REFUSING TO BECOME A BEGGAR

THE MALAWIAN HYENA FINALLY SENTENCED TO TWO YEARS IN JAIL!!

An HIV-positive Malawian man who said he slept with at least 100 girls and women in traditional cleansing rituals has been sentenced to two years in jail and hard labour after being convicted of 'engaging in harmful practices'.Eric Aniva was prosecuted on the orders of President Peter Mutharika after publicly speaking about his role as a 'hyena' in a BBC documentary.

Custom in some parts of southern Malawi demands that a man, known as a 'hyena', is paid to have sex with bereaved widows to exorcise evil spirits and to prevent other deaths occurring.At the request of a girl's parents, the 'hyena' is also paid to have sex with adolescent girls to mark their passage to womanhood after their first menstruation
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3960508/Malawi-hyena-man-faces-sentencing-sex-ritual.html#ixzz4QlBR1wpv
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THE MALAWIAN "HYENA" FINALLY ARRESTED

•   Eric Aniva claims he has had sex with more than 100 adolescent girls
•   He said he was paid between $4 and $7 by the girls' families for his service
•   Aniva admitted he continued his 'cleansing' service despite having HIV
•   He faces life in prison after admitting having sex with girls as young as 12 

Malawi police have arrested an HIV-infected man who was paid to have sex with more than 100 adolescent girls as part of a traditional ritual marking their passage to womanhood, officials said Tuesday. Eric Aniva, from the southern district of Nsanje, was held after giving a media interview confessing to have slept with the girls for a fee of between four and seven dollars, paid by each of their families.The little-known local practice lasts three days and is performed in southern Malawi by men known as 'hyenas' at the request of a girl's parents after her first menstruation.

The ritual is believed to train girls to become good wives and to protect them from disease or misfortune that could fall on their families or their village.District Commissioner Gift Lapozo said: 'Aniva was arrested on Monday after he was summoned to my office. 'Aniva should 'be investigated for exposing the young girls to contracting HIV and further be charged accordingly,' Mutharika added. 'Harmful cultural and traditional practices cannot be accepted.'

The sexual cleansing ritual is also performed on bereaved widows in Nsanje district to exorcise villages of evil spirits or to prevent another death occurring. Aniva, who has two wives and was reported to be in his 40s, said a 'hyena' was selected by the community based on good morals and that custom did not allow him to use condoms. One girl told the BBC: 'There was nothing else I could have done.'I had to do it for the sake of my parents. If I'd refused, my family members could be attacked with diseases -- even death -- so I was scared.'

Malawi, which has one of the highest HIV infections in the world, criminalises sex with a person under the age of 16.If found guilty of underage sex, Aniva could be imprisoned for life.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3709033/Malawi-police-arrested-HIV-infected-man-known-hyena-paid-sex-100-adolescent-girls-traditional-ritual-marking-passage-womanhood.html#ixzz4FaCzEV3l

My take: Its sad that in this era some people continue to cling to such uncouth and harmful traditions. Does this outdated tradition need some Vasco Da Gama  to unfold the danger embedded in it? Its only a matter of allowing common sense to prevail. For instance, the OKUSOMBOKA (kutakasa) practice that is still practiced among Kerewe people in Tanzania, where a widow is forced to have sexual intercourse with a hired man without wearing condoms in order to be "cleansed", do we still need the Messiah to make those people come to their senses? http://www.vitukovyamtaani.com/2013/08/ubakaji-wa-wajane-ni-ubakaji.html

PAID TO HAVE SEX WITH CHILDREN AND WIDOWS

Aniva , the famous "hyena"with a root which he grinds up and adds to water to drink before sex

In some remote southern regions of Malawi, it's traditional for girls to be made to have sex with a paid sex worker known as a "hyena" once they reach puberty. The act is not seen by village elders as rape, but as a form of ritual "cleansing". However, as Ed Butler reports, it has the potential to be the opposite of cleansing - a way of spreading disease.
Aniva is by all accounts the pre-eminent "hyena" in this village. It's a traditional title given to a man hired by communities in several remote parts of southern Malawi to provide what's called sexual "cleansing". If a man dies, for example, his wife is required by tradition to sleep with Aniva before she can bury him. If a woman has an abortion, again sexual cleansing is required.
......And most shockingly, here in Nsanje, teenage girls, after their first menstruation, are made to have sex over a three-day period, to mark their passage from childhood to womanhood. If the girls refuse, it's believed, disease or some fatal misfortune could befall their families or the village as a whole.
"Most of those I have slept with are girls, school-going girls," Aniva tells me. Some girls are just 12 or 13 years old, but I prefer them older. All these girls find pleasure in having me as their hyena. They actually are proud and tell other people that this man is a real man, he knows how to please a woman.".....
It's clear, given the hyena's duties, that HIV is a huge risk to the community. The UN estimates that one in 10 of all Malawians carry the virus, so I ask Aniva if he is HIV-positive. He astounds me by saying that he is - and that he doesn't mention this to a girl's parents when they hire him.

A story by :Ed Butler BBC News, Malawi
For more information: http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-36843769

'FREE THE NIPPLE CAMPAIGN'

Hundreds of men and women gathered topless on Brighton beach for the 'Free the Nipple' campaign to make the sight or breasts more normal. Two hundred women and men paraded topless around Brighton Beach at the weekend to highlight controversial social media policies about banning female nipples. The Sunday afternoon march started from Brighton Pier, and then headed along the East Sussex city seafront before stopping on the beach - where everybody sunbathed topless. I am skeptical of the approach being used to 'normalize' what is currently classified as nudity within the society. Undoubtedly, this campaign tries to address 'mistakes' that did take place in our evolution process. The big question is   IS IT PROPER TO BULLDOZE THE SOCIETY TO NORMALISE WOMEN NIPPLES GOING PUBCLIC? What if we left 'evolution' to take its course?  I believe the way we evolve in our culture-dressing, eating, perceptions-will determine whether nipples goes public or not. The Amazon people, the Bushmen and the like all go topless without any worry, do we envy their lifestyle? Is accepting women going topless the only thing we like to copy from them?

Pope Francis to commission a study to allow women serve as deacons in the Catholic Church

Pope Francis said he is willing to create a commission to study whether women should be allowed serve as deacons within the Catholic Church. The pontiff was addressing a meeting of 900 women who were members of various religious congregations from around the world. When asked about the prospect of female deacons, Pope Francis said he was not opposed to the idea. A deacon can lead certain services but cannot say Mass. A deacon can also administer a parish in the absence of a priest. 

Under current rules, the Church allows married men who are at least 35 to sign up as a deacon. 

However, the Vatican stressed decision to allow women deacons would not lead to the ordination of female priests. According to the National Catholic Reporter, Pope Francis revealed he had discussed the issue of women deacons many years ago with a 'wise' professor. They were unable to determine the role women deacons held in the early church.  

 

He said: 'Constituting an official commission that might study the question? I believe yes. It would do good for the church to clarify this point. I am in agreement. I will speak to do something like this.'

Pope Francis said there were theological and liturgical issues over whether women can deliver the homily in a Mass because the priest is serving 'in persona Christi'.  He said women should have a greater role to play in the life of the church 'whether consecrated or lay.

CHALLENGING THE MACHISMO WORLD