Human Trafficking in Northern Ireland

JUSTICE minister David Ford has announced plans to introduce two new human trafficking offences in Northern Ireland.

Northern Ireland has the fastest growing sex industry of all parts of the UK. The PSNI have reportedly identified 26 potential victims since April 2011 and last week saw the first human trafficking conviction in a Northern Ireland court.

Helen McCormick from the Northern Ireland Council for Ethnic Minorities believes the reason for the rapid growth could be the toughening of laws in the Republic of Ireland: “We know from talking to other NGOs in the south that as their legislative processes move on, it could displace the problem to Northern Ireland."

Mr. Ford told the Assembly the aim is to bring Northern Ireland in line with a new EU directive on human trafficking and to strengthen the overall legislation in the region.

“I am committed to doing all I can to tackle this wicked crime,” said Ford.

The first proposed offence would mean UK nationals involved in human trafficking could be prosecuted anywhere in the world. The second would be specifically to deal with those trafficking citizens within the UK.

"Northern Ireland society should not be ignorant to the fact that trafficking is going on in every part of our community. I therefore welcome the spotlight that is being shone on human trafficking,” added Ford.

"This is rape for profit. This is a high-yield, low-risk crime," said David McIlveen of the DUP.

The same zero-tolerance attitude was echoed by members of the other main political parties, "We need to put these people away, we need to give them long prison sentences and we need to make sure that a strong message is sent out that it is totally unacceptable, it's a vile crime," said Sinn Fein’s Jennifer McCann.

The new EU directive will involve further training for law enforcement in this field, awareness campaigns and the penalty for traffickers will be extended to 10 years. There will also be a recognised definition of what should be considered trafficking and participating member states must implement all rules into national legislation within the next two years.

Domestic Violence Victims Advised to Sleep in Occupy Camps Due to Cuts

 VICTIMS of domestic violence in the UK are being forced to sleep in police stations, Occupy camps and hospital waiting rooms, according to leading domestic violence charities.

A new report has revealed that 31% of funding to the sector was cut by local authorities last year, a reduction from £7.8million to £5.4million.

The most recent PSNI statistics, from April 2010 to March 2011, show there were over 23,000 incidents and over 9,000 recorded crimes with a domestic motivation, while it is estimated that there are over 32,000 children living with domestic violence here, according to Patrician Lyness, management coordinator of Belfast and Lisburn Women’s Aid.

"We used to have a situation where we couldn't quickly place someone in emergency accommodation perhaps once a month. Now it's happening two to three times a week," said Heather Harvey, research and development manager of London-based domestic violence charity Eaves.

"All you can say to them is if you sleep on the street, here are some ways of staying safe, but of course there have been reports of rape at an Occupy Camp in Glasgow, so it is only displacing the burden. Someone has to pick up the human and economic cost further down the line," added Harvey.

"Every area is being hit, and if all routes to safety are being cut back I believe we will see more tragedies, more homicides and lots more women and children living in violent situations.” said Nicola Harwin, chief executive of Women’s Aid.

"I am deeply concerned about this - it is putting women and children in danger and we risk turning back the clock on the important work that has been done to prevent women being put in life-

threatening situations," said shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper.

"These are tough times and everyone is dealing with cuts, but this coalition government has sent out a very clear message about the importance and value it places on this sector. I would rebut very firmly that the sector is in crisis, this government is putting its best foot forward and is committed to ending violence against women and girls," said Home Office minister for equality Lynne Featherstone.

            The report states that cuts have been uneven across localities in the UK and specific details about Northern Ireland are yet to be confirmed.

Women’s Aid is the largest domestic violence charity in Northern Ireland and its branch for Belfast and Lisburn recently received a £900,000 grant from the Lottery Fund.

Bloody Sunday 40 Years On

“TRYING to make sense of it I kept looking at the blood and the shoes on the streets as we walked. I asked where the people had gone. The only death I had experienced was on the television. My mother told me that God had lifted the people to Heaven. I wondered why people didn’t get into Heaven with their shoes on”

            Frankie McMenamin was eight years old on January 30, 1972, Bloody Sunday.

“And in the dirt lay justice like an acorn in the winter, ‘til its oak would sprout in Derry where the thirteen men lay dead” wrote Seamus Heaney in his 1972 poem The Road To Derry.

