Whenever I read the phrase “closing the gap” when issues on gender equality are raised, I sometimes can’t help asking “Is it a competition?” It is not. But the constant struggle we women have to put up with, to be recognized for what we truly are worth can be quite frustrating. Women are as capable and can be better in many aspects than men but it is the perception of women being the weaker sex that makes achieving gender equality more difficult and complex.
It affects me that there is a woman who openly admitted that she strangled her female children after they were born and had done it not once, not twice, nor five times but EIGHT times because she wanted a baby boy. I cannot imagine what went on in her mind as she smiled for the camera while being interviewed and pointed to the place where she threw the female babies she strangled to death.
It affects me that gendercide or infanticide can be so common in some areas of the world because of the family’s preference for a specific sex of their children – the male sex.
It affects me that girls in other countries who are half my daughter’s age are sold or married off to pay the family’s debts and end up being child brides or sex slaves.
I can empathize with the feeling of helplessness of a cause-oriented volunteer who goes to houses of pregnant women in a desperate attempt convince the families not to abort the female babies in the mother’s womb. They would openly tell her they want to abort the baby girl; that a baby girl would be costly because they have to pay dowry if she gets married, a custom practiced by many in countries like India but has been illegal for years; that they have heard of the dowry system being stopped since they were kids but nothing has changed; that a baby girl will one day marry to live with her husband and his family and leave with their money or treasure; that a baby boy will carry the family’s name and not the girl. How can one not be so frustrated and feel helpless with these kinds of justifications to abort the female baby?
A major obstacle that slows down the progress of gender equality is the strong cultural belief that females are the weaker sex. As such, they are treated as less deserving of an education and can be traded off¸ bartered or sold like an animal. There are documented stories of families forcing their daughters into early marriages, in-laws forcing their daughters-in-law into prostitution or to abort their female babies. Though there are more women now speaking out and fighting for their rights, the repression and violence on females continue. It is worth noting though that with technology and media exposure, these incidents are brought to the limelight and countries acknowledge the need to address the problem.
Poverty also drives some families to extreme that when financial difficulties force them to decide who should be sent to school, it is usually the females that end up staying home to do the chores, bartered, sold or married off to pay off the family debts. United Nations Statistics Division statistics show that Afghanistan has the lowest rate of educated women at 18%. However, in terms of employment, Muslim or Middle East populations dominated the lowest share of female workers like Qatar with the lowest at 12%, Iraq at 17%, Palestine, Oman and Pakistan at 19%. The statistics are indicators that poverty, religion and culture are factors that can strongly affect gender equality.
Though governments have exerted efforts in addressing gender issues, the role of Non-Government Organizations (NGO) and cause-oriented groups has been critical over the years. They fill in the “lack of attention” given by governments on gender issues. They provide shelter, protection and counselling for abused girls/children, feed children in school to keep them educated and out of the danger of being recruited as child labourers or slaves.
Many of these NGOs and cause-oriented groups have been clamouring for an increased budget for education. Though there has been significant progress in expanding enrolment and increasing years of schooling since 1960, the UNDP 2003 statistics points out that 113 million children of primary school age are still not enrolled in school, 94 percent of whom live in developing countries (UNESCO, 2002).
Educating girls can make a difference in their lives and their families’ lives. Giving them education is like throwing a pebble into the water...it creates a ripple that widens. With education, women become aware of their rights, are able to contribute to the economy as part of the workforce, and can become independent to be able to support themselves and provide for their children’s needs and education – a rippling effect. Education broadens the females’ horizon of opportunities for themselves and their families.
