Shah Dola – The Story of the Rat Children

Have you ever called of the so-called Rat Children of Gujrat?  Every year, thousands of believers pilgrimage to Gujrat, which is a city in the north of Pakistan, where they pray in the Shah Dola shrine for offspring. If their wish becomes true and the woman delivers a baby, the family often returns to the shrine to sacrifice their first-born to the shrine, where it should grow up and dedicate his life to the god Shah Dola.  However, all the children left at the shrine grow up with physical and/or mental abnormalities. Most of them have a deformed head which also gives them the name Rat Children. Why they all have a rat-like face is quite controversy: The people working at the orphanage, where the children are kept, claim that all the children suffer from a genetic defect or a deficiency, while many others say that the deformation is caused deliberately by human intervention. Some scientists argue that the children at the shrine are forced to wear metal caps while they are still young. This does not only cause a deformed head but also might end up mentally disturbed as the high pressure damages the brain of the children. It is also said that the keepers of the shrine often search for disabled children in nearby villages and cities and take them away from their families. 

If not only this was hard enough for the children, they are also forced to beg at the shrine to collect alms, which are needed to finance the orphanage and the shrine. This is the only income (about 700 US $ per week – quite a lot for Pakistan) and also the government profits from it as they have been in control of the shrine since 1996. It may sound cruel but the harder the children’s disabilities are, the more they earn. It’s clear that no one dares to stand up for these poor children since political enemies are often banned from talking in public about the issue (This is also what happened to one of Pakistan’s top scientists, who investigated why the children suffer from such deformities).

 

Of course, life must be hard for the children living and begging at the shrine… But on the other hand, I think their life could be a lot worse as in this country disabled children are often locked up in their rooms because they are seen as a shame for the family… However, I think the government should try to improve the situation at the shrine and offer the children a better life in decent conditions.

„Make the world less boring – be more AWESOME!“

Although last week’s Wednesday seemed to be a perfect day for a picnic in the park, I spent most of the time studying in my room for a Spanish history exam I had the following day – and after some hours I almost freaked out as all the names of Spanish kings and year dates wouldn’t want to stay in my head. The fact that our neighbour’s children were playing happily outside beneath my window and my flatmates were sunbathing on the balcony while I had to fight with the Visigoths and Romans made me feel even more down. I decided to have a little break and to distract myself a bit with the goal to motivate myself more for studying. I listened to some music on Youtube when I had the idea to search for a pep talk to motivate myself. I just tipped “pep talk” into the search engine and this is what I found:

In years and years of television and watching youtube-videos for hours I have never ever found something as touching, cute, humorous and above all truthful.. Don’t you also think that we are all sometimes a little bit boring? That we complain too often about things we are not willing to change? We all have our own dreams, but what do we do to accomplish them? Do we work hard for it? Or do we just wait for something to help us archiving our goals? 

And what the boy is saying about teams… isn’t it true that we are all in the same team? Shouldn’t we try working together instead of hurting and ousting each other?

Of course, sometimes we have loads of unpleasant things to do, not only for university but for life in general, but there’s definitely no reason in complaining about it. We can also look at it from another perspective and be grateful and glad that we live in a country where it’s possible to attend university and where we can all work on reaching or goals no matter about our sex, skin colour or how much your parents earn..

“You got some work to do? You can cry about it… or you can dance about it!”

A visit to the Volkskundemuseum Graz – Exploring or own culture

Yesterday we went as a part of the lecture “Foundations of Cultural Theory”, which I’m doing as a facultative subject, on a little excursion to the Volkskundemuseum to have a closer look at how culture can be presented in a museum. Although I’ve visited quite a lot museums round the world, I have to admit that I’ve never been to any museum in Graz before, so I decided to join the small group of conscientious students – and I do not regret it!

In our guided tour I learned more about Austria, Styria and our culture than I would have thought. The museum is divided into three sections: The first one deals with living and shows the visitors how Austrians used to live more than a hundred years ago. For this, an authentic “Rauchstube” had been attached into the modern building. There are also many other exhibition pieces like chests (also a so-called “wedding chest” was exposed), beds and old wash boards. For me, this part brought nothing new as my grandparents own a little farm with lots of old furniture, similar to the exhibits (well maybe my grandparents’ furniture is not that old and precious ^^).

