Sunday, July 29, 2007

Umoja, Kenya

Video Find of the Day

I first learned about the existence of domestic violence refuges when I was driving cab in the 80s. Cabs were needed sometimes and it wasn't always possible to line up women drivers. I was called in on a few occasions, after promising never to reveal the location of the refuge or the identities of the passengers.

In Africa, in Kenya, there's a whole village that's been established by women who have been raped and "dishonored" and become homeless. It's called Umoja, which means "Unity" in Swahili. The video embedded below is a documentary about it.

If deciphering the on-screen French is a problem, there's an English version here, but you may have to wait longer for it to load.

In 2005, the Washington Post ran an article about Umoja.



See how the previous post referenced the City of Refuge in Hawai'i, and we ended up in Umoja? There's a madness to my method.

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