It’s worth mentioning that even in the United States where gender equality and democracy are strongly espoused, the gender gap exists. In 2008, 59.5 percent of all women were in the labour force versus 73.0 percent of all men. Out of 23 Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries, the United States has the seventh largest gender earnings gap. According to the OECD, “the gender wage gap in the United States is 21.6%, well above the OECD average of 18.5%.” (http://www.pay-equity.org/PDFs/ProfWomen.pdf)
All these are realities of the gender gap that exists and will continue to exist unless we change the mindset of people on how the female gender should be treated. And clearly, poverty, culture, and religion are major factors that can slow down the progress towards achieving gender equality. BUT education is the one golden opportunity for women that will help create the ripple effect to hasten seal the gap on gender equality.
Friday, January 27, 2012
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Saturday, November 12, 2011
Domestic Violence...Will It Ever End?
A few days ago I read a link to an article from a Women's NGO site regarding the brutal beating inflicted by a Nigerian diplomat on his wife. (http://women-news.org/2011/10/20/jonathan-reinstates-wife-beating-kenyan-ambassador-dr-chijioke-wilcox-wigwe/).
If the pictures are anything to go by, the physical injuries which the Ambassador's wife accused him of inflicting on her were clear evidence of domestic violence. To describe her condition in the local lingo commonly used for badly-beaten people - she was used as a punching bag…and worse.
Studies revealed that such kind of violence are not documented in Nigeria because of widespread tolerance of violence against women: "once a woman is married, she is expected to endure whatever she meets in her matrimonial home." The study went as far as stating that half of Nigeria’s women are victims of domestic violence.
Some members of their families and within their communities subject countless women and girls in Nigeria to violence, as in many countries throughout the world. Such incidents are difficult to document, the violation being done in the privacy of what is supposed to be called a home. However, studies also suggest that the levels of violence are high. More than a third and in some groups nearly two-thirds of women in Nigeria are believed to have experienced physical, sexual or psychological violence in the family.
In 2007, the Lagos State House of Assembly passed abill "to provide protection against Domestic Violence and for Connected Purposes." The Law was specifically aimed at protecting the victims of domestic violence. However, spreading awareness down to the households in Nigeria was also a problem. To help address this, Women Empowerment and Legal Aid (WELA), a non-government organization (NGO), initiated a move to make homes aware of their civil rights and for organisations and lawyers to utilize the law to arrest domestic violence in Nigeria. (source: Abdulwahab Abdulah of Vanguard)
It’s sad that those we expect to protect us are sometimes the very people involved in the crime…our own family-members or even the police. Fear and shame and the cultural belief that men are the dominant members in the family often drive the victimized women to the point of suffering in silence. Nigeria is just one of many developing countries where women are expected to be submissive and uncomplaining.
It is where NGOs like DeltaWomen, World Pulse and other cause-oriented organizations involved in protecting and promoting women’s rights in particular, come in. They bring awareness to the world and help move governments and their citizens to recognize the problem and do something about it.
The road to achieving this is by no means easy but it is moving and the number is growing that can put pressure to governments like Nigeria to seriously address the problem.
Saturday, November 05, 2011
Musings on Human Trafficking...
I couldn’t help getting emotional again as I read a touching post from a writer about a girl who was sold to a brothel at age six and locked inside a room to be raped by 15 or more men every night.
His words reminded me what I at times forget – that though the human capacity for evil can be so great, humans have an equally awesome capacity for resilience and recovery.
I’ve read quite a number of articles of how women and children survived abuses wrought by war, poverty and greed for power and money. That they survived at all is amazing. Their survival and show of hope and strength to rise above what they had gone through always makes me appreciate how life has been good to me.80% of human trafficking involves sexual labor and exploitation, and 19% accounts for victims of forced or bonded labor. It does not surprise me that 90% of human trafficking victims are women and girls, or that over 20,000-50,000 women are trafficked into the United States every year, or that 2 million children are forced into prostitution every year, and half of them live in Asia.
To say at this point that trafficking of human beings “is becoming” a major source of income for some organized crime groups would be an understatement. It has always been there but people way back then probably did not have the courage to get organized to be heard and be strong in number to make the world aware at how serious the problem is. Though these anti-trafficking civic groups have grown, so have these organized crime groups become bolder. They have no qualms about enslaving people, or worse, “executing” those who defy or try to escape from them. And it’s sad that in some publicized news about this, people expected to protect the victims get caught in the web of crime , deceit and power.
