I wasn't supposed to make any posts on my blog until I had upgraded to Community Server 2.0 running on ASP.net 2.0.Which would have been done in the next 48 hours.
But when I read this post by Sonika, I knew that it was time I speak out about this issue, since I have been wanting to talk about it so much.
I learnt about this story 2 days ago when the arrests were made.But perhaps I didn't even read it because I feel so sick when such instances are mentioned in print, or shown on TV.
The most shocking realization I had on the state of things and how bad the situation is when I watched Ricky Martin talk about it on Oprah (yeah I watch it sometimes, and NO I'm not a metrosexual, I don't hate the word, I just hate the implied meaning). Now; no matter if you like or dislike Ricky's music and it doesn't matter if you're aware of his kinky habits! He does that to women his own age and it's consensual so end of topic there. Heck I would have enjoyed every bit of the sex perks you get of being a successful pop star.
However Ricky Martin earns a special respect for raising awareness on one of the darkest realities that exist in our world today. That's child-trade for the sole purpose of sexual slavery. And here's a shocker… India is among the biggest exporters and the United States is the biggest consumer in this vicious industry. Yeah it's on such a scale that it can easily be addressed as an industry.
Ricky described on the show that on his trips to India, and countries like Vietnam & Thailand; he learnt that in most cases children were sold off by their parents despite their knowledge who their children were being sold to, and for what purpose. And the shocking thing is most of the children (girls and boys alike) are between the age of 8-12 years.
Despite the claims of increased security in the wake of 9-11 a govt. official confirmed on the show that there were somewhere around 200,000 kids inside the United States were victims of sexual slavery.
I know there's one thing you must be thinking, what is it that you can do?
- Raise the issue, ask your local leaders, people in position of authority whether they are aware of this situation, and what are they doing about it.
- But the biggest and by far the easiest thing anyone can do is talk about it. If the issue is not out in the open it will continue to exist and not enough will ever be done about it.