On March 31, 2011, Michealine Cristini Risley came to Upper St. Clair High School to present her new documentary, Tapestries of Hope. In the clips of the film that she screened to the audience of students and through the ensuing question and answer session, students soon understood the gravity of the situation. Ultimately, most students came to the realization that regardless of what is going on here in America, our complacency can’t hide one serious truth: intervention is needed now for the Zimbabwean sexual assault crisis.

The Zimbabwean sexual assault crisis is shocking yet relatively unknown. Here is the issue: there is a prevailing myth propagated by medicine men and shamans throughout Zimbabwe that an HIV-positive man can rid himself of the disease by raping a virgin. In a nation where 18% of the population lives with HIV and AIDS, this is a major issue (www.zimonline.co.za).

However, the situation has garnered little publicity. In the Middle East and North Africa, America is preoccupied with political uprisings (www.crisisgroup.org). Additionally, Zimbabwe is not a nation which America has a vested interest in for survival. As a result, there Zimbabwe carries very little visibility in the West.

Nevertheless, narrow, shallow thoughtlessness is not an option in the situation. Matt Vernacchia, a senior, said about the crisis in Zimbabwe “It’s a situation that demands outrage and international action. However, there is no clear or simple good way for the international community to take action. Charity is helpful and good and needed but can’t really be effected until there is regime change, and the West can’t really make regime change happen.”

Paul Austin, commenting on a possible American strategy in Zimbabwe, said, “The [American] government is preoccupied with the situations in North Africa, and Zimbabwe doesn’t have the infrastructure to trade their raw materials to America, so the administration has little interest in ending Mugabe’s reign. Privative charity/activist organizations should reach out more.”