I found a very interesting article of how organized human trafficking can be from a July 2005 article of International Peace Research Institute, Oslo (PRIO) (http://www.migrationinformation.org/Feature/display.cfm?ID=318) . It illustrated how victims are systematically trafficked from Nigeria to Italy, where the largest group of victims from the Sub-Saharan Africa at that time came from Nigeria. It clearly showed the collusion of people from several points of contact until the victims reached their destination.
Even in countries like Cambodia and Kosovo where the UN and NATO peacekeeping forces were stationed, prostitution increased by huge numbers. This has caused a lot of flak and criticism on the UN and NATO from women's rights and human rights groups for not doing anything concrete about the situation. (source: Tulika Nair)
Despite all the profiling of these criminals and determining the network by which the trafficking cycle reaches its complicity, what has really been done to eradicate it? The problem undeniably persists.
In Nigeria, the government signed and ratified the United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children (often referred to as the Palermo Protocol). Though PRIO pointed out that domestic legislation and legal practice in the area of trafficking remained erratic in 2005, the Trafficking in Persons report (TIP report) released in 2011 classified Nigeria under Tier 1 (http://www.state.gov/g/tip/rls/tiprpt/2011/164228.htm), meaning it has complied with the Trafficking Victims Protection Act’s (TVPA) minimum standards. This however, does not say that trafficking no longer exists. It is still identified as a source, transit, and destination country for women and children subjected to forced labor and sex trafficking. Government fully complies with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and has, over the last year, “sustained a modest number of trafficking prosecutions and provision of assistance to several hundred trafficking victims, but did not demonstrate an increase in its anti-trafficking law enforcement efforts.” (http://www.state.gov/g/tip/rls/tiprpt/2011/164233.htm)
The Philippines, in March 2003 enacted a comprehensive anti-trafficking law called The Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003 or the Republic Act No. 3208. Several women’s rights groups and advocates against human trafficking were formed to help police and prosecute offenders. However, the problem still prevails.
India’s current law—the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act 1956 (ITPA)—does not penalize sex workers. Instead, the legislation targets those who profit from or exploit prostitutes. Government’s move to make trafficking illegal sparked debates in 2008 as some sectors argued this would drive offenders further into hiding thus increasing health risks.
Both India and the Philippines are categorized as Tier 2 under the 2011 Trafficking in Persons report. This ranking is the second to lowest in which “the government does not fully comply with the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA)’s minimum standards, but is making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance with those standards.”
Human trafficking will thrive anywhere for as long as there are people willing to pay for sex or child labor, and poverty drives people to desperation to be able to survive.
It takes a lot of perseverance, courage and hope for victims to rise above the trauma.
It takes compassion and understanding from others, not ridicule and persecution to help these victims regain a normal life again.
It takes our voice..our action to move leaders and governments to address major human rights concerns and make things right…
His words reminded me what I at times forget – that though the human capacity for evil can be so great, humans have an equally awesome capacity for resilience and recovery.
I’ve read quite a number of articles of how women and children survived abuses wrought by war, poverty and greed for power and money. That they survived at all is amazing. Their survival and show of hope and strength to rise above what they had gone through always makes me appreciate how life has been good to me.80% of human trafficking involves sexual labor and exploitation, and 19% accounts for victims of forced or bonded labor. It does not surprise me that 90% of human trafficking victims are women and girls, or that over 20,000-50,000 women are trafficked into the United States every year, or that 2 million children are forced into prostitution every year, and half of them live in Asia.
