05.06.2024
Bredasdorp Is A South African Town That’s Plagued By Rape And Murder
Murder and rape rates in South Africa are among the highest in the world, and the locals have become used to it. Bredasdorp, however, made international headlines when 17-year-old Anene Booysen was raped and murdered. Julia Jaki suspects that the reason Booysen's death received so much attention was because her abdomen had been slashed and her intestines ripped out. At the time, there were protest marches all over the country, and politicians promised to do everything to prevent such things from happening in the future. A year after the crime, Jaki went to Bredasdorp to see if anything had changed in the village — if young people were now getting regular support from the state. The answer is swift and clear: no. In Bredasdorp, South Africa, a series of rapes and murders has shaken the small town of 15,000 people. The Black and mixed-race community in the divided town suffers from endemic poverty, family breakdown and drug addiction. Lana O’Neill, a community worker, has taken it upon herself to provide a safe house for vulnerable teenage girls she finds on the streets, but faces challenges in negotiating funding and getting the local government on board. As she struggles against the tide, the pressure on her only increases, and it remains to be seen if she will be able to prevent another tragedy from occurring. Credit: ALJAZEERA
Poverty deprives people of adequate education, health care and of life's most basic necessities- safe living conditions (including clean air and clean drinking water) and an adequate food supply. The developed (industrialized) countries today account for roughly 20 percent of the world's population but control about 80 percent of the world's wealth.
Poverty and pollution seem to operate in a vicious cycle that, so far, has been hard to break. Even in the developed nations, the gap between the rich and the poor is evident in their respective social and environmental conditions.
Poverty and pollution seem to operate in a vicious cycle that, so far, has been hard to break. Even in the developed nations, the gap between the rich and the poor is evident in their respective social and environmental conditions.
