DEAR FRIENDS,
When you were young, did your mother keep you safe?  Did she make sure, to the best of her ability, that no-one molested you?

As terrible as it sounds, some mothers do not protect their young daughters.

In the Jamaican movie, Dancehall Queen, the mother’s new man tries to have sex with the woman’s teenaged daughter.  When the girl complains, her mother tells her to be quiet, to let the man do as he pleases because he gives them money.

Sadly, this does not happen only in the movies.  That true-to-life scene plays out in countless homes.

Then there are other circumstances where no money is involved; where an uncle, a brother, a father, a neighbour, or some visiting male, molests a child.  Yet some mothers, although they know, remain silent.  Are they afraid to speak up?  Is that why they let the abuse go on?  Is being afraid a good enough excuse for staying silent?

It is very tempting to think that the sexual abuse of young children happens only in households suffering from poverty and ignorance.  But children in better off homes can be victims too.

Where are the mothers?  Why do they keep quiet?  Are they so willing to protect themselves financially and socially that they would keep quiet about their children’s plight?

What would you do, as a mother, if you found yourself in similar circumstances?
Share your thoughts.  Write to the Chronicle or email savannahwomenscircle@gmail.com.

CRAFTY LADY.
Pretty good fun with plastic bottles (cont’d from last week).

Instead of polluting with plastic bottles, recycle by making these:

Glass rests.

Cut eight medium-sized plastic bottles into cups with scalloped edges.  (Remember to peel off labels).  Paste flower petals and small leaves on the outsides of four cups.  Paste the decorated cups inside the four, undecorated cups.

If the glue is not permanent, you can change the decorations often.  Children can paste their art; you can put photographs of favourite places.  Make it a permanent family project.

Jewellery / Make-Up Container.

Cut a plastic bottle, any size.  Paste ribbons, sequins, beads, buttons on the outside.  Punch small holes around the bottle.  Push your stud and dangling earrings through the outside of the holes.  Keep make-up and other jewellery in the container.

Next week: more ideas…

EARTH WOMAN.
Is plastic destroying our seas?

Walk along our seashore; examine the litter.  You will see plastic – all shapes, colours and sizes.  If you can you look at it without any distress, maybe you do not understand how much plastic is out there, and the damage it is causing.

Every year, manufacturers worldwide churn out millions of tons of plastic.  According to Rolf Halden (associate professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering at Arizona State University and assistant director of Environmental Biotechnology at the Biodesign Institute), the amount of plastic produced each year would fill a series of train cars circling the globe.   And we only reuse about 5 percent of this.  Can you guess where quite a bit ends up?

In some parts of the sea, there is more trash than zooplankton, the super-small organism that feed ocean creatures.  In 1999, Halden’s study showed that there was six times more plastic than seafood.  In 2002, another study showed that, off the coast of California, plastic outweighed plankton 2 to 5.  Scientists were shocked by these high numbers.

You might think that all this is only ugly litter.   That is what the plastic industry believed, thirty years ago.  But now, scientists are trying to wake us up to what it is really happening.
Scientists admit that, because the sea is so huge, they themselves do not know the full scale of the problem.  But what they have discovered so far is awful enough to make sane, caring people want to stop the problem.

Every year, on various shores around the world, hundreds of seabirds wash up dead, their bodies chockfull of bottle caps, cigarette lighters, scraps of plastic bags and other plastic products.  When Dutch researchers dissected one animal, they found 1, 603 pieces of plastic.  Sea creatures often mistake the small bits of plastic for food.

In the North Pacific alone, millions of birds and thousands of mammals and fish die each year because of plastic.

Endangered sea turtles choke on plastic bags.  They mistake the bags for jellyfish which they love eating.  Sea turtles also get killed by fishing lines which either choke them or wrap around their shells, squeezing them into tortured shapes.

According to a study by Charles J. Moore, the man who first discovered the plastic problem in the North Pacific Gyre, those discarded fishing nets and lines kill millions of sea creatures every year.  Even the humpback whale is hurt by these plastic lines which wrap around the animal, cutting into its flesh, making it impossible to hunt for food.

The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), has been trying to find and remove abandoned plastic fishing equipment that kills the creatures.  In one haul off Florida, they found a net that had killed more than 1,000 fish, sharks and a sea turtle.

There is also another horror story – the chemicals that these plastic produce harm the animals of the sea and us.

More next week….

HOW TO…
…Market your skills (cont’d from last week).
How do you hand out your business cards?  Do you dole them out like sweets to everyone you meet, hoping they will call you?
Unless your card is truly different, very creative, unless your business is one that is needed urgently, most people will put away your card then forget about it.  Hopefully, they will find it if they need your service.
So…if you don’t have the finances or the creative skills to make a memorable card, what are the best ways you can use your “ordinary” cards to sell your skill?
Talk to people who might be interested in what you have to offer.  Find out if they really are into what you are doing, if they actually are in need of your service.  If they are, then give them your card.  At the back of the card, you can scribble a benefit or two that your business offers.

Collect their telephone or cell phone number also.  This way, you can call to remind them about your services.  This way too, you can let them know of the benefits they would gain from using your business.
Next week: better business cards…

BEAUTIFUL YOU…INSIDE & OUT.
Things that make you feel good (cont’d from last week).

There is a danger in sliding into bad moods on a regular basis; in letting yourself focus only on misfortunes; in thinking, over and over, about the people who have done you wrong.  Eventually, this takes a toll on your heart and pressure.  Your family and work can suffer too.

People who feel good about life in general tend to be generous in sharing their tips.  If you want to stop that crotchety mood from taking over, take the advice of experts.

Smile.  Studies show that even slight changes to your face muscles can lift your mood.  Besides, if you act happy, people act nicer to you.  And who doesn’t feel good when this happens?

Hug a loved one.  It lowers your pressure, even if temporarily.

Clean up some clutter.  You might not be aware of it; but when you are in an untidy place you feel harassed.   You do not have to go on a massive cleaning campaign.
  Just putting those books and papers into neat piles, throwing out some unwanted stuff can relieve stress.

More feel-good tips next week…
Enjoy the rest of your week, ladies.  Be good to yourselves, take care of you.