I have heard of similar stories from other parts of the world—a woman is raped or sexually assaulted, and her family wants nothing to do with her, as she is now “damaged goods” or in some way responsible for the monstrous things done to her.
When people from other cultures come to live in the West, we assume that, in time, they will adopt our values of freedom, acceptance of difference, and caring for others (as much as we honour those values, sometimes in the breach rather than in actual practice). Thus, this story of a Liberian family living in Arizona who disowned their eight-year-old daughter after she was raped by four young boys is absolutely the saddest thing I have read this week, perhaps this year.
The fact that people from all over the country (the world, even) have offered to help the girl, or even adopt her cannot disguise the fact that this young girl who has been assaulted in the most horrifying way is now being rejected by the very people who should be comforting and protecting her.
I hope and pray that she will be offered the love, care, and protection that she needs.
AMEN!!
Seeing women who have been raped as damaged goods, and blaming them for it is a wholly Western value.