Last month, I sent a small check in American dollars to a group of scholars at Green College, Oxford. They in turn, sent it to a friendly banker in Pakistan who agreed to waive transaction fees and convert it to rupees. Through a human rights group in Pakistan, the money was deposited in an account in the name of Mukhtaran Bibi - a true hero for our times.
I strongly urge you to do the same.
And I ask every blogger reading this site, or this RSS feed, or this forwarded email to spread her tale of courage through the wired world.
Mukhtaran Bibi is just beginning to gain the notoriety and respect that her incredible story deserves, thanks largely to columnist Nick Kristoff at The New York Times and a bunch of passionate, committed volunteers and small-time philanthropists around the world. Known as Mukhtar Mai in her native Punjab village, this young woman has turned a savage story of gang rape and cultural inhumanity into a narrative of hope and change and vision. You may recall a brief item I posted a few months back on Ms. Bibi's story: how she was gang-raped by four neighbors in a backwards and brutal "honor" punishment in her village, how she was expected to commit suicide but did not, and how she used a government settlement in the case to set up schools for boys and girls, to advance the spread of education and modernity in a supreme act of generosity.
The story grew: reading about her plight and her courage, more than 1,300 donations totaling $133,000 poured in (many through the group in Oxford and through Kristoff's message board at the Times). Ms. Bibi, who is illiterate, enrolled in her own elementary school to learn how to read. Mercy Corps, an American aid group already active in Pakistan, is helping her to spend the donations wisely. She plans to start an ambulance service for the area so sick or injured villagers can get to a hospital. According to Kristoff, she will eventually try to start her own aid group to battle honor killings.
But the guilty are going free. Originally sentenced the death, five men from Ms. Bibi's village were freed this week by a Pakistani court. Here's how Kristoff described it:
They are her neighbors and will be living alongside her. Mukhtaran was in the courthouse and collapsed in tears, fearful of the risk this brings to her family.
"Yes, there is danger," she said by telephone afterward. "We are afraid for our lives, but we will face whatever fate brings for us."
Mukhtaran, not the kind of woman to squander money on herself by flying, even when she has access to $133,000, took an exhausting 12-hour bus ride to Islamabad yesterday to appeal to the Supreme Court. Mercy Corps will help keep her in a safe location, and those donations from readers may keep her alive for the time being. But for the long term, Mukhtaran has always said she wants to stay in her village, whatever the risk, because that's where she can make the most difference.
In a time when the word "hero" has become devalued, Mukhtaran Bibi lives up to the title. Special thanks to journalist Declan Hill from Oxford - whose group calls Ms. Bibi from time to time - for routing my check (please email me for the contact if you're interested in helping and I'll put you in touch with Declan). Mukhtaran Bibi also has a Website with her story and occasional updates; please visit. Kristoff posts occasional non-column updates on his board. Folks, this story is worth following - it proves that man's inhumanity to man does not always triumph in this world. So please give if you can. I'll leave you with Kristoff's words, which are hard to top:
Mukhtaran's life illuminates what will be the central moral challenge of this century, the brutality that is the lot of so many women and girls in poor countries. For starters, because of inattention to maternal health, a woman dies in childbirth in the developing world every minute.
In Pakistan, if a woman reports a rape, four Muslim men must generally act as witnesses before she can prove her case. Otherwise, she risks being charged with fornication or adultery - and suffering a public whipping and long imprisonment.
Mukhtaran is a hero. She suffered what in her society was the most extreme shame imaginable - and emerged as a symbol of virtue. She has taken a sordid story of perennial poverty, gang rape and judicial brutality and inspired us with her faith in the power of education - and her hope.
UPDATE: The Guardian has a terrific story here, quoting, among others, Meryl Streep. Here's what they say:
"Honour" killings and punishments are usually sanctioned through the panchayat system, which has no legal standing but is still prevalent in many rural towns. Last week elders in another Punjabi village ordered that a two-year-old girl be married to a man 33 years her senior. The betrothal was in compensation for an adulterous affair committed by her uncle.
Yesterday the actor Meryl Streep listed Pakistan and Britain among dozens of countries that have reneged on promises to revoke laws discriminating against women, which were made at a UN conference in Beijing 10 years ago.
"A woman cannot vote in Kuwait. She cannot drive in Saudi Arabia. She is barred from working on military submarines in Britain. In Pakistan, if a woman is raped she must have four Muslim adult male witnesses to secure justice, failing which she may herself be considered guilty of fornication," Streep said.
UPDATE II: From CNN, Pakistan's highest Islamic court has reinstated the convictions of five men sentenced to death for raping a woman on orders from a village council, following a firestorm of criticism after a lower tribunal ordered the men freed. Thanks to LazyCat for the update. This is welcome news.