To say at this point that trafficking of human beings “is becoming” a major source of income for some organized crime groups would be an understatement. It has always been there but people way back then probably did not have the courage to get organized to be heard and be strong in number to make the world aware at how serious the problem is. Though these anti-trafficking civic groups have grown, so have these organized crime groups become bolder. They have no qualms about enslaving people, or worse, “executing” those who defy or try to escape from them. And it’s sad that in some publicized news about this, people expected to protect the victims get caught in the web of crime , deceit and power.
I found a very interesting article of how organized human trafficking can be from a July 2005 article of International Peace Research Institute, Oslo (PRIO) (http://www.migrationinformation.org/Feature/display.cfm?ID=318) . It illustrated how victims are systematically trafficked from Nigeria to Italy, where the largest group of victims from the Sub-Saharan Africa at that time came from Nigeria. It clearly showed the collusion of people from several points of contact until the victims reached their destination.
Even in countries like Cambodia and Kosovo where the UN and NATO peacekeeping forces were stationed, prostitution increased by huge numbers. This has caused a lot of flak and criticism on the UN and NATO from women's rights and human rights groups for not doing anything concrete about the situation. (source: Tulika Nair)
Despite all the profiling of these criminals and determining the network by which the trafficking cycle reaches its complicity, what has really been done to eradicate it? The problem undeniably persists.
In Nigeria, the government signed and ratified the United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children (often referred to as the Palermo Protocol). Though PRIO pointed out that domestic legislation and legal practice in the area of trafficking remained erratic in 2005, the Trafficking in Persons report (TIP report) released in 2011 classified Nigeria under Tier 1 (http://www.state.gov/g/tip/rls/tiprpt/2011/164228.htm), meaning it has complied with the Trafficking Victims Protection Act’s (TVPA) minimum standards. This however, does not say that trafficking no longer exists. It is still identified as a source, transit, and destination country for women and children subjected to forced labor and sex trafficking. Government fully complies with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and has, over the last year, “sustained a modest number of trafficking prosecutions and provision of assistance to several hundred trafficking victims, but did not demonstrate an increase in its anti-trafficking law enforcement efforts.” (http://www.state.gov/g/tip/rls/tiprpt/2011/164233.htm)
The Philippines, in March 2003 enacted a comprehensive anti-trafficking law called The Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003 or the Republic Act No. 3208. Several women’s rights groups and advocates against human trafficking were formed to help police and prosecute offenders. However, the problem still prevails.
India’s current law—the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act 1956 (ITPA)—does not penalize sex workers. Instead, the legislation targets those who profit from or exploit prostitutes. Government’s move to make trafficking illegal sparked debates in 2008 as some sectors argued this would drive offenders further into hiding thus increasing health risks.
Both India and the Philippines are categorized as Tier 2 under the 2011 Trafficking in Persons report. This ranking is the second to lowest in which “the government does not fully comply with the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA)’s minimum standards, but is making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance with those standards.”
Human trafficking will thrive anywhere for as long as there are people willing to pay for sex or child labor, and poverty drives people to desperation to be able to survive.
It takes a lot of perseverance, courage and hope for victims to rise above the trauma.
It takes compassion and understanding from others, not ridicule and persecution to help these victims regain a normal life again.
It takes our voice..our action to move leaders and governments to address major human rights concerns and make things right…
Monday, October 31, 2011
Not Just a Woman's Struggle...
Of late, I've been reading about so many issues that have affected me...women and children's rights being violated, famine, violence, flood victims in several countries, even the juvenile crimes going on in major streets that I could not imagine my own children who are much older would even think of doing.. All of these issues have somehow touched a chord. I keep being thankful at how blessed I am that my children have never experienced poverty, violence or even wading in muddied flood waters. For weeks I couldn't find the right words to express what I felt.
A few days ago I read Nicholas Kristoff's tweet on New Zealand being the first country to allow women to vote and I thought, "Women always seem to have to fight and struggle to be given what they rightly deserve in society." There are so many things limiting women because of religion or culture that have to be changed by society. I can understand that these things may take years to evolve but it always has to start somewhere to make people aware that the rest of the world may consider some of society's beliefs and practices violative of human rights.
