Rape @ MindSay

i've got so much on my mind and no one to talk to about it. i hate this. i hate this because i feel so alone and when i feel alone like this i do stupid things and go to people i shouldn't go to just in the hopes that i can merely feel something that i need but won't ever have there. I don't know what to do with myself. i hate the internet. i find places, forums where i feel like its safe to be me and then something gives and it turns out i'm not accepted there. and of course matters are made worse cuz, no matter how emo it sounds, i honest to god feel like no one understands me except for Anna and she's three fucking time zones away dealing with her own bullshit. i'm so angry and lonely i can't sleep. at least i didn't get close to anyone so this doesn't hurt as badly. Catch 22- if i'm alone i feel lost in a void but then again no one can make the problem worse. fuck my life. this happened here, too.

On July 10, 2009, Conversations with American Heroes at the Watering Hole will feature a discussion former parole officer and RAD Instructor Kimberly Cheryl Elliot.

Program Date: July 10, 2009
Program Time: 2100 hours, Pacific
Topic: RAD: Rape Aggression Defense
Listen Live:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/LawEnforcement/2009/07/11/RAD-Rape-Aggression-Defense

About the Guest
Kimberly Cheryl Elliott spent 17 years and parole and probation officer for Missouri State Division of Probation and Parole. She “is a seasoned marketing professional with 18 years experience in pharmaceutical sales and management. As a victim of crime, she is very passionate about her career as founder and managing partner of Executive Defense Technology, LLC, an anti-victimization education firm. As a speaker, author, consultant and Nationally Certified RAD (Rape/Aggression/Defense) Instructor, she helps clients optimize their personal safety. As a seminar leader, she provides a comprehensive course that begins with awareness, prevention, risk reduction and avoidance, while progressing on to the basics of hands on defense training. Her clients include everyone from elderly church group members and housewives to employees of law firms, TV / Radio Stations and other Fortune 500 Corporations.”

Kimberly Cheryl Elliott is the author of Escape From The Pharma Cartel: My Life as a Member of the Pharmaceutical Drug Cartel; Take This Pill and... Sell It!: A Guide To Getting A Job In The Pharmaceutical Industry; Shattered Reality; and, Are Your Habits Killing You? A Complete Personal Handbook Of Safety Suggestions to Incorporate into Your Everyday Life: Because the Best Defense Is a Good Offensive Plan!

About the Watering Hole
The Watering Hole is police slang for a location cops go off-duty to blow off steam and talk about work and life. Sometimes funny; sometimes serious; but, always interesting.

About the Host
Lieutenant Raymond E. Foster was a sworn member of the Los Angeles Police Department for 24 years. He retired in 2003 at the rank of Lieutenant. He holds a bachelor’s from the Union Institute and University in Criminal Justice Management and a Master’s Degree in Public Financial Management from California State University, Fullerton; and, has completed his doctoral course work. Raymond E. Foster has been a part-time lecturer at California State University, Fullerton and Fresno; and is currently a Criminal Justice Department chair, faculty advisor and lecturer with the Union Institute and University. He has experience teaching upper division courses in Law Enforcement, public policy, Government Technology and leadership. Raymond is an experienced author who has published numerous articles in a wide range of venues including magazines such as Government Technology, Mobile Government, Airborne Law Enforcement Magazine, and Police One. He has appeared on the History Channel and radio programs in the United States and Europe as subject matter expert in technological applications in Law Enforcement.

Listen, call, join us at the Watering Hole:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/LawEnforcement/2009/07/11/RAD-Rape-Aggression-Defense

Program Contact Information
Lieutenant Raymond E. Foster, LAPD (ret.), MPA
editor@police-writers.com
909.599.7530

Doctors group: Rape is common against Darfur women

 

Slideshow:Sudan's Darfur Conflict By PETER JAMES SPIELMANN, Associated Press Writer Peter James Spielmann, Associated Press Writer – Sun May 31, 7:38 am ET NEW YORK – A survey of dozens of women who fled violence in Darfur found that a third of them reported or showed signs of rape, and revealed a widespread fear of sexual violence in their refugee camp in Chad, a human rights group reported Sunday. About half the rapes were carried out in Darfur by janjaweed militiamen allied to the Arab-dominated government in Khartoum, and half were assaults by Chadian villagers near the U.N. refugee camp, usually when the women left to search for firewood or herd livestock, according to the report by the U.S.-based group Physicians for Human Rights. The group reached the 88 women included in the survey through camp leaders and by word-of-mouth — a sampling method the report said hinders drawing general conclusions about the prevalence of rape in Darfur or in the Farchana refugee camp in Chad. Recording rape or interviewing victims of sexual violence is problematic in Darfur's Muslim culture, where women fear social stigma or further trauma and sometimes recant their allegations out of shame. Further complicating the effort, women displaced inside Darfur live mostly in government-controlled areas and fear reprisal. The issue is highly contentious for the Sudanese government, which denies any systematic rape or violence against women. The PHR survey supported widespread claims of rape often told by Darfuri refugees, and recounted by human rights and relief officials. U.N. officials said documenting the violence has become even more difficult following the Sudanese government's decision to expel 13 foreign aid groups, working mostly in Darfur. The Darfur rapes fell into a common pattern, with a village overwhelmed by turbaned gunmen wearing green or khaki uniforms, often arriving on horse- or camel-back. Air strikes by the Sudanese military usually followed. One woman from the Masalit tribe recounted how when she was 13, four Arab gunmen on horseback attacked her family's farm in a Darfur village, shot and killed her father, and raped her. "When they shot my father, they saw I was a little girl. I did not have any energy or force against them," said the woman, now 19. "They used me. I started bleeding. It was so painful. ... I was sick for seven days. I could not stand up." Physicians for Human Rights called for the prosecution of rape as a war crime and urged the International Criminal Court to issue warrants against Sudanese suspects. They also sought better protection for refugees in the Chad camps by Chadian police and international peacekeepers, including firewood-gathering patrols. PHR said three doctors and a human rights researcher interviewed 88 women in November at the refugee camp in Farchana, Chad, where more than 20,000 Darfuris are watched over by some 2,000 Chadian soldiers, about 34 miles (55 kilometers) from Sudan's border. Among the 88 women, 29 suffered "confirmed or highly probable rape," PHR found. Three women were assaulted twice, the group said. The Darfur conflict began in 2003 when mostly ethnic African rebels in the western Sudanese province took up arms against the northern government in Khartoum, complaining of discrimination and neglect. The conflict has since claimed up to 300,000 lives and displaced 2.7 million people. About 250,000 have fled into Chad, where they live in refugee camps. ____

 

Associated Press Writer Sarah El Deeb in Cairo contributed to this report. ___

On the Net: The Physicians for Human Rights report, video and more photos are at: http://darfuriwomen.phrblog.org/