A recent post showed the problem in the Congo of evangelists
playing off folk beliefs in witches, instead of educating
people not to have them, in order to gain popular support for
their careers. I think we're unanimous that thousands of
children being branded witches and being abandoned, hurt, or
killed is horrific. The most prejudiced-against group, in
that they have the least recourse for abuse, is children.
A significant part of the problem is that one of the main
things the children are accused of doing by witchcraft is
penis snatching:
"As of 2006, between 25,000 and 50,000 children in Kinshasa,
Democratic Republic of the Congo, had been accused of witch-
craft and thrown out of their homes. On April, 2008, Kin-
shasa, the police arrested 14 suspected victims (of penis
snatching) and sorcerers accused of using black magic or
witchcraft to steal (make disappear) or shrink men's penises
to extort cash for cure, amid a wave of panic. Arrests were
made in an effort to avoid bloodshed seen in Ghana a decade
ago, when 12 alleged penis snatchers were beaten to death by
mobs."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witches#Africa
I'm sorry that I've only recently learned that this is a widespread problem in
the Congo. Part of the problem has to include that thousands of Congolese men
are bravely coming forward and saying they have no penis. How do they go to the
bathroom--through their noses? Otherwise, they're holding their eeny weenies up
for public scrutiny, pointing at children, and saying, "It's his fault." This
could make a fellow unpopular and irritable--no "who let the dogs out?" for
them.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genital_retraction_syndrome
Sometimes, solutions aren't reached because people who specialize in one con-
cern don't connect with people who specialize in another. Part of the solution
is education about folk beliefs. Fortunately, I've also recently learned that
science has come to the aid as well thanks to the Wake Forest University’s In-
stitute of Regenerative Medicine:
"Artificial Penis Research Hops Ahead in Rabbits, Human Tests to Begin"
"The study used advanced tissue regrowth techniques to create and endow lab
rabbits with fully functional replacement penises."
"The research team next plans to start trying to implant regrown human penis
tissue."
http://www.dailytech.com/Artificial+Penis+Research+Hops+Ahead+in+Rabbits+Human+Tests+to+Begin/article16758.htm
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/booster_shots/2009/11/tissue-engineers-make-penises-for-rabbits-humans-next.html
I think if we have any charity in our hearts regarding deleterious shortages
in the world, we can't let these men fall through the cracks. We need to en-
courage everyone to act as one and hold out their advanced penis technology to
these Congolese men to show them they deserve to hold their own amidst the bur-
geoning growth of the rest of the world.