updates on GCNova and South Africa.

things are moving along with GCNova as we prepare for the upcoming semester...

• Student organization petition forms for University recognition have been acquired and prepped for submission when the semester commences on August 24, 2009 (3 weeks!)
• We have been preparing and tweaking t-shirt designs. Right now, we are leaning towards one uniform t-shirt for the whole organization. Tentatively, it will be a simple, black tee featuring a Lupe Fiasco verse from the track, "Real," from his 2007 Lupe Fiasco's The Cool album--personally designed at CustomInk.com. GCNova officers will also be receiving their own personalized TeamGCNova tees.
• Ordering personalized GCNova silicone bracelets (the ones popularized by Lance Armstrong and the Livestrong campaign) in black or green (as the other colors from Zimbabwe's flag--yellow and red--are already spoken for by other widespread activism campaigns)
• Been in contact with Leanne Grossman, a trustee of the Girl Child Network Worldwide. Leanne is thrilled about our plans for GCNova and has asked to share our fundraising initiatives and organization model with other universities who are also looking to form their own GCNW student support groups--specifically, one in Canada.
• Secured a verbal commitment from Villanova University Communication professor, Dr. Stacey Wieland, to act as GCNova's faculty adviser. Wieland received her B.A. from Calvin College, secured a M.A. from the University of Southern California, and earned her Ph.D. from the University of Colorado. Though her academic work and publications have focused most on organizational communication, Wieland also devotes study to issues of culture, identity, gender, and globalization. GCNova also hopes to work closely with several professors from the Gender Studies and Africana Studies departments.

In other news, the South Africa Project posted information last week about recent rape reports in South Africa. Though GCNova became aware of the shocking South Africa Medical Research Council study--and its findings that 1 in 4 men surveyed had admitted to perpetrating some form of sexual assault--when they were released by various news outlets (Time, Huffington Post, BBC, etc.) in early June, this post reveals additional shocking numbers, directly quoted below...

• The police statistics show 86 women and 64 minor girls being raped each day.
• 30% of adolescents stated that their first sexual encounter was based on rape.
• The reported number of rapes per year is 55,000. The University of South Africa estimates that the real number is around 1 million. If this number is correct one woman in South Africa is forced to have sex every 30 seconds.
• 16% of South African men that know a rape victim believe that she wanted to have sex and actually enjoyed it.
• ActionAid states that out of 25 men that are accused 24 are being acquitted.
• Most adolescents in South Africa don’t even know the definition of rape.
• Of the 1738 men men surveyed: 25% of the men admitted to having raped a women at least once; 75% of the men were younger than 20 at their first rape; 50% of the rapists have done it more than once; 20% of the rapists were HIV positive; 10% of the rapists stated that they were 10 or younger at their first rape.
• A study of the NGO CIET Trust showed that 40% of the students below 18 years of age have been raped at least once. 20% of these rapes were done by their teachers.

If you need any more motivation to speak up, take action, and support Girl Child Network Worldwide and other human rights organizations, just look at the numbers.