I know I usually use this blog to rant about stupid things, like the tear in my pants or some dumb shit customer who pissed me off again, but this story is something that I think we all need to think about.
From Times Asia:This woman, instead of letting what happened to her destroy her, decided to fight back and change the system that did this to her. She took a settlement given to her by her government and instead of spending it on herself, she built a school in her village. In fact, the daughter of one of the men who raped her goes to the school she built.
It is a measure of just how terrible what happened to Mukhtar Mai was that news of the attack on her sent shock waves across Pakistan, where sexual assault and violence against women is commonplace. Mai, a 30-year-old woman who lives in the remote hamlet of Meerwala, was brutally and publicly gang-raped in June 2002 by four volunteers on the orders of a village court, or jirga. Mai's then 12-year-old brother Abdul Shakoor (pictured behind her) had been seen walking with a girl from the more influential Mastoi tribe; they demanded Mai's rape to avenge their "honor." Mai's family sat helplessly while she was dragged into a room, even as she screamed and pleaded for mercy. To further humiliate her, and make an example of those who would defy the power of local strongmen, she was paraded naked before hundreds of onlookers. Her father covered her with a shawl and walked her home.
She is a model of courage and heroism for her people, and for all women.
