in desperate need of), but I got to walk away with a fantastic goodie bag and even more fantastic advice. My entire reason for going to this event was actually to network. I knew Elle magazine editors would be there, and if they were there and accessible…then you better believe that I was going to be there and be bending their ears. And bend I did. I managed to have a wonderful conversation with Vanessa Craft, the Elle Canada Beauty Director, about the industry, the magazine, and how she got to where she is today. The story sounds remarkably similar to what I’m going through right now, and she also gave me the advice to not only freelance but to continue to foster these connections that I make because in the end it is still all about who you know. I haven’t been freelancing because my confidence has been shot. In fact, just hours before this event I was laying in bed in a pit of self pity and depression and wondering if I should even go. Somehow, though, after leaving the Elle event I felt confident again and like I was ready for the next challenge coming my way. And no, it wasn’t just giddiness from the chocolate and wine.

The best advice that Vanessa gave me was to find my voice and to start to specialize. I’ve written so widely and been jumping on every internship opportunity to diversify my portfolio and show a breadth of experience, but now the best thing that I can do is show confidence and expertise in one area. If that is going to be fashion and beauty, then that’s what I need to devote all of my time to and my freelancing efforts. She also told me that I need a blog specific to this chosen area. So, within the new year I will start another blog just for fashion and beauty and I guess we’ll see where that goes.

Ultimately, though, the most important thing for me to do right now is find my voice. For too long I have been so concerned with just finding work in my field, any work, that I have been spreading myself way too thin. I have been able to rule out a lot of what I don’t want to do, but I haven’t yet found my niche. I never really thought that it would be fashion and beauty, but this is the direction that I’m being pulled in for the time being.

So, my new plan is to embrace the structure and financial security that my current retail job brings – however unbearable it may be sometimes to be back in a job environment that I really don’t want to be in – and use it to move forward. For the short term this means using my days off to actually write: update my blogs, write freelance articles, and maybe even work on my creative writing. Like I said before, I can’t call myself a writer if I’m not writing. This next important step, the step that comes after the insane amount of work for no pay called internships, is called getting my name out there. I can network at parties and events, but until I actually start submitting freelance articles so that the magazines repeatedly see my name, it doesn’t really mean much. Maintaining any of the connections I do make is still crucial though, because hopefully if I leave a lasting impression, they will remember speaking to me when my article comes across their desks. In the long term, this may even mean moving out of the sales portion of Calvin Klein and into the corporate and design portions. There are always ways to move within a company. This is why I stated earlier that maybe I don’t need to be moving forward. It was Vanessa that suggested to me a sort of lateral shift. A corporate position at Calvin Klein as opposed to a sales/management retail position could do wonders for a later position at a fashion and beauty magazine. After all, Calvin Klein is a very recognizable brand and many of the editors at the leading fashion magazines in Canada have all worked or are still working with some of these higher-end fashion brands.

It’s time for me to grow up. Being miserable and upset that my life doesn’t look the way I want it to look is ultimately a choice. Sometimes it is really difficult not to get overwhelmed by it, but I need to stop falling back into depression, because when I do that I’m my own worst enemy. I feel trapped and I am trapped, because as long as I lay in bed depressed I’m not doing anything to change the circumstances that I’m presently trapped in. I knew when I started this that it wouldn’t be easy. I may have hit some pretty big bumps in the road, but the only choice is to keep going. Now that I have some perspective and a renewed Ellespiration, I think that I will pull myself out of this stalemate and closer towards the next thing to come my way.