July 16, 2015 | By Alec

Usually, 3D printing in plastic is a convenient alternative to other manufacturing options, but in the case of this 3D printed bust of Shafilea Ahmed, it’s a powerful statement. This 3D printed bust was made by British charity Karma Nirvana to commemorate her death – Shafilea Ahmed was suffocated with a plastic bag in an honor killing – and to raise awareness for honor killings across Britain. It was revealed on 14 July to coincide with the National Day of Memory, a new day of national awareness specifically intended to prevent more honor killings from happening and to prevent that victims are lost from memory – which is often precisely the goal of the killers.

This National Day of Memory was held on July 14 because that would have been the 29th birthday of Shafilea Ahmed, if she wasn’t murdered by her parents at the age of 17. As the British charity behind this very important event revealed, the bright and ambitious young girl was murdered by her Pakistani parents to prevent her from bringing shame to the family by accepting a British lifestyle. ‘In the months before her death, Shafilea had been fighting with her parents because of their refusal to allow her to embrace Western culture and behave like a normal teenager,’ they say. ‘This came to a head when her parents announced that she was to give up her home and her education to marry a much-older cousin in Pakistan. In her parents’ eyes, Shafilea’s refusal to marry the cousin brought shame on the family.’

Following months of abuse for her refusal, Shafilea was suffocated with a plastic bag by her parents on 11 September 2003. Her siblings were forced to watch as a warning, and the body was dumped in a river miles away. Like so many victims of honor killings, Shafilea just disappeared from the world, and the truth of her fate wasn’t learned until 2010. Her parents are currently imprisoned, with the judge concluding exactly how parents could do such a horrible thing: ‘Your concern about being shamed in your community was greater than the love of your child.’

As the Karma Nirvana team explains, this is all too common – with an estimated 141 girls having been killed for similar reasons in Britain – and that these girls are often simply lost and forgotten. Their memories are removed as if they never existed, and that is exactly what this charity is all about: to prevent that from happening, and and fortunately thousands of people participated in the National Day of Memory for that purpose.

This 3D printed bust visible above was designed as the key item of the social media campaign surrounding the day of memory, with the bust being 3D printed live and the printer increasing its speed whenever the hashtag #RememberShafilea peaked in use. Actively tweeting thus enabled supporters to remember the unfortunate girl. But the very notion of keeping the memory of Shafilea alive in plastic – while her parents tried to erase her with a plastic bag – is also a powerful statement. As the charity explained, this enabled them to use plastic in a more positive way and to rebuild Shafilea’s memory in 3D printed plastic.

Hopefully, this very important 3D printing initiative will help vulnerable children everywhere and prevent further killings from happening. As Jasvinder Sanghera, the chief executive of Karma Nirvana said, this is still a very real issue that peaks during summer breaks. ‘There will be children in classrooms today who are at risk from being taken abroad and forced to marry this summer,’ she said. And what will happen if they refuse, she wonders. ‘Is anyone going to question why they are missing when they fail to return after the summer holiday? Unless this is monitored more, victims are going to become invisible to the system.’

 

 

Posted in 3D Printing Applications

 

 

Maybe you also like:


   





Leave a comment:

Your Name:

 


Subscribe us to

3ders.org Feeds 3ders.org twitter 3ders.org facebook   

About 3Ders.org

3Ders.org provides the latest news about 3D printing technology and 3D printers. We are now seven years old and have around 1.5 million unique visitors per month.

News Archive