Ethiopia: Child Abuse Caught on Mobile Phone Camera
Ethiopian Facebook users have reacted to a mobile phone recorded YouTube video which shows a little girl constantly being abused by her mother. Shortly after the upload of the video, netizens on Facebook organized an online campaign for justice by starting a Facebook group called “Ethiopians Against Child Abuse”:
About
what happened to this little girl is an eye opening experience to all of us. Let's all stand up for other invisible children, and bring awareness to stop child abuse in ETHIOPIA. We are the next generation that can change our country let's start today
Description
As we closely monitor the case of the little girl, we also want to think about on how we can keep on making such great diffrence by very small gestures as we have just done, in these past two days. This community (Ethiopians Against Child Abuse), is a group dedicated to bringing awareness to child abuse in Ethiopia. We are inviting all and any individuals who already work in charity, people who are interested in charity work, and individuals who are ready to make a difference to join our movement.
The following video contains upsetting content:
This update was posted on the group's wall:
BREAKING NEWS: we just got off the phone with Saifu Fantahun and we have learned that: 1. after the reporters left the house, the child got beat again, there are new marks on her body to prove that :( 2. The woman is not her mother, she is her grandmother. 3. The child is 4 years old now and they claim these happened 3 years ago, which is clearly a lie. Because the child was not 1 years old in the video. 4. both the mother and the girl who was recording the incident are both in custody. 4. The child is staying with her aunt for now. 5. The grandmother is claiming that she get's possessed by the devil sometimes and that is why she commits such act.
Another Facebook group is called “Stop child abuse In Ethiopia”:
This is group is dedicated to those children who have been victims of physical assault,mental torture,sexual harassment,abduction, and early marriage. The immediate cause for its existence is the brutal physical torture committed on a little girl by her parents.
The group bears the responsibility to spread the information as wide as possible so as to make the issue the concern of responsible bodies.
Thus Let us try to change the situation by inviting our friends to this group, at least invite two of your friends. tnx
Tsedi Lemma, one of the most active Ethiopian social media activist wrote on her Facebook page:
Watch this video and weep. I have nothing to say….this has gutted my ability to speak as a mother and a woman. I didn't know this was the limit of my big mouth…i am just speechless!!
Another Ethiopian netizen, Muson Abdo, left a message on the ‘Stop child abuse In Ethiopia’ Facebook page:
Let's do the simplest possible effort to stop the brutal child right abuse in our country by echoing the message so that the issue will become the concern of our leaders. There are so many similar cases taking place in the country which hampers the natural and healthy growth of the coming generation. You are the one who can stop this disaster from the land. So don't overlook it, it is our responsibility too. We have the ability in our hands to halt it right now. Let say enough is enough. We have suffered/they have suffered/ our country suffered a lot from this epidemic. Speared it as wide as you can.
Ethiopians Against Child Abuse logo. Image source: Group's Facebook page.
Dawit Nida [am] said on Facebook:
ለዚህ ምን ይባላል!!! እያንዳንዱ ጥፊ በስለት የተወጋሁ ያህል ነው የተስማኝ:: የቀራጯ ሳቅ ደግሞ…..ውይ ያሰቃያል!!! STOP CHILD ABUSE!!
A woman wearing a t-shirt with the message "በአዲሱ ሚሊኒየም የሕፃናት ደህንነት የሁላችን ኃላፊነት ነው" (In the new millennium, the safety of children is our common responsibility). Photo courtesy of ethiopianreporter.com.
One local radio station has offered a 10,000 Ethiopian Birr (about US$ 600) reward for any one with information leading to the arrest of the abusive “mother”. The girl laughing in the background who recorded the video has finally gave her side of the story.
A local online newsletter [am] reports that the mother has now been identified.
Social media helped Ethiopian netizens discover the video and spread it among themselves. Facebook penetration in Ethiopia is at 111.19%. The country ranks number 93 in the ranking of Facebook statistics by country. According to Internet World Stats, as of 31 December, 2011 there were 622,122 Internet users in Ethiopia.
Recently, mobile phone video footage showing an Ethiopian domestic worker being beaten and dragged by force into a car outside the Ethiopian consulate in Beirut, Lebanon caused angry reactions amongst Ethiopian netizens.
20 comments
whats the name of the page ???? on facebook ?
Oh my God!!! this is SOOOOO disturbing!!! The person who shot the video and DID NOTHING to stop the abuse should go to jail… oh that poor little girl..that woman is not human, how can you do that to a child…she also abused the child sexually..
lady kept on getting cause she wasnt hurt
Me I was sexually abused by a person my family wanted to help when he came to live with us he took down his pants and at 7 years old he made me sit on it and told me to move up and down slowly and he moaned and moaned then the next day he took me to the room and he took of his cloths and took of my cloths and he told me to spread my legs as wide as I could and I was flexible so I did the side splits wide open and he told me to stay like that first he stuck his finger up my vagina and went up and down and then he licked it then he layer down and told me to sit on top of him and his pines went up my vagina and he told me to go up and down then he made me do different positions the worst one was when he made me suck his Dick and then he put his finger inside my thing again and pressed it and then I told him it hurt but he told me that’s how you show love so he laid on top of me then he got up and the he made me go on my knees and he put his thing up my but hole then he put me down then put his finger in my vagina and then he made me rub his thing he did that then the next day he made me do the side splits again then h
O my this very sad i will will Pray for part of my country
She is trying to be so still and good in hopes that toothless granny stops abusing her. The 2 adults were laughing as well which is even more sick!!
The grandmother claims that she gets possessed by e devil and that’s e reason she commit those acts?! I truly believe she’s mentally sick. Sick bitch. Beating her own grandchild. That child is physically and mentally tortured! At e grandmothers age, ‘home says leave,death says come’ Then she happily join her devil friend that she claims posses her.
This lady must……..I insist….must be punished with a sharp bamboo..in her a** and the bamboo must stand tall….she must b left alone with nothing to help her to stop her sliding down on that bamboo……….LET HER FEEL THE PAIN N HUMILIATION……..MAY GOD CURSE HER WITH THE WORST.