I can recall how much I reacted reading news some time back about a judge confirming that it is lawful for a husband to slap his wife for buying an expensive abaya from the money he gave her to buy one. My blog had all the !!! and ??? questioning how there can even be such a law...but sadly there is. Or women arrested for driving...that again elicited a lot of !!! and ??? from me especially since I've been driving a car since I was 18. Or of a mass prayer held to celebrate Women's Day but only the country's female leader was allowed to enter the place of worship because women were not allowed inside to join the celebration. I personally would have reacted if I were the female leader...
If these things are deprived of women in some societies even today, I can see how much struggle women have to go through to fight for our rights to be equal as men in society. It is good to know though, that women's organizations have been getting support from various sectors in society to be recognized for their true value and contribution to the human race.
In the Philippines, history points to women forming a Suffragist group as early as 1897 to be able to particiapte as voters and in other organizations that were male-dominated. In 1937 a law was passed allowing only 300,000 women to vote but it was only in 1943 that full suffrage to women was given. Now the right to vote is almost universal and it was not just the women's struggle but that of societies who were open to change for the better, and to recognize the true value of women...
I can recall how much I reacted reading news some time back about a judge confirming that it is lawful for a husband to slap his wife for buying an expensive abaya from the money he gave her to buy one. My blog had all the !!! and ??? questioning how there can even be such a law...but sadly there is. Or women arrested for driving...that again elicited a lot of !!! and ??? from me especially since I've been driving a car since I was 18. Or of a mass prayer held to celebrate Women's Day but only the country's female leader was allowed to enter the place of worship because women were not allowed inside to join the celebration. I personally would have reacted if I were the female leader...
If these things are deprived of women in some societies even today, I can see how much struggle women have to go through to fight for our rights to be equal as men in society. It is good to know though, that women's organizations have been getting support from various sectors in society to be recognized for their true value and contribution to the human race.
In the Philippines, history points to women forming a Suffragist group as early as 1897 to be able to particiapte as voters and in other organizations that were male-dominated. In 1937 a law was passed allowing only 300,000 women to vote but it was only in 1943 that full suffrage to women was given. Now the right to vote is almost universal and it was not just the women's struggle but that of societies who were open to change for the better, and to recognize the true value of women...
Sunday, June 05, 2011
Breast ironing in #Cameroon: mothers protect girls by mutilating them
In #Cameroon, breast ironing has scarred the bodies and psyches of millions of #girls. Very upsetting but true. sometimes it's culture, religion and fear of sexual oppression of their daughters when they develop into womanhood that drive them to such practices.
Read and spread the word. CAMEROON: Mama Hates My Sprouting Breasts
Sunday, May 29, 2011
How words can make a difference...
sharing a beautiful video of how words can make a difference..."Change your words. Change your world."
http://www.facebook.com/lylin/posts/126765664070521?ref=notif¬if_t=like#!/video/video.php?v=10150164893027939&comments
http://www.facebook.com/lylin/posts/126765664070521?ref=notif¬if_t=like#!/video/video.php?v=10150164893027939&comments
Friday, May 27, 2011
Sunday, May 22, 2011
10 HUNGER FACTS...
A re-post from World Food Programme...
How many hungry people are there in the world and where do most of them live? What effect does it have on their minds and bodies and what can we do to help them? Here is a list of 10 things about hunger that absolutely everyone should know.
