As if Haiti hasn’t suffered enough, a study has come out that talks about how United Nations (UN) peacekeepers that were in charge of protecting the disaster-struck nation mostly due to the 2010 earthquake and 2016’s Hurricane Matthew, saying that these men actually fathered hundreds of babies with both local women and girls as young as 11. And to make matters worse, they left these females to support and raise these babies alone, and in extreme poverty nonetheless.

A study was published by Sabine Lee of the University of Birmingham and Susan Bartels of Queen’s University. In the paper, they talk about the experiences of those said to be safeguarded and protected by the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti, otherwise known as MINUSTAH.

According to the researchers, their studies were based on at least 2,500 conversations with Haitians talking about the experiences of some of the women and girls that lived in the areas held by peace operations. They also said that of the 2,500 people they spoke with, at least 10% spoke about “stories about peacekeeper-fathered children.”

According to these stories, “Girls as young as 11 were sexually abused and impregnated” between the years 2004 to 2017. One man even described these women as “left in misery” to take care of their children alone, many getting kicked out of their homes and left to defend themselves and their young children with no help from anywhere.

These abandoned children have been given colloquial nicknames like “’Petit MINUSTAH’, ‘bébés casques bleus’ (blue helmet babies), or ‘les enfants abandonnés par la MINUSTAH’ (the children abandoned by the MINUSTAH),” which are all monikers that basically mean these children will have labels their entire lives.

When the United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations was asked for a comment about whether they are taking “the issues raised in the study seriously,” Secretary General António Guterres said, “We have unfortunately seen cases involving MINUSTAH peacekeepers over the past years, although allegations have been generally declining since 2013.”

One of the conversations between the researchers and one of the Haitians proved a harsh reality, where they shared, “They put a few coins in your hands to drop a baby in you.” But for girls that had no other way to earn money or know where to get their next meal, it was a difficult means to a very sad end.

This isn’t the first time that a UN mission has been riddled in controversy, considering their mission in Haiti has been one of the longest so far. In fact, the MINUSTAH was already linked to a former sex ring in Haiti when 134 Sri Lankan peacekeepers were found to have used nine innocent children in their illegal workings from 2004 to 2007. And before that, back in 2010, Nepalese soldiers had caused a cholera outbreak that reputedly claimed at least 10,000 lives.

OxFam, a group whose tagline is “The power of people against poverty,” actually lost donors in the thousands last June after the group was accused of covering up an investigation. The accusation alleged that there were some staff members that paid for sex during the time they were in Haiti in 2010.

Even worse, the MINUSTAH has been implicated in a number of other horrific matters like “gang rape, the rape of a mentally challenged 14-year old boy, exploitation and unexplained deaths, torture” and more.

Some might remember that the United States Marines actually occupied Haiti between 1915 to 1934, and continue to be on the ground until today. Back when Bill Clinton was the President of the United States, a military operation in Haiti led by the U.S. called “Operation Uphold Democracy” ensued in order to remove the military regime that had taken over Haiti in the 1991 coup d’etat. But it is also notable that the Clintons “have a long and controversial relationship with the Caribbean nation.”

An article in The New York Times also highlights the fact that despite the studies’ authors not estimating the exact number of girls that were impregnated and left behind, but they did say that both aid workers and legal experts agree that “the problem has been pervasive, and that the United Nations has failed to assist the women.”

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Many places around the world have been put on emergency lockdown and community quarantines. Social distancing is also enforced, and in some places, more drastically. All governments want to keep the citizens safe, and prevent the spread of the Coronavirus. But, some think that some places take things too extremely. Take the city of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. People are shocked that police officers have been imposing fines for not observing social distancing and quarantine rules during the pandemic.  Their target, homeless people.

The tickets issued come with a fine of $750, something a homeless person surely cannot afford to pay. Some of them probably never saw that much money in their lives. It comes to no surprise that local human rights advocates are speaking out about this injustice, and ignorance. According to Lisa Nussey of Keeping Six, a local homeless advocacy group, fining people will not solve anything. And definitely not to homeless people who have no shelter to stay in, and no money to pay the fine.

