Nigerian schoolgirls: jihadis ‘willing to consider’ release

The jihadis who kidnapped more than 200 Nigerian schoolgirls two weeks ago say they are “willing to consider” the release of those who have not already been trafficked abroad and sold into marriage. #BringourGirlsBack

The girls’ abductors, who have been in regular direct contact with a government intermediary, also report that three of their teenaged captives have died – although they did not state how this happened. Eighteen others, they say, are now sick. The intermediary told Channel 4 News that the al-Qaeda-affiliated group, Boko Haram, has threatened to kill the remaining hostages if there is any attempt by the Nigerian military to rescue the girls. Meanwhile in the capital Abuja, the Nigerian government is coming under intense public pressure to secure the girls’ release. On Wednesday, the government admitted for the first time that it had officially engaged the services of the negotiator. It declined to reveal his identity. He has told Channel 4 News that he wishes to remain anonymous for reasons of personal security. The intermediary has, however, been in regular, direct contact with senior members of the Islamist insurgent group who claim to be holding the girls, for several days now. He has maintained links with Boko Haram for nearly a decade and has successfully negotiated past hostage releases.

It is not clear how many of the 220 teenagers remain in Nigeria, following reports that they had been split into smaller groups and some moved into neighbouring Chad and Cameroon and sold for a bride-price of less than £10 each, following their forcible conversion to Islam.

Boko Haram has not as yet claimed responsibility for the mass kidnap, which happened in the town of Chibok in north-eastern Borno State 17 days ago, but the group is considered the only likely perpetrator. The girls were snatched from their dormitories in the small hours of the morning of 15 April. The government secondary school was then set ablaze.

Earlier this week, following initial contact with the intermediary, the abductors had agreed to provide a list of the names of the schoolgirls they claim they’re still holding, as proof of life. So far, they have not delivered this list.

The intermediary, who has relayed the abductors’ demands to Kashim Shettima, Governor of Borno State, told Channel 4 News that Boko Haram is actively “considering a deal” by which most of the girls who remain in Nigeria could be released. The governor is currently in Abuja but could not be reached for comment.

The group did not explain to the intermediary what had happened to the three girls it says had died. It is possible that they were killed while attempting to escape, as 50 of the girls have now done. Reports in other media cite a community elder in Chibok as saying that he too had learned of some deaths, reportedly from snakebites.

But those familiar with the brutal practices of Boko Haram say it is just as likely that the girls had been subjected to extreme sexual violence. This is something of which the girls’ parents as well as women’s groups have expressed grave fears.

Drug-taking among members of the group is commonplace and they are often high on drugs when they launch frenzied attacks. The intermediary told Channel 4 News that the longer the crisis was allowed to drag on, the worse – and more complex – the situation would get.

Hundreds of Nigerian women yesterday marched through the capital, Abuja, demanding urgent government action to secure their release…….continue reading »» Courtesy of Human Rights Watch

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Canada, home to the suicide capital of the world

In Pikangikum, gas sniffing is rampant and young people are taking their own lives at a shocking rate.
Martin Patriquin

Randy Keeper is sick of building coffins. A wiry fellow who looks younger than his 49 years, Keeper is proud of his job as a carpenter and crew leader, saying he’s built 25 houses from scratch over 17 years in Pikangikum, the reserve in northwestern Ontario where he has lived his whole life. But when it comes to the wooden boxes he builds for Pikangikum’s dead, he draws a blank. “I don’t count them,” he says from his daughter’s dining room table. He remembers the last ones, though. They were in December. “I had to make two in one day, one for an elder and one for a younger person.”

The dreams started a couple of weeks after that. In one, he’s lying face up in a freshly dug grave, watching as a coffin is slowly lowered toward him. He doesn’t know if there’s anyone inside, but he recognizes his handiwork: 100 lb. of plywood, treated pine and nails, a simple enough thing that takes him no more than 90 minutes to build. In the dream he’s alive but can’t move as it comes down on his chest, smothering him. Then he wakes up. “The elders told me to stop making them,” he says, “but I have no choice because I work for the band. I get nervous, shaky. Once the dreams happened I’d say yes out of respect for chief and council, but sometimes I don’t show up.”

Keeper is in high demand. Pikangikum, a fly-in reserve located about 300 km northeast of Winnipeg, is a place constantly haunted by the spectre of suicide. Over nearly four decades, the people of Pikangikum have seen dozens upon dozens of their friends and family members take their own lives. Last year, six people from the Ojibwa First Nations community killed themselves in as many weeks. In 2011, the community of roughly 2,400 had a suicide rate equivalent to 250 per 100,000—nearly 20 times that of Canada, and far and away the highest in the world. It has been so for 20 nearly uninterrupted years.

