stats

Just to illustrate my post from yesterday, and to show that I was not in any way exaggerating the situation, I have scanned a tiny selection of newspaper articles that appeared in our local paper over the last couple of days. Bear in mind that a tiny fraction of crimes (even very severe ones) even make it into the news because there are just so many each day that most go unreported.

I was amazed to read this article today, because it really mirrors what I wrote about yesterday.

When you see the stats about rape, and realise that the 54000 reported cases per year are only about 36% of the actual cases, you get a picture of the scale of the problem. (In other words, a woman or child is being raped here every 3 minutes. In the time it took me to scan and edit the articles, and write this post, another 10 have had their lives ruined (those who survived, many go on to become murder statistics.)

And it doesn't seem to matter who you are, it touches so many lives.

I know this is all a bit depressing, so if you came here expecting light and cheerful reading, I'm sorry, but these are really serious issues which will only get addressed when people sit up and take notice of the enormity of the problem. Since my blog is my personal space which reflects the reality of my life, and seeks to introduce South Africa to readers from elsewhere, it would be dishonest to stick to the light and frothy stuff all the time, and fail to balance it with the other side of the story. I won't be ranting about this every day, so I'm sure it will be safe to come back next week, if you are after brightness and sunshine, but every now and then this stuff needs to be aired!