“I think the message to police should be that this is a question of public health, not law and order, and people need to be given every opportunity and every avenue to promote public health,” Nussey expressed. According to the police chief, Eric Girt, cops were giving violators warnings and gradually enforcing the social distancing orders over time. He mentioned that the giving of tickets would be up to the police officer’s discretion.

“We want compliance first. We certainly explained it to a number of people. Some people remain oppositional, so then we’re put in a spot where we may have to do enforcement and that’s obviously our last alternative,” he commented. But to be fair, Ontario is not the only ones having problems with the homeless during this pandemic. Large homeless populations all over are experiencing unique challenges during the Coronavirus pandemic. France has also had policemen accused of fining homeless people for being outside and not minding the quarantine. Still, there must be better alternatives to fining the homeless, like maybe getting them to a shelter where they can quarantine themselves. Some places have given the homeless access to temporary housing in shelters and even hotels, but more often than not, they are treated like criminals rather than humans in need.

The Coronavirus has brought out the best in some – truly heroes during a crisis, and the worst in others, who don’t think because they are afraid. We all should do what we can to help, and use our common-sense especially when treating others. In LA, California, there is a group of homeless single mothers –”the reclaimers”, who occupy vacant houses to get themselves and their families off the streets during this crisis. Local authorities have allowed this for the time being. Hopefully no untoward incidents happen. And hopefully, the authorities will desist from fining the homeless. Fine the irresponsible and arrogant, don’t take it out on the homeless.

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Haiti is one of the places that suffer from the impact of the global price hike. These price hikes affect the poor far more than anybody else. As a result of the situation, Haiti’s poor have no other choice but to turn to mud to solve their food problem. They cannot afford even the smallest serving of rice every day and this is all because of the food price hike. This is Charlene Dumas’s situation, together with everyone else who cannot afford a proper meal. They have no other choice but to eat some mud cookies made from yellow dirt which is found in the country’s central plateau.

These mud cookies are the traditional Tahitian remedy for hunger. Children, as well as pregnant women, have turned to mud as it is rich in calcium and serves as an antacid. But for Charlene Dumas and Woodson, her 1-month-old baby, dirt made into cookies with vegetable shortening and salt are not just for calcium and antacid, but it is their usual consumption. Though the cookies can give her stomach pains, it’s the regular meal for them, together with Charlene’s two jobless parents and five other siblings. She lives in a house with two rooms in an ocean slum called Cite Soleil. If they don’t have anything else to be cooked or eaten, then they’d have to eat the cookies three times a day.

The dirt used for making these cookies is transported by truck to the La Saline market straight from Hinche’s central town. The merchants transport them to sell to women who would then make the dirt into the mud cookies. They make the cookies in a shantytown called Fort Dimanche.

The cookies are made by straining clumps and rocks from buckets of dirt and water by using a sheet. After adding in the salt and shortening, the mixture is formed into the mud cookies and left to dry under the sun. Then the cookies are done and sold into the streets or in market places. A mother of seven children, Marie Noel, also sells the cookies as well as lets her family eats them. This is her way of providing for them, one way or another.

Eating dirt/mud cookies has different health effects per person. A professor for immunology at Colorado State University, Gerald N. Callahan said that fetuses in the womb can have their immunity strengthened against some types of diseases. He also studied dirt-eating, which is scientifically dubbed as “Geophagy.”

Doctors in Haiti say there is a great risk for malnutrition for people consuming and relying on these mud cookies. The second someone eats the cookie, it can suck all the moisture from the mouth. Even though it is smooth, it does not taste good and that taste linger for hours. Haiti’s health ministry executive director Dr. Gabriel Thimothee firmly discourages eating these mud/dirt cookies.