In recent months, the Attawapiskat reserve on James Bay served as a reminder of the deplorable conditions in many of Canada’s native communities. The lack of adequate housing in the frigid temperatures, followed by an acrimonious funding fight with the federal government, has kept the James Bay reserve of 1,800 in the public eye for months—a rare feat when it comes to native issues.

Separated by 500 km of northern Ontario wilderness, Attawapiskat and Pikangikum both suffer from a raft of structural and social problems: lack of housing and running water, addiction and poverty. Yet a glance at the numbers suggests Pikangikum is worse off—much worse. Consider how 80 per cent of its housing doesn’t have sewage pipes or running water; consider how the community of 2,400 had just over 3,600 lockups and nearly 5,000 calls for service to police last year. Consider how only two students graduated from high school last year. Consider how, as recently as 2008, fully 40 per cent of referrals to Tikinagan, northern Ontario’s First Nations childhood protection agency, were from Pikangikum. And consider the suicides, which have taken 96 lives—the vast majority of them young—in 20 years.

Continue reading this article »»»»»»

Article courtesy of Macleans.ca posted March 30, 2012

Archives: Suicides
Suicide of Canadian student prompts changes at U.S. school
One year after teen’s death, bullying is on the agenda
The mental health crisis on campus
Halifax vigil remembers Rehtaeh Parsons

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The New Bullying Prevention © 2016

STRUTT Central’s social awareness

This is a PSA Web Video produced through STRUTT Central‘s social awareness component in their programs for girls. This video is a serious example of the virus Cyber Bullying and it’s disease like effects. It illustrates how fast the virus spreads and infects others and can ruin the lives of it’s victims, in this case Jane Doe. The cure for the virus is found in those who stand up against it. We chose the national Anti Bullying colour PINK to be the symbolic antidote that stopped the bullying from spreading. This video was created to support PINK SHIRT DAY and spread awareness on Cyber Bullying! Please Follow Pink Shirt Day on Facebook and Twitter.

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Something To Ponder Over

Photo Credit Lizzy the Lezzy

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The Freedom Project: Prevention Through Education

The Village Resource Center

Summary
In Thailand, The Freedom Project works with children at risk to prevent human trafficking & child sexual exploitation through education & community development. Through educational scholarships, tutoring, mentors, workshops & additional programs at our community Resource Center, we’re helping more than 130 children reach their potential & become the leaders of tomorrow.

What is the issue, problem, or challenge?
Half of all children in rural northern Thailand are forced by poverty to drop out of school at a young age & very few continue past primary school. The statistics are even worse for girls, who are often obligated to provide income for their families. Many of them, lacking education & resources, end up exploited in Thailand’s sex industry.

How will this project solve this problem?
The SOLD Project developed its holistic “Freedom Project” prevention program and opened its Resource Center to keep children at risk off the path to prostitution & give them hope for a better future. By providing educational scholarships & access to tutoring, mentors, trafficking awareness courses, English lessons & other skills training, SOLD is transforming lives. Drop-out rates have plummeted & for the first time girls in this community are pursuing high school & university degrees.

Potential Long Term Impact
By investing in the education & development of these at-risk children, we not only prevent them from becoming victims of exploitation, but we free them to succeed, rise from poverty, & change the future for their families, their children, & beyond. These children are a new generation with the tools and understanding to become Thailand’s future leaders.

Funding Information
Total Funding Received to Date: $52,797
Remaining Goal to be Funded: $47,202
Total Funding Goal: $99,999

Resources

• http://thesoldproject.com
• SOLD’s Official Blog
• Videos from The SOLD Project
• The SOLD Project’s Instagram Feed

🇨🇦The Amanda Todd Story P-2🌹️

Carol Todd from The Amanda Todd Legacy Society in Port Coquitlam

B.C. RCMP announced charges at a news conference late Thursday afternoon against a 35-year-old Dutch citizen in connection with the online sexual extortion of Amanda Todd, the B.C. teen who killed herself in October 2012, and other alleged victims from around the world. “This is truly a day we’ve been waiting for,” said Todd’s mother Carol, her voice breaking as she fought back tears. “I always knew deep in my heart that what my daughter told me was the truth.” The man, whose identity has not been released, is facing five charges, including extortion, internet luring, criminal harassment and the possession and distribution of child pornography.

