What's a girl to do?

So, originally, I was planning on researching education in Burundi today, but a rogue sentence in an article I was looking at directed me to the state of women in Burundi. And, unfortunately, I don't have anything glowing to report. Culturally, women have been subordinate to men for as long as people can remember (much like the rest of the world until recent times). A website I looked at said that women in Burundi, although respected for their power to create life, were regarded as little better than children and were expected to stay in the home and immediately defer to the wishes of any adult male. In more recent times, however, this cultural tick has evolved into something lethal. Amid the widespread social armament and political unrest between ethnic groups, violence toward women has become a real problem.

In an assessment conducted by the UNDP (United Nations Development Programme), it was determined that violence against women has actually increased since the ceasefire in 2004. It's almost as though violent rebels simply turned to a different (though certainly not new) outlet for their aggression. Burundian women interviewed by the UNDP said that rape and sexual assault had always existed in Burundi but that the scale of the problem had dramatically increased in time with ethnic conflicts and violent rebellions. Now, such assaults are practically commonplace, as most women said that armed robberies almost always ended in rape and that women could not tend their fields without being approached by an armed intruder. To make matters worse, it is the victim of rape, not the attacker, who bears the brunt of the blame. A woman who confesses to being raped is likely faced with exile. A resulting pregnancy is looked on with disgust, and often the mother abandons the child or tries to abort it (usually without professional medical assistance), leading to maternal mortality.

Widows, too, have been greatly affected. Most lost their husbands in showers of ethnic gunfire, leaving them with children to tend to and no means to support them. Property passes only from father to son, leaving widowed families with nothing to survive on. This, in turn, causes women to flee to towns and cities where they inevitably fall in with prostitution in order to survive.

I was absolutely dumb-founded when I learned about all of this. I've always known that these kinds of things happen in the world, but the fact that Burundian women are so victimized and so often, it just knocked the wind out of me. I want to fix things so my sisters in Burundi don't have to live in perpetual fear, but I just don't know what to do. The problem is complex; gender inequality is deeply rooted in Burundian culture and disarmament of the populace is not very successfully being attempted. It's difficult to change a mindset that has existed for as long as anyone can remember and no one wants to give up their guns for fear of being caught unprepared by an assailant (usually neighbors). And yet while weapons continue to be widely distributed, women cannot raise their voices and decry their situation for fear of reprisal.

I suppose a greater government crack-down on disarmament could help the situation, but too much government involvement could spark another rebellion or a relapse of ethnic warfare. More women in power could also be an influential factor in ending gender violence but women are so removed from politics as it as that I fear putting a women in a seat of power may do more harm than good. Wow, my country is really a mess right now.

What's a girl to do?

Let's Talk Numbers

Economically speaking, my country is practically in the toilet. Burundi had the second-lowest GDP per capita income in the world in 2011 (the lowest was the Democratic Republic of the Congo), totaling a whopping $279 US. This number tells us that the standard of living in Burundi is among the poorest in the world. Most of the average population gets by day to day by subsistence farming, which means that they only farm enough to support themselves and their families. There's very little left over to export and trade with. Even if there was, though, getting goods out of Burundi is enough of a trial that it would probably discourage further plans to export. Viable transportation networks in Burundi are practically nonexistent, making successful trade an anomaly. Burundi is completely landlocked and, aside from a few road networks (only some of which are paved and most of which are in disrepair), there isn't an economical option for shipping goods out of the country. There are only 8 airports (and only one of them is paved), very few shipment opportunities through waterways like rivers and Lake Tanganyika, and there are no railways (although plans are underway to construct a railroad system into Rwanda). Access to sea ports is virtually nonexistent.

Looking at these numbers really got my mind going. Poor transportation seems to be at the root of these economic problems (although political unrest and government corruption certainly play a part as well). How could we possibly improve transportation networks so that goods can start flowing in and out of Burundi? One thought I had was that Burundi could ship goods to Tanzania through water transportation. If they could strike an economical deal with Tanzania that would allow Burundian goods through to sea ports - where they can then be shipped out to anywhere in the world - than it might boost the economy. Of course, the opportunity costs of this proposal probably outweigh the benefits because, really, is Tanzania going to let Burundi have access to their ports without charging an abominable fee? Probably not. It's times like these when I wish our world were more... well, celestial. If people could care less about profit and more about their neighbors, less countries might be below the poverty line. But I guess that goes against the rationality of self-interest, huh?

Well, I've got one Developing Dollar to spend. Let's see what I can do with it.