Eating these dirt/mud cookies is a way of survival for Haiti’s poor. Necessities for food consumption have their prices spiked up as an effect of the global price hike. With global food prices spiking up to the roof, it is way more serious in the Caribbean since they would rely on imported goods that have marked up to 40 percent. The price hike is the result of oil prices shooting up. Oil is used for irrigation, fertilizer, and transportation. The worldwide need for biofuels is also making the situation worst and basic needs such as wheat and corn have also spiked up.

The U.N. Food and Agriculture Agency calls for states of emergency in some Caribbean countries and Haiti, based on the situation together with that of the 2007 hurricane season’s result of crop damage and floods and the global price hikes. In December, Caribbean leaders gathered together for an emergency summit to talk about establishing regional farms as an answer to independence from food imports. Adjusting food taxes was also included in the agenda.

The recent natural disasters in Haiti were the earthquake in 2010 and Hurricane Michael in 2016 which damaged thousands of homes and destroyed 90% of the houses. Then a cholera outbreak also added up more fuel to the fire which makes it even more difficult for Haiti to recover from these problems and possibly get back on track.

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We, at True Activist, love to give out advice on stuff that we thought would either make your life better or keep you out of harm’s way, including helping you think about going to that next vacation destination.

So, we’ve come up with a list of 35 countries you may want to stay away from. If any of the countries you’re planning on visiting is included in this list, you may want to cross it off for a bit and pick out some other country. Read on to find out why these countries may not be suitable as holiday destinations.

1. Syria

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Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, “We are not makers of history. We are made by history.” And these words couldn’t ring more true after understanding the history of the world and the immense number of events that have brought us to where we are today. Although the number of historic events the human race has experienced are great in number, there are some that stand out much more than others. Here are 35 that have made the biggest impact on our current lives, and will continue to do so for future generations.

See which defining moments have made the world the place that it is today.

The Wright Brother’s First Flight

At a time when technology was just beginning to take form, the Wright Brothers from Dayton, Ohio were busy attempting to make a machine that could fly in the air. On December 17, 1903, Orville Wright managed to get the first powered glider, hence the first airplane, 20-feet above the ground, spanning the distance of 120 feet, lasting 12 seconds in total. This momentous day would mark the true beginning of aviation history.

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Disney movies with their beautiful, funny, and sometimes evil characters have always been something everyone can enjoy, even if it was only as a child. Adults still revel in the magic that Disney movies hold because sometimes reality isn’t fair, but a Disney movie always ends happily.

For former Disney storyboard-artist Jeff Hong though, a twist on the usually bright characters in Disney animations is what actually makes them interesting. In a series called Unhappily Ever After, he depicts a slew of different Disney characters in real-world situations, and it’s anything but pretty.

The characters are set in today’s world and the results are dark, as he exposes the world for its current unyielding pollution, corruption, poverty, and war. Seeing an image of your favorite Disney characters suffering in a way that many real people are today is meant to encourage others to grasp the issues the world is facing and, hopefully, decide that they want to be a part of the solution.

The post 22 Photos of Disney Characters Placed In The Modern World Will Shock You appeared first on True Activist.

The Olympic Games are in full swing in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, but what few in the world know is that the majority of citizens in the lush country cannot even afford to attend the event which is costing taxpayers £3.8 billion. 

Indeed, the average Brazilian makes less than £400 a month, and cannot in good conscience spend the £23 for one ticket. In effect, many have been watching the Games from the rooftops of slums, and the photos captured by artists of them doing so paint an accurate picture of what blind consumerism has helped create in this world.

If you need more visual evidence to understand just how wasteful the Olympic Games are – and have been – in years past, the following photos do an excellent job of validating the fact that the money invested in the tradition could probably be better spent.

Though the Olympic Games have been taking place every four years in various locations around the world since 1896, many of the venues have been abandoned and/or forgotten by the public. From Beijing to Berlin, from Athens to Atlanta, there are a number of spaces which could have been reused or repurposed to hold the Games.