Coquitlam, B.C., RCMP Insp. Paulette Freill told reporters that authorities in the Netherlands arrested a Dutch citizen in January in relation to an investigation in that country involving Dutch victims.
Freill says Coquitlam RCMP launched an investigation in December 2010 that involved more than 30 police officers. She says the investigation eventually expanded to include local and international investigators and experts.
The National Child Exploitation Co-ordination Centre says the investigation includes victims from Canada and other countries.

International investigation

A Dutch man has been arrested in the Netherlands and charged in connection with the online sexual extortion of teen Amanda Todd, one of many suspected victims identified in an international probe. (CBC)

Insp. Bob Resch says the majority of the victims identified in Canada are children.
“All the police forces and jurisdictions where those victims are located have been notified and been in contact with those victims and have advanced their investigations accordingly,” he said. Carol Todd says Amanda’s story has touched a lot of people around the world. She hopes the added attention will result in the arrest of more offenders who target young people. “It is our hope that Amanda’s case will help the international community to work together to target and find those who commit crimes of exploitation against children and youth,” Todd said.

Earlier in the day, the Dutch media organization Omroep Brabant published news identifying Todd as one of the victims in the Netherlands case. The journalist who broke the story in the Netherlands, Mathijs Pennings, told CBC News the man arrested is a Dutch national, who is accused of blackmailing numerous minors after recording their webcam activities. He is also alleged to have extorted older male victims for money. His alleged victims include individuals from Europe, the U.K. and Canada, Pennings said. The man allegedly told the Canadian girl to undress in front of a webcam, which she did, and then he saved those images in order to blackmail her, Omroep Brabant reported. Amanda’s mother told CBC that she was in shock at the news. She said RCMP told her there was an overseas development in the case two months ago. “There were multiple people in those chat rooms,” Carol Todd said. “So this would hopefully be the first layer of many layers that they could uncover.” To continue reading and watch the live video reports click here

The New Bullying Prevention © 2012 – 2020

My Last Day of Employment at Richcraft

This is the inside of the unit taken that same day July 10, 2012

It was July 10, 2012 and I woke up as usual at 5:30 am and started preparing myself for another day at the construction site in hell. I arrived the same time as I did everyday around 7:00 am, although I wasn’t scheduled to start until 7:30 am, my first task was to unlock the front doors of all the units I was responsible for, there was two general laborers, Yannick and one other Richcraft Carpenter, between four of us we were responsible for unlocking all the unit doors so the contractors could enter to complete their assignments, after which I would Radio Yannick, if he didn’t already contact me, for my daily work assignments which was always sweeping the units and removing all scrap drywall.
I proceeded to my first unit which was pretty much central to the whole site, so I entered the unit, it was empty no contractors present. I was supplied with a push broom, kitchen angle broom and a 5 gallon plastic Garbage can, so I started picking up all scrap drywall and stacking it in a pile in the center of each and every room after which I started to sweep.
Just after lunch the painting contractors showed up which consisted of two individuals, male and female whom appeared to be a couple. After about an hour I received a call from Yannick on my two way Radio requesting I go to another site, as I was working in a unit on Cooks Mill Crescent, he requested I proceed to Riveredge Crescent which was about 9 kms away. I was paid for my mileage and visited this site a few times before, as we had three to four new houses on this street that were close to completion.
I finished the task I was working on and then collected the brooms and proceeded to my car parked in front, only to find a Dodge minivan was parked behind me, I went back in the unit and asked the painter if he could move his van so I could get out of the driveway, his lady friend grab his keys and moved the van and I proceeded to the other work-site on Riveredge Crescent.
I arrived at the unit and proceeded to the upstairs to start clean up, after picking up all scrap and throwing it out the windows which is the process for removing scrap and garbage from the units, I started sweeping hearing from outside the backhoe driver leveling the grounds.
Approximately one hour later I was startled by someone touching my shoulder, I immediately turned in defense mode and almost punched Bernie in the face, now seeing both him and Yannick standing there. I was shocked and very upset that they were able to enter the unit and make their way to the second floor without my knowledge. I let Bernie know that he almost got a punch in the face and advice him not to sneak up me like that.
That’s when himself and Yannick made their way towards me and pinned me to the wall at which time I told him I was recording everything being said. This was something I started doing a couple of weeks earlier, turning on the voice recorder while at work due to derogatory name calling, physical jesters and not to mention threats.
At this point I am starting to sweat and shake, the start of an Anxiety attack, as I have been dealing with the attacks for such a long time, I found that getting out of the situation that was causing the panic attack always worked for me, so my main concern now was to find an avenue of escape, not really listening to what Bernie was saying as he spit in my face, I started looking for an opportunity to make a dash for the exit as I began moving slowly towards the exit, at the same time as they tried blocking me, I kept slowly moving toward the exit as Bernie continued talking. It was when he said “I want you to go home now and bring me back a paper from your doctor I felt a small sense of relief, it was the quickest time I have ever exited a room, saying thank you and agreeing with everything he was saying as I made my way down the stairs and out the front door. I never returned to South Ottawa until July 16, 2012 accompanied by a friend at which time I was fired. All my efforts to obtain employment since that day has been in vain.

