POVERTY & THE GIRL CHILD CAMPAIGN

Prayer for Day 1 Child ProstitutionDefinition:It is the sexual exploitation of a child for remuneration in cash or kind, usually but not always organized by an intermediary (parent, family member, procurer or teacher).>10 million children worldwide are engaged in some facet of the sex industry. Each year at least one million children, mostly girls, become prostitutes.>In Thailand, 10-12 year old girls service men in the sex industry. They typically have sex with men 10-15 times daily and sometimes as many as 20-30.>In South Africa there are 40,000 child prostitutes.Children are more susceptible to HIV and other STDs.There is also a personal impact story which would be too long to include in this email, however, I am going to see if I can obtain copies of this book.Prayer reflection regarding the above:Because of the oppression of the weak and the groaning of the needy, God will now arise. Psalm 12:5PRAYPray that God would arise and defend the little ones.Pray that God would raise up lawyers, moviemakers and government rulers who will bring an end to this savage exploitation.ACTMake a short presentation on the prevalence of child prostitution and how your government could take action. Share this in your church, work place, and circle of influence.All of these points come from the book. Two recent stories (April 23rd) from The Toronto Star4. Opening bank doors to women in AfricaIn a recent survey, African businessmen were asked what they thought of women as entrepreneurs.All very well and good, said one puzzled responder. "But how can property own property?"That's the kind of prejudice Joanne Thomas Yaccato is locking horns with, as the pioneering GTA entrepreneur takes on a new role with the World Bank's private-sector arm to revolutionize the way African banks view businesswomen.As a consultant to the International Finance Corporation, which will distribute $40 million in international funds, her goal is to empower African women – providing the money and confidence they need to raise themselves, and the impoverished continent, from a life-and-death struggle to economic security.Although new to Africa, Thomas Yaccato, 50, has spent decades dissolving the stereotypes that keep women beneath the "glass ceiling" of business success and prevent banks and other corporations from understanding how to satisfy them as clients.The problems of African women were not new, just more acute than those of the West. She quickly found that Africa's diligent but disadvantaged businesswomen had one thing in common."They were ignored by the banks. One Nigerian woman (Muni Shonibare) who owns a chain of furniture stores couldn't get a dime from bankers if her life depended on it. And until we went in there, the bankers hadn't a clue about the opportunity in the women's market."5. African teens and pain of fistulaZinder, NIGER–For two days, 14-year-old Sari Zainabou pushed and pushed, her narrow body stubbornly refusing her baby safe passage into the world. At a clinic in her village outside the Sahelian trading town of Zinder, the women could do little more than wipe Sari's brow and encourage her to keep trying. When the baby boy finally emerged, he was dead. And after two solid days of Labour, with her baby's head pushed up against her pelvic bone, Sari was left with necrotic tissue that ate a hole in the lining separating her vagina from her bladder. The result was a constant trickle of urine splashing down at the grieving girl's feet.Now 15, Sari sits in the courtyard of the Central Maternity Hospital waiting for a second surgery to finally repair the fistula. It's a condition the United Nations hopes to erase from the developing world in the next seven years, spending $20 million (U.S.) on prevention, education and training in 40 countries and enlisting the help of celebrities like Australian singer Natalie Imbruglia to drum up attention in the West.Eradication is not likely to happen unless the more worrying problem of child marriage is solved, says Dr. Lucien Djangnikpo, one of six doctors in Niger trained to surgically repair fistulas. Judged the poorest country on the planet by the United Nations in 2006, more than half of Niger's girls are married before the age of 15. Nearly 90 per cent are pregnant before the age of 18. In a country where malnutrition and difficult living combine to create small, sinewy women, the conditions are ripe for fistula. "The body isn't mature enough to handle (giving birth)," Djangnikpo says.