Horror is an inadequate word to describe what I felt when after watching these videos. To think that the lady, who enslaved these young ladies would treat them the way she did is still hard to believe. To know that she is African like them hurts even more because she should know from history, this should never happen again. However, greed and hunger for wealth means some of us forget our humanity and treat others like mules, sending a strong message that the people they are enslaving are not not human beings and so deserve to be treated like animals. She took them at a young age and took their formative years from them. The years that they should experience and experiment, the years they should study and plan for their future, the years they should day dream and the years they should just be children and then teenagers, but no, she was using them for their money making machine. Her prison sentence is just about right. I hope it amounts to the same number of years both girls lost.
Then I stumbled across the story of Given Kachepa and his cousin, Mophat Chongo. This is and was beyond my mind could take in…without sounding naive, I could not believe it was a pastor treating these young men the way they were being treated. I guess I still have a lot to learn about human nature no matter how much you profess to belong to one religion or faith. This is and was totally wrong and against everything I believe in.
Authorities really need to vet these NGOs right up to the weapon inbetween their legs and hair, so we are sure they are of the human specie. This is not how one human being should treat another.
Keith Grimes stood before vulnerable people and proclaimed the gospel, well, he was prophet-lying because we have two different bibles, still makes me sick and angry. Angry because he should have known better that enslaving another human being is wrong. I wonder if he ever read the verse, “Do unto others as you wish other do unto you,” or the one that says “love they neighbour as thy self.”
Grimes and his charity, T.T.T: Partners in Education a.ka. T.T.T: Partners In Crime, made over $1 million from performances, sponsorships, and donations, in just one year as result of these boys performing around the US. yest, they did not get a penny or the education they were promised.
I would like to think and say, this can and must never happen again but I am fully aware that is wishful thinking. Hence, I have no idea what to wish for but I hope we are more vigilant and take interest in children around us and those who may come our way. Ask uncomfortable questions when they look or act strange. Until we do that, we are sending a message that they deserve to be treated the way they are being treated. It may get us in trouble but at least we know we did the right thing. For parents, who want their children to desperately go abroad and bring back a pot of gold, think twice because you may well be sacrificing their future for nothing and that my dear is not worth it.
I am grateful for people like Sandy Shepherd. Who follow their intuition and speak up for those who are vulnerable.
