A Terrible Day is Upon Us.

Five years ago I started my Saturday morning the same way that I had started many before that, by driving to the Mentone Aquarium to buy treats for my two turtles, namely Feeder Fish.

Whilst waiting for the sales assistant to bag me up some fish, I gazed lovingly into the Turtle enclosure, like I always did when I spotted a Turtle unlike the rest.

He was light grey, and far smaller than the others. He also had a peculiar look on his face, which intrigued me.

I asked the guy about him and he told me that he was not for sale, he was different to the rest and the staff here looked after him. I left with my feeder fish, and my number in a book incase they ever decided to sell him. 10 minutes after I left, I received a call saying to come back and get him.

I didn’t even think twice and spun an illegal U-Turn and went and claimed my prize, Alby.

I named him Alby as he was so light colored, original right? 

He got along swimmingly (get it, get it) with my other two turtles and they lived a happy life together, often going out on the verandah to bask in the sun, chasing feeder fish around the tank, walking around my bedroom, taking food out of my hand and rising to meet me as I approached the tank.

Over the past 5 years, the other 2 passed away and I was obviously devastated. I thought Alby was in it for the long haul, even after the vet who I took him to after I got him because he didn’t eat as much as the others, told me they probably hadn’t sold him because he wasn’t the picture of perfect health. It didn’t matter, I loved him and he loved me.

I often took him to Treasury Gardens and let him run around in the grass, and he loved it.

He seemed fine when I fed him on Sunday, and he went for a little walk around the apartment. Then, this morning, I woke up, did my stuff and went to wave hello to him and feed the fish that he never got around to eating, who are now massive, and he was dead.

I know, I cant believe it either.

I’m so sad. Turtles live until they are about 150 years old in the wild. Geefa even mentioned my turtles in his wedding speech.

The fish were darting around like crazy this morning, so they obviously knew something was wrong.

I don’t know what happened. He is still in the tank because I can’t bear to look at him, its all too sad. I’ve asked Geefa to come and take him out for me. The Husband isn’t here to do it.

If I cant even manage to keep turtles alive, what hope do I have?!?!!

People tease me because I love my turtles passionately, like people see their dogs as children. Now what do I have?! NOTHING!!! 

They Are Just Children.

I am going to step out of my La La Land bubble for a minute, and write about something that is dead serious. It doesn't get any more serious than this.  People might find this information distressing, but I think it is important that you read it. 

My friend Claire is currently in India working for an organization that is working to put a stop to sex trafficking. She is currently working on a campaign that is aimed at criminalizing the demand side of the industry.  Part of the campaign is to get a minimum of 10,000 signatures on an online petition. 

They are not asking for money. All they are asking is that you sign this online petition and it only takes about 25 seconds, depending on how slowly you type. At the moment they are over halfway to their goal.

Claire and I went to the same primary school, but our friendship didn't kick of until grade 4 or so and from then we were inseparable. It was actually Claire's dad Barry, who first started calling me Mez. We were so close, and Claire's brother was even the very first boy I ever kissed. 

Now imagine if Claire and I grew up in India. I don't think our childhood would have been quite the same at all. 

I don't think I would have the memory of my first kiss being when I was 11 or whatever, under the flashing strobe lights at a Skateworld disco. Instead it would probably be a memory of having to have sex with about 10 males per day, against my will, from an age younger than 11. 

Some information from Claire:

"Sex trafficking is one of the fastest growing organised crimes in the world. 

In India alone 3 million women and girls are trapped in this illegal industry, 45% of those were children when first raped. 

They are each forced on average to have sex with 10 men every night. That is 30 million rapes EVERY night in India alone. 

The statistics can be depressing but there are organisations trying to improve this and there is something you can do!

Apne Aap Women Worldwide is a grassroots anti-trafficking NGO dedicated to eliminating sex slavery in India. We are implementing a new campaign this year called “Cool Men Don’t Buy Sex”. 

The aim of this campaign is to instill awareness about the male demand of sex that is the basis of the sex industry and thereby the cause of trafficking. 

The two main components of this campaign are raising awareness and changing legislation. 

We are starting a petition to amend the anti-trafficking law ITPA (Immoral Trafficking Prevention Act) so that it penalizes clients, traffickers, and pimps and not the prostitutes and victims of trafficking.

Help us reach our goal of 10,000 signatures by signing the online petition at www.apneaap.org/cmdbs/sign-petition"

Last month this blog had over 120,000 hits.

 Imagine if each person who visited took 20 seconds out of their busy day to sign this online petition.

 Please do it. Most of my readers are women, and you were once this age. 

This could have been you, but hopefully you were fortunate enough to not grow up like this.

Please, please, please sign this petition. I will owe you one.

CLICK HERE TO SIGN

CLICK HERE TO SIGN

CLICK HERE TO SIGN