1. At present, there are 925 million people in the world who do not eat enough to be healthy. That means, one in every seven people on Earth goes to bed hungry each night. (Source: FAO News Release, 2010)
2. Rising food prices pushed an additional 44 million people into hunger between June 2010 and February 2011 when they soared to their highest level ever. (Source: World Bank Food Price Watch, 2011)
3. While the number of hungry people has risen, as a percentage of the world population, hunger has actually fallen from 33 per cent of the population in 1969 to just over 15 per cent of the population in 2010. (Source: FAO, 2010)
4. Well over half of the world’s hungry people–some 578 million people–live in Asia and the Pacific region. Africa accounts for just over one quarter of the world’s hungry population. Source: (Source: FAO, The State of Food Insecurity in the World, 2010)
5. Hunger is number one on the list of the world’s top 10 health risks. It kills more people every year than AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined. (Source: UNAIDS global report, 2010; WHO World Hunger and Poverty Statistics, 2011).
6. A third of all deaths in children under the age of five in developing countries are linked to undernutrition. (Source: UNICEF Report on Child Nutrition, 2006)
7. The first 1,000 days of a child’s life, from pregnancy through age two, are the critical window in which to tackle undernutrition. A proper diet in this period can protect them from the mental and physical stunting that can result from malnutrition. (Source: UN Standing Committee on Nutrition, 2009)
8. It costs just US $0.25 per day to provide a child with all of the vitamins and nutrients he or she needs to grow up healthy. (Source: WFP, 2011)
9. Malnourished mothers often give birth to underweight babies who are 20 per cent more likely to die before the age of five. Up to 17 million children are born underweight every year. (Source: A World Fit for Children, UNICEF, 2007)
10. By 2050, climate change and erratic weather patterns will have pushed another 24 million children into hunger. Almost half of these children will live in sub-Saharan Africa. (Source: Climate Change and Hunger: Responding to the Challenge, WFP, 2009)
Saturday, May 14, 2011
YOU REAP WHAT YOU SOW...
I'm sharing this story that has been going around through e-mails. I've read this before but reading it again always reminds to appreciate where I am now.
YOU REAP WHAT YOU SOW
"Good morning", said a woman as she walked up to the man sitting on the ground.
The man slowly looked up. This was a woman clearly accustomed to the finer things of life. Her coat was new.. She looked like she had never missed a meal in her life. His first thought was that she wanted to make fun of him, like so many others had done before...
"Leave me alone," he growled.... To his amazement, the woman continued standing. She was smiling -- her even white teeth displayed in dazzling rows.
"Are you hungry?" she asked.
"No," he answered sarcastically. "I've just come from dining with the president. Now go away."
The woman's smile became even broader. Suddenly the man felt a gentle hand under his arm.
"What are you doing, lady?" the man asked angrily. "I said to leave me alone."
Just then a policeman came up. "Is there any problem, ma'am?" he asked.
"No problem here, officer," the woman answered. "I'm just trying to get this man to his feet. Will you help me?"
The officer scratched his head. "That's old Jack. He's been a fixture around here for a couple of years. What do you want with him?"
"See that cafeteria over there?" she asked. "I'm going to get him something to eat and get him out of the cold for awhile."
"Are you crazy, lady?" the homeless man resisted. "I don't want to go in there!" Then he felt strong hands grab his other arm and lift him up.
"Let me go, officer. I didn't do anything."
" This is a good deal for you, Jack" the officer answered. "Don't blow it.."
Finally, and with some difficulty, the woman and the police officer got Jack into the cafeteria and sat him at a table in a remote corner. It was the middle of the morning, so most of the breakfast crowd had already left and the lunch bunch had not yet arrived.
The manager strode across the cafeteria and stood by his table. "What's going on here, officer?" he asked. "What is all this, is this man in trouble?"
"This lady brought this man in here to be fed," the policeman answered.
"Not in here!" the manager replied angrily. "Having a person like that here is bad for business...."
Old Jack smiled a toothless grin. "See, lady. I told you so. Now if you'll let me go. I didn't want to come here in the first place."
The woman turned to the cafeteria manager and smiled....... "Sir, are you familiar with Eddy and Associates, the banking firm down the street?"
"Of course I am," the manager answered impatiently. "They hold their weekly meetings in one of my banquet rooms."
"And do you make a goodly amount of money providing food at these weekly meetings?"