This inspires one to ask the question: “If the indigenous in Brazil are suffering through one of the worst crises in decades and millions still live in poverty, how can spending billions on the Games be justified?”

As you reach for an answer to this question, scroll through the following 30 photos, compiled and captioned by Bored Panda, which reveal what has become of venues in the past that once attracted millions for the Games.

#1 Bobsled Track, Sarajevo, 1984 Winter Olympics Venue

The disused bobsled track from the Sarajevo 1984 Winter Olympics is seen on Mount Trebevic, near Sarajevo, September 19, 2013. Abandoned and left to crumble into oblivion, most of the 1984 Winter Olympic venues in Bosnia’s capital Sarajevo have been reduced to rubble by neglect as much as the 1990s conflict that tore apart the former Yugoslavia.
Credit: Dado Ruvic

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We, at True Activist, love to give out advice on stuff that we thought would either make your life better or keep you out of harm’s way, including helping you think about going to that next vacation destination.

So, we’ve come up with a list of 35 countries you may want to stay away from. If any of the countries you’re planning on visiting is included in this list, you may want to cross it off for a bit and pick out some other country. Read on to find out why these countries may not be suitable as holiday destinations.

1. Syria

Syria, with its modern capital Aleppo, used to be one of the top tourist destinations in the Middle East. The people are nice and hospitable. But with the increasingly hardline stance of their dictator, a large part of Syria is now in ruins from the war which has been ongoing for a while now.

The post 35 Worst Countries To Visit – Avoid Traveling Here No Matter What appeared first on True Activist.

It’s one of the oldest professions in the world. And though the act of selling one’s body is frowned upon in my societies, doing so is still viewed as work in areas of Bangladesh, one of the few Muslim countries where prostitution remains legal.

In the district of Tangail, one will find the Kandapara brothel, which is the oldest and second largest brothel in the country, reports The Independent. The area and its purpose have existed for the last 200 years. In 2014, however, the Kandapara brothel was destroyed. As a result, many women didn’t know where to go. So, with the help of local NGOs, it was restarted once again.

Recently, photojournalist Sandra Hoyn traveled to the “brothel district” and documented what life is like inside the walled city. Food stall, tea shops, and street vendors can be found in the narrow streets, and the city is said to have its own rules and hierarchies of power which differ greatly from mainstream society. One example Hoyn shared is that the women are both weak and powerful.

Also included in this story are telling images of the distressful life these women lead in their small world captured by renowned Bangladeshi photojournalist Andrew Biraj.

Girls who enter the industry, usually at age 12 to 14, are labeled as “bonded.” The women who work in the legal industry often come from poor families and, sometimes, may be victims of trafficking. They have no freedom or rights – they belong to a ‘madam’. For at least the first five years (on average), a bonded girl is not allowed to go outside and receives no money for her work. When she had paid her debts, she may then become an independent sex worker. At that point, she is allowed to refuse customers and is able to keep her own money. Because the women are socially stigmatized outside of the brothel district, many choose to remain and continue supporting their families from afar with what is earned.

Hoyn told NextShark:

“At the beginning, it was difficult to get access to the women and customers. Some customers didn’t want to be in the photographs, especially those with a rich family. But other customers didn’t care at all about it. Some told me they want to “refresh their mind” inside the brothel and there is nothing wrong with it, so why should they hide?”

“Some girls hide their face and didn’t want to tell their stories, others have been very open and wanted to tell about their life,” she added.

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What are the chances of striking gold in a lottery? If you were to Google the statistics, you would sadly get one in 175 million. That’s pretty steep and alas, disheartening as well. Might as well hope that lightning strike a place twice. The probability of this happening would be better. As for the millionaires out there, they don’t rely on the lottery to get to where they are. They work hard and save whatever they’ve earned. However, there are those fortunate individuals who did pick the winning numbers and have won millions of dollars for that lucky pick. Unfortunately, instead of investing that money, they’ve spent it all or lost it in the most ridiculous way possible.

Makes one wonder just how imprudent they were.

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