Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Please pray for Matani Shakya













Please pray for Matani Shakya. She is a 3 year old girl that lives in Nepal. She was just tested and approved to be the new "Kumari" or living goddess. The testing included seeing if she had perfect hair, perfect teeth, perfect eyes, with out any scars on her body, and lives without any fear of the dark. To prove that she is not afraid of the dark she had to sleep in a room alone with the heads of ritually slaughtered goats and buffalo. Now that she is approved she will live in almost total isolation in a temple with out her parents only to have people come in and bow at her feet and place their foreheads on her feet. Until the time she starts to menstruate and then she is sent home to most likely never marry because of Nepalese folklore states that any man that marries a former Kumari will die young (not to mention the irreversible damage done to a child being completely isolated without her family) I read this and just felt lead to ask people to pray for her. She is 3 years old for goodness sake!!! To also pray for the continued work that is happening in Nepal to increase the rights of children

2 comments:

Amy, Steve, Molly, Paige and Garrett said...

Oh my goodness! How sad. I'll be praying!
Amy

Paige said...

Shaking my head in wonder at how ignorant people can be in the face of tradition and this stuff happens in a world that is so full of knowledge... Praying