萬惡風俗 非洲婦女15孩被喂鱷魚

Buko Balguda, 45, from Duss, a Karo tribal village in southern Ethiopia's Omo Valley, is alone. The reason? Her seven sons and eight daughters were all killed at birth by village elders who decided that the children were cursed.
來自埃塞俄比亞南部奧莫山谷Karo部落達斯村莊的45歲的布科·布格達如今孤苦無依。爲什麼？因爲她的7個兒子和8個女兒一出生就被部落長老認定受到詛咒，被全部殺死了。

'I lost five plus five plus five babies - 15 in total,' she explains. 'I had seven males and eight females. During this time, our tribal traditions were very hard. I did not respect our traditions, so they killed my children.'
“一個又一個，我一共失去了15個孩子，”她解釋道，“我生過7個男孩和8個女孩。我們部落的傳統非常嚴厲。我沒有遵守我們的傳統，於是他們殺了我的孩子。”

And Ms Balguda is not alone. The concept of 'mingi' or cursed children remains a tenet of tribal life for the Hamer and Bana people, with elders insisting that mingi infants are killed before they can bring the rest of the tribe bad luck.
不僅是布格達一人有此遭遇。“mingi”意爲受詛咒的孩子，這一概念依然被奉爲Hamer和Bana部落的信條，部落長老堅持應該在受詛咒的嬰兒爲部落帶來厄運之前就將他們殺死。

As a result - and despite efforts by the Ethiopian government to ban the practice - cursed children are murdered every day, whether by being left alone to be eaten by hyenas, thrown to hungry crocodiles or simply starved to death in a locked hut.
所以，即使埃塞俄比亞政府努力禁止這項傳統，每天還是不斷有“受詛咒的”孩子被殺，他們要不然就是被單獨留在野外給土狼吃掉，要不然就被餵給飢餓的鱷魚，或是被鎖在小屋子裏活活餓死。

For Ms Balguda, the problems began before she even married, when her future husband failed to take part in her tribe's traditional bull jumping ceremony - an initiation rite for men which has to be completed before they can marry.
對布格達來說，這些從她結婚前就開始了，她的未婚夫沒能參加部落的傳統“跳公牛”儀式。這一儀式是部落男子的成年禮，必須在他們成婚前完成。

When he married Ms Balguda anyway, village elders declared that any children would be considered illegitimate and would be killed as soon as they were born.
但不管怎樣，他倆還是結婚了，部落長老宣佈他們的任何孩子都將被認定爲私生子，而且一出生就必須被殺死。

But illegitimacy isn't the only reason for a child being declared 'mingi'. Others are deemed cursed because of disabilities, because their parents didn't get permission for a pregnancy from the elders, because they are a twin and most cruelly of all, because their teeth develop the wrong way.
但是，不僅只有私生子被視爲“mingi”。殘疾，母親懷孕時父母沒有得到長老的同意或雙胞胎的孩子都被視爲“mingi”，最殘忍的是，長牙順序不對也會被認爲是“mingi”。

小編注：Mingi意爲不潔、受詛咒，是埃塞俄比亞南部奧莫山谷Karo和Hamar部落的傳統信仰。私生、雙胞胎，上牙在下牙之前長出來，或是童年牙齒剝落等都被認定爲mingi，這些孩子會被殘忍地殺死。

Cruel though the practice is, village elders fear that if the children aren't killed, bad luck will blight the tribe. 'Most of the tribes in the Omo Valley still have strong superstitions.'
這項傳統雖然殘忍，但部落長老擔心如果這些孩子沒有被殺死，厄運就會降臨部落。“奧莫山谷裏的大部分部落迷信仍然很嚴重。”

Until things change, the pain for women like Ms Balguda will continue. 'At the time, I had no choice,' she adds. 'Nowadays, when i see the women giving birth or giving milk, I feel sorry. I feel lonely. Nobody is on my side.'
只有改變，像布格達這樣的婦女的痛苦纔不會延續。布格達補充說道，“目前我別無選擇。現在每當我看到別人生孩子或是餵奶的時候，我都覺得難過和孤獨。我身邊誰也沒有。”