“There would have been no deaths in Londonderry if those who organised the march had not thereby created a highly dangerous situation in which a clash between demonstrators and the security forces was almost inevitable” stated the Widgery Report in April 1972.

As we approach the 40 year anniversary of Bloody Sunday, many argue Heaney’s acorn of justice finally sprouted in the form of the Saville Inquiry which began in 1998 and concluded last year. “Unjustified and unjustifiable” said Prime Minister David Cameron on the actions of the British soldiers involved. Mark Durkan praised the findings on the day they were published, “absolutely and totally exonerated” he said of the victims.

 However, there are still those who believe the Saville Inquiry did not go far enough. “Now that the British Government have cleared the names of those killed and injured, some feel the legal system should now act to deliver swift deliberation on the cases involved, “ said Pat Ramsey MLA.

January 29 will mark the 40 year anniversary Bloody Sunday march. It was organised by Kate Nash with help from her sister Linda and friends. This year it is called the March For Justice.

“I want the soldier or soldiers responsible for the death of my brother Willie and the wounding of my father Alex to be prosecuted for their crimes” said Miss Nash on the aim of the march. William Nash was 19 years old and was fatally shot at a rubble and wire barricade on Rossville Street, his father Alex was wounded as he ran to him.

However, many Unionists feel that the Saville Report should be enough to put an end to the debate on Bloody Sunday. The inquiry lasted 12 years and cost £200 million.

“There are thousands of people throughout the UK who have been denied justice and may never know who was responsible for the death of their loved ones. They have had no costly inquiries nor have they received the attention of the international press. There have been more than 30 years of bloody days in Northern Ireland’s history. Those affected have been left to deal with their grief in their own private way without the largesse of the state or the lionising of the media,” said Democratic Unionist MP Gregory Campbell.

Last year’s Bloody Sunday memorial march was in the wake of the Saville Report. Families were celebrating the findings. This year it is called the March For Justice and the Nash sisters feel that justice is the one thing still to be granted. The memorial in Rossville Street reads, “Their epitaph is in the continuing struggle for democracy.” Forty years on and much has changed in Northern Ireland, but the struggle between the two communities continues.

Review - The Artist

THE Artist is a simple love story, but more than that it is a loving nod to the often forgotten stars of early Hollywood cinema.

One challenge for director Michel Hazanavicius must have been to make this film feel authentic to today’s audience. It is a silent movie about the making of silent movies. The Artist is set largely between 1927 and 1929; Hollywood was a different place. Actors lived and died at the hands of studio executives and a strange new phenomenon of “talkies” was arriving.

Unthinkable.

The film illustrates how quickly popular stars of the silent era were forgotten as Hollywood made way for younger talent. George Valentin goes from red carpet adoration to sitting in the back of his own premieres with a handful of audience members and his dog.

Valentin represents stars like Douglas Fairbanks and Buster Keaton, who went from worldwide adoration to being labelled yesterday’s news and broke as soon as the talkies arrived. It is difficult to imagine today a new development that would change cinema forever and send stars like Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise into a relative poverty.

Unthinkable.

Of course The Artist is not simply a dramatised documentary about 1920s cinema. Intertwined throughout is a delicate love story between fading silent star George Valentin played by Jean Dujardin and up-and-coming, singing, dancing, talking Peppy Miller, played by Berenice Bejo.

When many people think of silent cinema, they think of exaggerated acting and slapstick, but the romance element of this film is subtle by today’s standards. There is no passionate love scene, no grand declaration of love, but the sentiment is clear. The visual acting ability required of silent movies is high and in my view this is where Bejo and Dujardin shine. Dujardin is particularly impressive as we see the fall from grace of Valentin as he also falls in love with Miller.

The Artist is also an understated tribute to the silent stars. At one point Miller is overwhelmed and demands, “I want to be alone!” while Valentin sits at the dining table with his unhappy wife and makes her laugh with a series of poses involving his breakfast. It was a little something for the Garbo and Chaplin fans.

However this film is not just for the silent era purists; I booked my ticket early and it is lucky I did; the two previous showings in Queen’s Film Theatre sold out and I sat in a packed room at 9:15pm on a Saturday. The audience applauded at the end and we left and realised it is not 1929 anymore.

