The Women of Guatemala

I don't think I have ever witnessed anything as disturbing and heart breaking as the documentary I am currently watching about women in Guatemala. Women in this nation are being raped and murdered by the thousands. In the past year, 600 women have been brutally murdered...from young children to the elderly. Women are not safe in the streets, coming to and from school and work. Vicious gangs kill them for sport and entertainment. One man interviewed said it's their own fault because they walk around with short skirts on.
He had just been aquitted of raping a 7 year old girl.
The government is not set up to do anything about this problem. There are protests, activists, movements...but nothing changes. The police have no system for collecting evidence or conducting investigations...When they find a murdered woman, they wipe down her fingers (destroying evidence) and take her fingerprints for no reason...because they have no fingerprints database, no DNA matching system and no system to link crimes or criminal activity...then if she goes unidentified, she is placed in a bag, numbered and burried.
When a family identifies a body as one of their own, the police then give them the responsibility of finding evidence and the criminal. So the case is handed over to the victims to re-live the agony. With no help, no justice and a constant state of fear.
One man watched his daughter get obducted infront of his house. He chased the car with his terrified daughter as far as he could and then he stopped at the police department to seek help. He reported it, told them what the car looked like and where it was headed and then he himself rushed off to keep chasing them.
After 2 hours of looking he came back to the police station to see if they had any news and the officers acted as though they had never seen him before. They had done nothing. Later they found her brutally killed.
I cannot imagine living this way. In a constant state of fear, in a nation where women are looked upon as less than nothing...as game. Where on top of being impoverished the people are unprotected, and they go unheard even right now as I'm typing this blog in my sweet little house with my family all safe and sound.
These women are wailing to God to take their lives instead of their daughters and my biggest concern lately has been how to get Caden to stop screaming in the car.
I praise God for allowing me to grow up in a free and safe nation. I feel unworthy, guilty and grateful all at the same time.
I don't know what to do with the information I've learned this evening...but I figure telling everyone who reads this blog is a good start.
God be with them.