In the second part of the museum traditional Austrian clothing was shown. And if you think Austrians only used to wear Dirndl and Lederhosen until the 1950s you’re definitely wrong! In a chronological order clothes starting from the Hallstatt age (simple cloaks made of leather) to the Baroque (pompous dresses – but only for the rich!) to the 20^th century were exposed. Our guide, who seemed to be very well-informed, pointed out a few details and explained the story behind them. For example, there was a dress of an entrepreneur’s wife with a thin leather belt. On this belt a key and a small bag with spoons was attached. Our guide told us that until the 20^th century wearing a belt signalised power and wealth and that this woman even wore the key to the pantry and the cutlery on her belt which made her even more powerful in a male-dominated world. 

Then we came to the third part of the exhibition – which was in my opinion the most interesting one as it was about religion and superstition. Our guide showed us different more or less known things connected with believe. What I found especially interesting was the fact that not only objects connected with the Catholic believe but also with Spiritism were shown. . About a hundred years ago, people in Austria did not only go to church to pray there but also believed in natural spirits and witchcraft. If someone was ill, for instance, and couldn’t afford a doctor (which was very likely) his family members didn’t only pray to the Holy Virgin but also tried to help the sick person with amulets made of special animal bones. If someone built a house in those times they also had to give an offering to the earth spirits in order to pacify them. For this reason living (!!!!) animals like cats were often immured in the foundations of a house. They also found a walled-in cat in a building at the Schlossberg some years ago when they were doing some renovation work and our guide told us that scientists proved that the cat had been alive when she was immured. Another object that was, at least in my eyes, a bit scary was a so-called “hair picture”. When a family member died, a coil of his or her hair was cut off. With this hair a picture was made and hang on the wall to commemorate this person. In the museum there was one of those hair pictures of a couple whose three kids died at the same time. It made me feel quite sad when I thought of the family who had to deal with the loss. Nowadays we are at least able to look at photos of passed away family members in order to feel close to them again but as photos were rather expensive in those times, the parents could only keep their children’s hair… 

The visit to the Volkskundemuseum was a great experience and I really learned a lot – not only about specific cultural topics but also that growing up in a country doesn’t imply that you already know everything about its culture and traditions. You definitely never stop learning.. ;)

The true cruelty in the Magdalene's asylums

A few days ago while I was doing some “channel-hopping” I came across a movie called “Die unbarmherzigen Schwestern” (in English it’s called “The Magdalene Sisters”). The movie had already started an hour earlier so I had some problems with figuring out the plot but after watching for a while, I understood that it was basically about a convent in Ireland and how the girls, who were forced to live there, were treated. 

This afternoon I decided to watch the whole movie again in English on Youtube. First of all, I have to admit that I watched it with English subtitles but in my opinion they were absolutely necessary. Due to the strong Irish accents and certain words they use in the dialogues, it was sometimes difficult to follow the actors. But back to the gripping plot and why I think this movie is absolutely worth seeing:

The movie takes place somewhere in Ireland in the early 60s. The three young women Rose, Bernadette and Margret are sent involuntarily to the Magdalene’s Convent since they have been “sinful” and need guidance to find the way back to God. In the conservative and Catholic Ireland it was seen as a sin to give birth do a baby before getting married (like Rose did), to be too flirty and  (like Bernadette, who was the most beautiful girl in the orphanage she grew up in) or to attract the attention of men (like Margret, who was raped by her own cousin). Therefore, the sisters of the Magdalene’s Convent think it’s their divine purpose to punish all these from society shut off girls. The women in the convent are being treated like prisoners: They have to work hard all day long in a laundry where they are not allowed to talk to each other, the food they get is inedible and for the smallest delicts they are get beaten with whip. Also one of the girls, who is mentally retarted, is regularly getting sexually abused by the priest of the convent.

After the abuses become more and more brutal, the three protagonists are able to escape and to start a new life. 

