Question

Illegal Economies and the Untold Story of the Amputees
CAROLYN NORDSTROM
Summary Supporters of the use of land mines argue that they deter soldiers and protect sensitive areas during combat. Statistics show, however, that those most commonly injured by land mines are not soldiers, but instead children, women, and men engaged in nonmilitary activities. These mines leave their victims without limbs, often unable to walk, work, or eke out an existence in a part of the world where wheelchairs are nonexistent and life is incredibly hard, even for a healthy individual.
The women of Muleque, Angola, who were injured by these land mines, at first developed informal economies in order to simply survive. But as Nordstrom points out, they wanted more than to merely exist. They formed their own informal banking systems, popular in Southern Africa, and with just a few pennies, managed to raise money to invest in farmland. Joining an informal bank group, according to Nordstrom, is the first step on the path that women follow out of poverty and into development. There are many steps, and the process is difficult. Women start with nothing; hard labor is the only way to raise the small amount needed to even join an informal bank group.
According to Nordstrom's research, women are "the invisible center of gravity of society" in Southern Africa. A man's presence is fluid; a woman is always there. She makes the connections that create family, society, and community networks. Without the women, according to the author, families and societies collapse. With the women at the center, families succeed, and health, education, and trade result. The author notes that is interesting that the women's efforts and their contributions to development go unnoticed. According to figures from the United Nations, these informal economies contribute $250 billion annually in imports, and this money goes directly into the development of the country. Yet these women continue to be depicted by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) as stereotypical victims barely surviving by selling bananas and charcoal.
In Nordstrom's article "Illegal Economies and the Untold Story of Amputees," the local coordinator for an NGO working with the amputees felt that taking the goods made by the Muleque women on an official NGO flight was an improper use of the NGO's equipment.

Answer

This answer is hidden. It contains 1 characters.