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Bullying incidents of those with Special Needs incite controversy

Bullying has always been a serious problem in American schools and neighborhoods, especially for those with special-needs. In many ways, our culture seems to be evolving into a more tolerant society, as more states are legalizing gay marriage, and schools across the country are taking pledges to eradicate bullying.
Unfortunately, we’ve not come as far as we’d hoped, as evidenced by two disturbing news stories during the past week.
A high school sophomore at South Fayette High School in McDonald. PA, who is diagnosed with delay disorder, ADHD, and an anxiety disorder, was charged with illegal wiretapping after he used his I-Pad to record a vicious incident of bullying. “The audio file records a student saying, “You should pull his pants down!” Another student replies, “No man. Imagine how bad that c**t smells! No one wants to smell that t**t,” as the teacher is helping the victim with a math problem, according to benswann.com. One bully even hit him over the head with a book, despite the teacher’s previous reprimands.”
A loud sound is heard on the recording, then the teacher’s reprimand, to which the student replies, “What, I was just trying to scare him!” Laughter from a group of boys follows.
When the student reported the incident to Principal Scott Milburn, his response was to call the local police and have the student charged with illegal wiretapping.

If you only do one good deed in your life time…There is a petition at Change.org calling for Milburn to be fired, please sign and show your support for this Special needs boy and all others like him.

Another disturbing story did not occur at school, but rather at the home of an Ohio family who had a long-running feud with a neighbor. Sixty-two year-old Edmund Aviv was sentenced to stand at a street corner with a sign saying,

“I AM A BULLY! I pick on children that are disabled, and I am intolerant of those that are different from myself. My actions do not reflect an appreciation for the diverse South Euclid community that I live in.”

This punishment is in response to a long-running feud with neighbor Sandra Prugh, who has two adopted children with developmental disabilities, cerebral palsy and epilepsy. Her husband suffers from dementia, and her son is paralyzed.
According to court records, Aviv is accused of calling her an ethnic slur while she was holding her adopted black children, spitting on her several times, regularly throwing dog feces on the windshield of her son’s car and once on a wheelchair ramp. He also hooked up kerosene to a fan, which he blew towards the victim’s house in retaliation for an “annoying” smell that he claims was coming out of her dryer vent.
The judge also sentenced Aviv to 15 days in jail, along with anger management classes and counseling. He was also required to write a letter of apology to Prugh’s family. He said,

“I want to express my sincere apology for acting irrationally towards your house and the safety of your children. I understand my actions could have caused harm but at that time I was not really thinking about it.”

Perhaps the young men from South Fayette High should be given a similar consequence.
Autism Daily Newscast – April 16, 2014 by Laurel Joss

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Bullying Quotes : Overcoming Negativity!

There is something inspiring about a set of quotations on a particular topic. Someone has experienced a powerful event, survived (even thrived), transforming thoughts and feelings into aphorisms: clever, cogent, concise, and spot-on observations. Learn our Bullying Quotes! These bullying quotes touch upon topics of authenticity, peer-pressure, power, strength, individuality, resilience, respect, and hope. This is our collection of Bullying Quotes. Reading these Bullying Quotes can inspire so many people! So share them with everyone and help people you love overcome bullying.

Bullying Quotes:

• If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse, and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality – Desmond Tutu
• Knowing what’s right doesn’t mean much unless you do what’s right – Roosevelt
• Some people won’t be happy until they’ve pushed you to the ground. What you have to do is have the courage to stand your ground and not give them the time of day. Hold on to your power and never give it away – Donna Schoenrock
• When people hurt you over and over, think of them like sandpaper. They may scratch and hurt you a bit, but in the end, you end up polished and they end up useless – Anonymous
• I was silent as a child, and silenced as a young woman; I am taking my lumps and bumps for being a big mouth, now, but usually from those whose opinion I don’t respect – Sandra Cisneros

To continue reading all the quotes, click here.

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• Archives: My Thoughts

Here at B.P over the last year we have experienced Cyber-Bullying, if you are contacted and an attempt is made to defame us or derogatory statements are shared about us, record the senders user name so there IP address can be traced, you can report it here on facebook at GetCyberSafe.ca. Lotsa Luv

Confronting Suicide Part 1: Teen Suicides

Daniel Moreno photographed with his mother and sister.