Witnessing Rwanda's Jehomos...

Well it's been a month since I have updated you so I feel I owe you all a very sincere apology!! It has been difficult to get online at the office due to freak weather issues and a general deadly mix of busy-ness and laziness on my part! So, again, my most humble apologies my darlings!

At least I know Suzi has blogged you up on the events from about two or three weeks ago? So I will try my best to update you on what's happened since then!

We now have two more volunteers - Sharona from Canada and Momy from India! Sharona will be here a total of one month and Momy just two weeks so they will still be leaving before me and Suz! They are both really sweet and are great members of the 'Big Sister House'!

Most recently we just got back from safari! We had a great time - saw giraffes, buffalo, hippos, warthogs, antelope of a few different kinds, babboons and elephants! The elephants were pretty far away across a lake, but we were told it is very rare to see them at all because there are so few of them, so we were chuffed! I found it reeeally surreal to be there with all those animals, so close and it was not like a zoo environment - to be around wild animals like that was really unforgettable. I have got lots of photos between us, so I'm looking forward to showing them off when I get back!

We are feeling so much more settled here now - things that really intimidated us in the beginning are now very comfortable; the motorbike rides, the taxi buses, bartering at the markets! We have so much fun at the markets now - just the other day we went to buy vegetables because we were cooking dinner for everyone in the house and it was great! We're like locals!

We are also so much more at home now in Gahanga. The community has really accepted us and it is so touching. We have even made a friend! Her name is Hope and she is the mother of two Gahanga II pupils Bonheur and Providence. She started out just talking to us and giving us hugs in the mornings when we were on our way to the school, then she gave us a letter in which she had written about herself for us and she included a photo of herself and her children. Then she asked if she could come back with us one day and so we invited her for lunch at our house - it was really nice to bring her and Bonheur home and introduce them to the other volunteers.

Earlier this week there was a huge downpour while we were working and it made walking back on the dirtroads of Gahanga TRES treacherous... When we made it a little down the road in our very unwise sandals, Hope was there waiting with two umbrellas for us! She and one of the teachers escorted us a safer way and the teacher from Gahanga insisted we stop at his house so he could get us water to wash our feet. There is no runniing water in Gahanga so he emptied out a big yellow container he would have had to pay for. We also found out while teaching the teachers this week that teachers earn about $3 a day and one of the teachers actually earns more as a motorbike rider on weekends and holidays - he is actually quitting at the end of term because of this - crazy. Sorry about the slight tangent there but it just puts into perspective what a kind gesture this was. We have such a special place in our hearts for Gahanga now, it means a lot to us.

A couple of weeks ago of course I had my birthday! At the weekend we had our first African club experience in CADILLAC, which was so much fun... we danced the night away to mostly reggae music, drank strawberry wine and got a bit steaming! Lovely stuff! We also went to the Chinese restaurant I think Suzi mentioned in her last blog, had a great birthday dinner!

Then on my actual birthday we went to Sole Luna - which I suppose is our regular now! Had great pizza with amazingly gorge olives! YUM! The girls gave me my presents then - a unique combination of Mao Mix, banana liquor and an inflatable swimming pool! Then when got back home they presented me with a plate of pastries with an actual huge wax candle sticking out of them! Hilarity ensued followed by Finding Neverland being on tv!!! What a birthday treat!!! (Since then, we have had cable tv installed so we now have more than one channel and wireless! YES!!!) In the evening they locked me in my room and set up a surprise party complete with homemade decorations and cake! Iwas so shocked and not surprisingly to those of you who know me at all, burst out crying - Suzi has a video... I am sure it is less than pretty! I had been really worried about having my birthday so far away from home, just trying to put it out of my mind, but Suzi and Martine made it a really special birthday to remember forever. Suzi has been like a sister to me now for a long time, but now more than ever! So I just want to give a special mention to them here - thank you both again so much! I love you!

Since last time I have also discovered the use of skype phoning! (courtesy of Suzanne!!) I have been having so many problems with my mail not arriving, my phone not sending messages, not receiving text messages from people... it's been driving me crazy, and as I mentioned have been feeling a bit isolated as a result. So now I have access to Miss McIlwain's skype phone and can use it from time to time to keep in touch! So if you have skype and want to talk to me, leave me a message and I'll try to make it happen!