"What business is that of yours?"
"I, sir, am Penelope Eddy, president and CEO of the company."
"Oh."
The woman smiled again. "I thought that might make a difference." She glanced at the cop who was busy stifling a giggle.
"Would you like to join us in a cup of coffee and a meal, officer?"
"No thanks, ma'am," the officer replied. "I'm on duty."
"Then, perhaps, a cup of coffee to go?"
"Yes, mam. That would be very nice."
The cafeteria manager turned on his heel, "I'll get your coffee for you right away, officer."
The officer watched him walk away.
"You certainly put him in his place," he said.
"That was not my intent. Believe it or not, I have a reason for all this."
She sat down at the table across from her amazed dinner guest. She stared at him intently.
"Jack, do you remember me?"
Old Jack searched her face with his old, rheumy eyes. "I think so -- I mean you do look familiar."
"I'm a little older perhaps," she said. "Maybe I've even filled out more than in my younger days when you worked here, and I came through that very door, cold and hungry."
"Ma'am?" the officer said questioningly. He couldn't believe that such a magnificently turned out woman could ever have been hungry.
"I was just out of college," the woman began. "I had come to the city looking for a job, but I couldn't find anything. Finally I was down to my last few cents and had been kicked out of my apartment. I walked the streets for days. It was February and I was cold and nearly starving. I saw this place and walked in on the off-chance that I could get something to eat."
Jack lit up with a smile. "Now I remember," he said. "I was behind the serving counter. You came up and asked me if you could work for something to eat. I said that it was against company policy."
"I know," the woman continued. "Then you made me the biggest roast beef sandwich that I had ever seen, gave me a cup of coffee, and told me to go over to a corner table and enjoy it. I was afraid that you would get into trouble... Then, when I looked over and saw you put the price of my food in the cash register, I knew then that everything would be all right."
"So you started your own business?" Old Jack said.
"I got a job that very afternoon. I worked my way up. Eventually I started my own business that, with the help of God, prospered." She opened her purse and pulled out a business card. "When you are finished here, I want you to pay a visit to a Mr. Lyons...He's the personnel director of my company. I'll go talk to him now and I'm certain he'll find something for you to do around the office." She smiled. "I think he might even find the funds to give you a little advance so that you can buy some clothes and get a place to live until you get on your feet... If you ever need anything, my door is always open to you."
There were tears in the old man's eyes. "How can I ever thank you?" he said.
"Don't thank me," the woman answered. "To God goes the glory. Thank Jesus..... He led me to you."
Outside the cafeteria, the officer and the woman paused at the entrance before going their separate ways.
"Thank you for all your help, officer," she said.
"On the contrary, Ms. Eddy," he answered. "Thank you. I saw a miracle today, something that I will never forget. And..And thank you for the coffee."
YOU REAP WHAT YOU SOW
"Good morning", said a woman as she walked up to the man sitting on the ground.
The man slowly looked up. This was a woman clearly accustomed to the finer things of life. Her coat was new.. She looked like she had never missed a meal in her life. His first thought was that she wanted to make fun of him, like so many others had done before...
"Leave me alone," he growled.... To his amazement, the woman continued standing. She was smiling -- her even white teeth displayed in dazzling rows.
"Are you hungry?" she asked.
"No," he answered sarcastically. "I've just come from dining with the president. Now go away."
The woman's smile became even broader. Suddenly the man felt a gentle hand under his arm.
"What are you doing, lady?" the man asked angrily. "I said to leave me alone."
Just then a policeman came up. "Is there any problem, ma'am?" he asked.
"No problem here, officer," the woman answered. "I'm just trying to get this man to his feet. Will you help me?"
The officer scratched his head. "That's old Jack. He's been a fixture around here for a couple of years. What do you want with him?"
"See that cafeteria over there?" she asked. "I'm going to get him something to eat and get him out of the cold for awhile."