Well, seeing how cruel the girls living in the Magdalene’s Convent were treated really shocked me. But when I was doing some research on this Convent, I found out that tragically the movie is based on a true story: In Ireland and in Great Britain estimated 30.000 “fallen” women were incarcerated in such Magdalene’s Convents. At its beginnings, the convents were seen as a refuge for prostitutes, where they were given the chance to become religious again, but with the time more and more women and girls were sent there. Often, they had been sexually abused by their male relatives and blamed for this or unmarried mothers with no support of their families. The life in the asylums was hard as the women had to work long hours in laundries and were not allowed to talk to their fellow imprisoners – just as depicted in the movie.

The last Magdalene’s Convent was closed in 1996 after the truth of the treatment of the women in the asylums had been revealed. 

This February, the prime minister of Ireland Enda Kenny officially issued a full state apology to the women of the Magdalene’s Convents and described the convents and their laundries as "the nation's shame". I think this official apology was a great step but the Catholic Church has still not apologized for the abuses that had been going on for almost 100 years in the Magdalene’s asylums… 

Here's a very sad poem I found in another blog that portrays the feelings of a girl in a Magdalene's Convent:

I was an unmarried girl
I'd just turned twenty-seven
When they sent me to the sisters
For the way men looked at me
Branded as a jezebel
I knew I was not bound for Heaven
I'd be cast in shame
Into the Magdalene laundries



Most girls come here pregnant
Some by their own fathers
Bridget got that belly
By her parish priest
We're trying to get things white as snow
All of us woe-begotten-daughters
In the steaming stains
Of the Magdalene laundries



Prostitutes and destitutes
And temptresses like me--
Fallen women--
Sentenced into dreamless drudgery ...
Why do they call this heartless place
Our Lady of Charity?
Oh charity!

Peg O'Connell died today
She was a cheeky girl
A flirt
They just stuffed her in a hole!
Surely to God you'd think at least some bells should ring!
One day I'm going to die here too
And they'll plant me in the dirt
Like some lame bulb
That never blooms come any spring
Not any spring
No, not any spring
Not any spring

Vienna - actually not that bad?

Sure, I’ve been to Vienna quite often so far. With my family, with my school class, with some friends. I dare to say that in 19 years of casual Vienna visits I’ve already seen most of the sights that Vienna offers. I’ve admired the pretentious interior furnishing of Schönbrunn, watched the lions and monkeys in the zoo, walked with great respect through St. Stephan’s Cathedral and visited a real Viennese café at the Opernring. Sure it was nice, but I have to admit: I never liked it. I never had the feeling that I and Vienna had a “connection”. For me, Vienna was just the capital of my home country, which I visited every now and then to do some sightseeing or to visit my relatives living there. Of course, it’s a very beautiful city with lots of points of interest, but I was always happy when I was on my back home to Styria. I can’t really explain my disfavour towards Vienna but it always had been like that. It was not because I had been mugged there or if I were afraid of big cities (the contrary is the case, thaha ;-) ), but I just didn't like it!! I never felt comfortable in this city and I was kind of obsessed with finding more flaws there. When I was there, I always started comparing Vienna with other Austrian cities I know – and it always lost. Neither was Vienna as romantic as Hallstadt nor was it as impressive as the old part of Salzburg.

But back to how my difficult relationship with Vienna has changed: Two weeks ago I went to Vienna with my family as my parents wanted to invite me to visit the musical “Legally Blonde”. When we were walking through the city centre in what felt like – 20 °C after we had seen the musical, I suddenly had the feeling that Vienna is not that bad. We went for a walk through some narrow streets near our hotel and I saw a lot of things I had never noticed before. For example, I found a street near the Mariahilferstraße which seemed to be as steep as a street in San Francisco! While we were walking, I came across more and more things that appealed to me: Creative graffiti and drawings on the floor, small shops that sell almost everything, exotic restaurants with a very unusual menu… I’m sure I would have walked on for hours to encounter these to me unknown streets of Vienna if it hadn’t been that could.

After this experience, I have to say that I’m already looking forward to my next visit to Vienna.. And I’m I will try to avoid the main tourist attractions and prefer to go for a walk off the beaten track to experience the “real” Vienna!

Hope you enjoy your last week of Easter holidays! 

See you all soon!