Questions Follow Acid Attack on British Women in Zanzibar
I know that it the United States can be just as dangerous as anywhere else (for one thing, there's all those guns), but when I read about crimes such as this in faraway lands, I shudder. When I was young I considered going into the Peace Corps, seeing the world while helping others. Various things kept me from taking that road. Today, I seriously doubt I would do it for a host of reasons (mainly my health), but also because to be a Western woman in many of these areas is to be a target. As a woman and as an American, I would not feel safe, especially in Muslim areas, no matter how respectably I dressed or how well I acted. I would be out of my comfort zone, afraid to make an innocent mistake. So yes, while there are beautiful places I would love to visit, there are many that I find simply too dangerous to risk. I'm not sure whether that's giving into fear or merely being prudent. And of course this was a rare event in Zanzibar. But I think if I ever do go out of country, I'll be very careful to research my destination and make myself as safe as possible in my choices. Unfortunately, that is no guarantee. Those girls did everything they were advised to, did nothing overt to indicate that they were Jewish, for example, and generally did the right things. Yet they suffered terribly for the crime of being Western women strolling through the streets. It's a shame.
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