30 reasons why I am Tired

While the world is advancing and technology is at the edge of the fingertips of many in the global community, there is still the great divide where women and girls are concerned. While we live in an enlightened age we see archaic actions manifested each passing day, the actions of the oppression of women and girls, rejecting and blaming them because they are women and the continued oppression of those who advocate for women and girls and on their behalf.

As an advocate this road has and continues to be a daunting one and it becomes more difficult with the ignorance of men who hold unto old ways and social norms, the economic crises which is facing many regions, and the thought by many profit companies that Nonprofits are a waste of time.

As a Caribbean National at times I feel that the Caribbean region is willfully overlooked because many think of the Caribbean as a group of paradise Islands with sunny skies and blue seas with only happy people moving around with Coconuts in their hand doing the Samba, May Pole dance of the Limbo.

Sadly, if one should take a closer look at inside what persons perceive as Paradise they would see death, brutality, gender oppression, hate, economic and education deprivation, reproductive and health issues, and the intimidation of women and girls, one will see the reality that women and girls fear for their safety and personal security.

As an advocate I am tired, I am seriously contemplating ceasing to advocate, and this is why I am tired:

1. I am tired because women and girls are told to ‘hush’ and they are forced into silence;


2. I am tired because women and girls are made to feel ashamed because violence interrupted their education and life;


3. I am tired because those women who chose to stay in the abusive environment are scolded by society and re-victimized by the same;


4. I am tired because women and girls are looked upon as second class citizens and treated as aliens and immigrants in their own countries of birth;


5. I am tired because many of the global laws from individual countries are against women and girls advancement;


6. I am tired because many in the world overlook violence against women and girls;


7. I am tired because violence against women and girls seems to be a normative experience for many cultures and communities and it is socially accepted;


8. I am tired because the cause of women and girls especially the elimination of violence against them seems to be number 99 on the list of priorities of many nations and world governments;


9. I am tired because women and girls who endured/enduring violence are not granted educational scholarships regardless of which country they come from;


10. I am tired because many countries have no support for women and girls who have no education and are trying to get an education as free education is never free;


11. I am tired because women and girls are economically deprived and they cannot attain to independence and empowerment;


12. I am tired because many in society even women would victimize other women, re-traumatize them by their words spoken and their vicious social media post, and re-victimize them blaming them for being victims;


13. I am tired because many families choose to sell their young daughters to a man 10 times her age and use poverty and deprivation as the reason;


14. I am tired of sitting in consultation after consultation with no feedback as to the progress of those consultations and no action after the same;


15. I am tired because policy after policy have been drafted and the implementation and enforcement of those policies are lacking;


16. I am tired because there seems to be a secret clandestine order silently working in numerous agencies with a male agenda to keep women and girls in subjection;


17. I am tired because, though advances in technology and law enforcement is apparent yet the money backers for human trafficking seems to be continually eluding the authorities;


18. I am tired because women and girls are being sold as pieces of merchandise on the human trafficking market to the highest bidder and they are used, reused, abused and killed;


19. I am tired because victims/thriving survivours are called upon to share their stories with the world over and over and there seems to be no action or immediate interventions to protect other women and girls from experiencing the same fate;


20. I am tired because international organizations often turn up their noses at the grass roots organizations who actually do the work with little or no resources;


21. I am tired because of the bureaucracy and red tapes which grass roots nonprofit organizations are faced with, which seems to give the impression of strangulation which would force managers to close their doors and stop advocating;


22. I am tired because many in society seem to think that because you manage a Nonprofit and you do regular interviews and a few educational events that somehow you miraculously rake in hundreds of thousands when in fact, you cannot even pay your transportation to get from one place to the next or order a cup of tea to keep warm;


23. I am tired because those who advocate for persons human rights and safety are often abused, maligned, and made to look as inept and ignorant;


24. I am tired of the Caribbean being under researched and underfunded, while women and girls are suffering;


25. I am tired that the perpetrators are treated as kings and glorified while the victim’s (women and girls) are punished in one way or the other by society, friends and family members;


26. I am tired because financial systems and loan institutions have no policies in place to assist women who have been victims of violence;


27. I am tired because areas of the justice systems do not vindicate the abused but support the abuser;


28. I am tired because the justice systems allows perpetrators to walk free while victims must become refugees and live in hiding;


29. I am tired because many still see perpetrators of abuse as men only and for all the things which I have not listed here.


30. I am tired so tired. Very often people would say “push a little harder, never give up as giving up is not an option” however, there comes a time when one must accept giving up as an option but not as defeat. One must know when to say “I have had enough, I will not go on as one voice less would not make a mark difference.”

While there are advances which I am proud of in the use of technology, the media, and progress with laws and the enforcement of the same and I speak about them often It would be remiss of me not to honestly say that I am tired and this is a sentiment of many advocates across the globe, we realize very early in this work that the scales are never balanced however, we made a decision to fight, and advocates are called upon to make one of the greatest sacrifices any person could make which is to sacrifice their everything for a cause they are passionate about, but is passion, education and skill enough? Are their voices truly enough? Is the use of the internet to advocate enough? I dare say they are necessary but not enough.

Enough comes when the global community lend their voices, time, skills, resources and presence to the various causes and organizations which fight for the liberation of human beings from under the heavy hand of human rights violators, enough comes when grass roots as well as established organizations are treated equally, enough comes when international agencies give support to the grass roots workers on the ground, enough comes when women and girls and men and boys can live free of intimidation, violence, shame and fear for their personal safety and security, enough comes when leading human rights agencies are willing to listen to the voices of advocates who work in the trenches, enough comes when nonprofits are looked upon as social entrepreneurs and an investment can be made into their work, and enough comes when we can have sustainable livelihoods and holistic sustainable development for all.