Sorry this blog is not very chronological! It's so hard to try to think of everything (and I'm sure I've still forgotten looooads) but that's the main gist of things!

I will try to keep this bloggy bad boy a much more regular feature in my life in future!!!

Lots of love to all my family and friends and a special thank-you to everyone who sent birthday wishes! You're the best! MWAH!

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Lisa in the mist

T.I.A. People!

Well it's the end of week 3 and I'm starting to walk differently! We have all developed an African wiggle and are becoming generally much more laid back. Last weekend I took a MOTORBIKE! I wasn't so sure about it but it was hilariously good fun - I'm now the proud owner of a burn blister style scar from when I was getting off the thing! I feel sooo cool! YEO! I also went to my first African football match - the Rwandese Army team APR against some team from Egypt... the final score was 0-0 but it was still really exciting with all the music and singing!! LOVED that!

On Sunday I went to Church, the music was amazing and people were getting up from their seats and dancing on the stage together. It's the kind of experience everyone should have, no matter what your belief system is, I don't think anyone could resist getting caught up in that kind of passion and raw enthusiasm.

Teaching has been a bit sporadic lately - one of the schools Suz and I were teaching in seems to not really want us around close to exam time, which I can kind of understand because if I was a teacher there I wouldn't want the kids getting overwhelmed with lots of new information and generally being distracted by the white chicks in town. So now the new plan is we teach in the school run by the pastor from Monday-Thursday and we are going to be helping the teachers of that school with their English during the school holidays. Next week we are going to be starting at 10am so you know what that means! Sleeping in to 7:15 rather than the usual 6:15!!! BABY!!

The novelty has started to wear off with the older children. They have started acting up and generally being cheeky little gits so it has called for us employing all the old teacher tactics of dirty looks, "Oh so have you finished?!" and picking on the worst ones to answer the toughest questions! THANK YOU, BLOOMFIELD! I still love you!

With the little ones, the novelty most certainly has not worn off! The children get a morning break at 9:30am and that is when they crowd round me and Suzi for 15 minutes so we can't move until their breaktime is over... that never ceases to amaze me, I don't think there would be anyone I would have rather stared at for 15 minutes than have fun with my friends!

We had another huge storm the other day - fork lightning, sheet lightning, INSANE rain! We all took photos and videos of it so you can check it out as soon as I can get them uploaded on here. Despite the storms I think I can safely say you may even notice a change in my colour by the time I get home! I find that I am now wearing my jumper and my jacket much more often - how climatised am I!

We went to another market this week and it was so much easier than the first time! We are a lot more used to the staring and the MAZUNGU calls now, we can barter prices down and just push people off and keep walking when they try to grab at us. I think the fact that Gahanga (where the schools are) is so much more rural than where we are living, we are kind of taking being the FREAKS in town more in our stride and we are not taking any crap from anyone! I still haven't actually bought anything though, so I think a shopping trip this weekend is in order!

It also seems like every other white person we see here (and that's only ever at our little Italian restaurant) is South African! So I have been practising my accent so I'm hoping it is pretty much perfect by June! I might even try out the bit of Afrikaans Fran taught me! ;)

My birthday is coming up pretty soon and I think it is going to be a day of mixed emotions. I am really going to find it hard not being with my Mum and Dad that day, and being able to do something with all my friends, but I know it will still be a birthday to always remember because it will be so different and I am so looking forward to doing something special with everyone I love when I get home.

Oh the other thing I need to let you know is that my phone SUCKS. I can't top up my UK sim in Rwanda for some reason, and I don't know why but I can't seem to receive texts from most people to my Rwandese number! The result is me feeling VERY cut off from all my chums I am used to talking to all the time! So the only way I can keep in contact with most of you is via email, so if you'd send me something to read for next Friday I would love you more than life itself. A social butterfly like myself is not built for this solitary existence!

In conclusion, things are still going really well here and I am starting to feel really comfortable with the culture and way of life. Our motto for living in Rwanda is simply T.I.A. - This Is Africa! When the power goes out 5 times a day, when there is nothing but men's aerobics on television, when people are burping farting all over us while getting waaaayyyy too close in the taxis - we say T... I... A!!!

Love you all!!!

Email me please! :(

Lonely Lisa! *sigh* ;)