Black Thursday

Men and Women in Black

Today is Black Thursday in Kiribati. Everybody at work wears black even the driver. They actually have a special uniform made just to wear on this day once a week. I am wearing black too. The majority of the population that live in Kiribati are girls and women. This population group suffers from some of the highest levels of sexual and physical gender based violence in the world with 68% of all girls and women reporting abuse.

Wearing black is supposed to remind people of this problem and to help prevent further abuse. Lots of companies have issued special black uniforms to their employees who are mostly males. I did ask today if these Men in Black are the same ones carrying out the abuse but no one knows.