Hansel & Gretel Foundation

Here's a sobering set of posters from the German Hansel & Gretel Foundation for the prevention of child abuse.From the website HERE (the site is in German. I suggest using babelfish.yahoo.com to approximately translate the page):

"Not every child is looking forward to coming home.

In Germany every 5th child gets sexually abused.

In 80% of the cases it happens in their home.

Get more information at: www.haensel-gretel.de

Help prevent child abuse"

The scariest thing about the Hansel and Gretel story - for me at least - is not the witch. Had both children been a little less faint from hunger I doubt they would have gotten in such trouble, though I have to wonder if their role models had a hand in setting them up for such a terrible thing. Whatever the case, eventually their smarts helped them escape the situation (this was particularly due to Gretel but Hansel should be credited for taking his sister's advice on the letting the witch test a stick instead of his finger for meal-readiness). It's the abandonment (at the very least) of the children that always got me. That the kids continue to return home despite the clearly malicious behavior of both parents always baffled me as a child, especially when everything seems to be a happy ending - the witch is dead, they escape, they have treasure, they find their way out of the woods... only to go back to the place where they received the most harm. I always felt my breath catch in my throat at the point in the story when they run - they RUN! - back to their father. Why? I know why now. It doesn't make me any less sad or distraught.This problem is as old as the ages but at least it's not considered 'normal' anymore. I applaud, thank and support all who work tirelessly to end this problem, the resulting abuse cycle and child pornography. Thank god for foundations like this that tackle these issues daily and rescue children from these crimes.