"Are you crazy, lady?" the homeless man resisted. "I don't want to go in there!" Then he felt strong hands grab his other arm and lift him up.
"Let me go, officer. I didn't do anything."
" This is a good deal for you, Jack" the officer answered. "Don't blow it.."
Finally, and with some difficulty, the woman and the police officer got Jack into the cafeteria and sat him at a table in a remote corner. It was the middle of the morning, so most of the breakfast crowd had already left and the lunch bunch had not yet arrived.
The manager strode across the cafeteria and stood by his table. "What's going on here, officer?" he asked. "What is all this, is this man in trouble?"
"This lady brought this man in here to be fed," the policeman answered.
"Not in here!" the manager replied angrily. "Having a person like that here is bad for business...."
Old Jack smiled a toothless grin. "See, lady. I told you so. Now if you'll let me go. I didn't want to come here in the first place."
The woman turned to the cafeteria manager and smiled....... "Sir, are you familiar with Eddy and Associates, the banking firm down the street?"
"Of course I am," the manager answered impatiently. "They hold their weekly meetings in one of my banquet rooms."
"And do you make a goodly amount of money providing food at these weekly meetings?"
"What business is that of yours?"
"I, sir, am Penelope Eddy, president and CEO of the company."
"Oh."
The woman smiled again. "I thought that might make a difference." She glanced at the cop who was busy stifling a giggle.
"Would you like to join us in a cup of coffee and a meal, officer?"
"No thanks, ma'am," the officer replied. "I'm on duty."
"Then, perhaps, a cup of coffee to go?"
"Yes, mam. That would be very nice."
The cafeteria manager turned on his heel, "I'll get your coffee for you right away, officer."
The officer watched him walk away.
"You certainly put him in his place," he said.
"That was not my intent. Believe it or not, I have a reason for all this."
She sat down at the table across from her amazed dinner guest. She stared at him intently.
"Jack, do you remember me?"
Old Jack searched her face with his old, rheumy eyes. "I think so -- I mean you do look familiar."
"I'm a little older perhaps," she said. "Maybe I've even filled out more than in my younger days when you worked here, and I came through that very door, cold and hungry."
"Ma'am?" the officer said questioningly. He couldn't believe that such a magnificently turned out woman could ever have been hungry.
"I was just out of college," the woman began. "I had come to the city looking for a job, but I couldn't find anything. Finally I was down to my last few cents and had been kicked out of my apartment. I walked the streets for days. It was February and I was cold and nearly starving. I saw this place and walked in on the off-chance that I could get something to eat."
Jack lit up with a smile. "Now I remember," he said. "I was behind the serving counter. You came up and asked me if you could work for something to eat. I said that it was against company policy."
"I know," the woman continued. "Then you made me the biggest roast beef sandwich that I had ever seen, gave me a cup of coffee, and told me to go over to a corner table and enjoy it. I was afraid that you would get into trouble... Then, when I looked over and saw you put the price of my food in the cash register, I knew then that everything would be all right."
"So you started your own business?" Old Jack said.
"I got a job that very afternoon. I worked my way up. Eventually I started my own business that, with the help of God, prospered." She opened her purse and pulled out a business card. "When you are finished here, I want you to pay a visit to a Mr. Lyons...He's the personnel director of my company. I'll go talk to him now and I'm certain he'll find something for you to do around the office." She smiled. "I think he might even find the funds to give you a little advance so that you can buy some clothes and get a place to live until you get on your feet... If you ever need anything, my door is always open to you."
There were tears in the old man's eyes. "How can I ever thank you?" he said.
"Don't thank me," the woman answered. "To God goes the glory. Thank Jesus..... He led me to you."
Outside the cafeteria, the officer and the woman paused at the entrance before going their separate ways.
"Thank you for all your help, officer," she said.
"On the contrary, Ms. Eddy," he answered. "Thank you. I saw a miracle today, something that I will never forget. And..And thank you for the coffee."
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