i have no idea if this even makes sense it is just my random ranting so that i can actually focus on work today.....
Today on my walk to work I witnessed yet another beating in the street. From a "block" away I heard the voice of a woman and boy screaming in Luganda so I have no idea what it was about. Walking towards the chaos I watched as this older woman was hitting a boy around 10 years of age over the head with a stick and dragging him down the street. I stopped in my normal shop to get water and asked the lady why he was being beaten. She didn't understand the questions so I said What is going on. All she said is I don't know he is hitting her. Let me translate for you the use of he and she are interchangeable here. What she meant was She is hitting him and I do not know why. The lady left and the boy sat in the street with his legs curled under him sobbing. Everyone seemed to be laughing and finding it humorous from the street kids, the coal lady and the chapati guy. I wanted to go over and comfort the boy. To just go rest a hand on top of his head but not knowing what was going on I did not want to put myself in harms way. "Mob Justice" has a way of springing up quickly here. So I walked on feeling inside so much rage towards this woman who was hitting this boy. What could a child possibly have done to warrant such a beating? I cannot think of anything that a child could do to deserve such violent treatment. What angers me even more is having had listened to so many sermons on "biblical" discipline I am sure she would have justified it with the bible spare the rod, spoil the child but in my book there is no reason to hit a child. This incident is only one of many i have witnessed and I feel completly helpless. There are no police to call, no Department of child services and protect welfare, there is nothing that I can do....
Even as I sat here last night finishing up some email I heard a ruckus outside of my office window. There is a school next to my office and all the children were lined up by what appeared to be class or age. One of the teachers was hitting some of the older boys who did not have their shirts tucked into their shorts. At least that is what the head of education told me. So I asked her why? (Still my favorite word) Why would you hit them and not just remind them that they need their shirts tucked in. She said because they would not remember if you didn't hit them and that these boys always leave shirts untucked. Here is where connecting the dots in Africa does not exist. If you beat them and they don't remember is beating working? Why not try a less violent approach.
I have watched the kids at recess here and they play much different than american kids. Sure kids in America and Europe rough each other up a bit but here it is viscous. I can only imagine that they are acting out their frustration out on each other.
I once asked a young man here if he planned on hitting his children. He said yes. I asked him is he was hit and was it bad. He said yes. Then I asked him how it made him feel and he almost started crying. So i asked why would you want to make your own child feel like that? He said he wouldn't want his child to feel like that and that he never had thought about it in that way.....
what is a girl supposed to do?
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