Daniel Moreno was – among many things – a wrestler, a long-distance runner, a cook and a poet. He was diagnosed with schizophrenia, and his mother Susan sought help for him, even taking him to the National Institute of Mental Health. Still, he died by suicide in 2005. Daniel’s death triggered a crusade mentality in his mother. “It has become my passion to get out there and talk to people about mental illness and suicide,” Susan Moreno said. “This is serious business, suicide is 100 percent preventable yet we have children dying from suicide.” By children, Moreno means teenagers. In Arizona, the percentage of teens left injured or poisoned in suicide attempts nearly doubled from 2003 to 2013, data from the Arizona Department of Education shows. At just two centers in Tucson, the emergency room at the University of Arizona Medical Center and the Crisis Response Center, seven to 10 teenagers need medical attention every day after having suicidal thoughts or suicidal behaviors, said John Leipsic, UA assistant professor of psychiatry and child and adolescent psychiatry. “And that’s not counting the kids who go to Tucson Medical Center, other emergency rooms, SAMHAC (Southern Arizona Mental Health Corp.) and other community service agencies,” Leipsic said.
Nationally, more than 15 percent of high school students have seriously considered attempting suicide, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
Suicide is preventable, and the first step is letting go of the stigma and taboo surrounding the topic, Moreno said.
Because suicides are often associated with mental illness diagnoses, the conversation is more difficult and the stigma is amplified. Experts advise to not keep talk of suicide a secret.
“When a young person dies, it’s difficult no matter how they die, and as parents we always expect to go before our children, we think that we should have known we should have seen it coming,” Moreno said.
Daniel spoke with his mother and with doctors at the National Institute of Mental Health hours before his death, yet “nobody saw it coming … he sounded really good to all of us,” Moreno said.
A high percentage of people who die by suicide have a mental illness, “such as depression, so we need to talk about mental health when we talk about suicide,” Moreno said.
As part of MiKid: Mentally Ill Kids In Distress, Moreno talks to high school students in Pima County about suicide prevention.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender teens are two to five times more likely to engage in suicidal thoughts and behaviors than heterosexual teens, data shows.
“We’ve learned in the last 10 years that some of the critical precursors to suicide or risk factors, such as depression or substance abuse, are higher for LGBT youth,” said Stephen Russell, interim director of UA Norton School of Family and Consumer Sciences and president of the Society for Research and Adolescence.
Russell is working on a multi-city study tracking 1,200 LGBT teenagers for four years to try to understand the risk of suicide and how to protect LGBT teens.
So far, he has found that LGBT teens often perceive themselves as a burden to other people. If they are being bullied at school, for example, teens may feel like they are always upsetting their parents or their friends “because they don’t know what to do if people are making fun of them or not accepting them.”
Arizona consistently ranks in the top 10 the number of teen suicides, and the latest numbers from the Arizona Department of Health Services show there were 56 suicides of people under 19 years old in 2012.
Seven suicides of people under 19 years old were reported by the Pima County Office of the Medical Examiner in 2013, but suicides, especially those of young people, are underreported because of the stigma surrounding the issue.
Hundreds of teens in Pima County have suicidal thoughts and behaviors every week, Leipsic said.
“What we tell kids who have tried to kill themselves is that there is no shame or blame,” Leipsic said. “They say ‘well isn’t it bad to try to kill yourself,’ and we tell them not in the sense that they are going to be punished for it.”
Suicide and suicide attempts should not be approached with prejudice or stigma, and “these conversations are valuable discussions we need to have community wide,” Leipsic said.
Although social media can be a place where bullying takes place, it also has allowed for intervention after teens post suicidal messages on sites, such as Facebook or Twitter, he said.
“A student may post something on Facebook and the next day a friend or family member says ‘I saw your post last night, what’s going on?’” Leipsic said, which is something that teens might have done in a private diary in the past.
The Youth Suicide Prevention Program suggests that if a person suspects a teen may be suicidal, to first listen to the teen without judgment and ask about his or her feelings rather than fix the problem. Next, ask directly about suicide without being confrontational, and finally call a crisis hotline, contact a doctor or mental health professional.
“People should not be afraid to bring it up,” Moreno said. “I found myself talking to a person one time and all these red flags were going off in my head thinking the person might be suicidal but I was afraid to bring it up.”
Once Moreno asked directly, “Are you suicidal?” the person began to cry, and the two were able to talk about it and seek help.
Next in the series: Efforts locally and nationally at suicide prevention among college students, started after a University of Arizona student took his own life in 1998.
Story by Fernanda Echavarri – April 14, 2014

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