Statistics

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Today I got the unusual chance to check my email for the second day in a row. I took it because this morning was pretty heavy and thought you guys would appreciate some insight. Grab some kleenex, and let's move on.

As I told you before, my volunteer placement is at a small organization called Helping Hands. It will soon change names, but thats for another time. The guy who runs it is my hero 5000 Vol. 1. When he had just graduated from college, he recognized the need in Ghana for, at minimum, a discussion about sexual issues. At most he hoped for some major attitude changes concerning the subject, as AIDS is still referred to as: the strange no-name disease. Read: no one gets tested. What he has accomplished since that time is pretty incredible. He has set up a homebase here in Hohoe, about a ten minute walk from CCS. It has a library where kids can come read, games like table tennis, and a big yard for soccer. This all means that kids can come- and do- even if they aren't having problems or questions. Some do, of course, have problems.

Patrick (the founder) sat us down this morning to share with us some shocking statistics. In the Hohoe Volta region, there was a survey conducted. Now, some of you psych majors may be shaking your heads at this. "The variables!" you say. "Imagine the variables!" (Can you hear me scoff?) They hired a company to conduct the research for them, and so it is fairly reliable. The results? Around 80% of the young girls in this region have experienced some sort of sexual abuse. 80%. Take that one in, folks. At the revealing of this information, my mouth dropped open and the yellow jacket that had been buzzing about my head finally flew in to some cozy 98.6 degree sunshine. (that last sentence was for effect, although now that I think about it, the extras may not be needed here.) Patrick went on to tell us a story about a 19-year old who had been having some financial problems. (What follows is a true story, quite unlike the yellow jacket anecdote.) He went to a witch doctor to find a resolution. The witch doctor prescribed some potions and drinks, and then told him that the process would be helped along by sexual intercourse with children. His first remedy? A four year-old girl.

These are the attitudes that I plan to face head on the next three weeks. What can be done in that short amount of time? Maybe nothing. But, you know, maybe a lot, too.

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