Word: customs
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Down in the state capital of Oaxaca, state human rights commissioner Heriberto Garcia also chastised the custom. "Buying and selling a woman is a clear violation of her rights," he says in his office decorated with leather-bound law books. "And a young teenage girl does not have the experience to make these decisions." Oaxaca state law permits marriage of women at 14 and men at 16. However, Garcia said he plans to send a bill to the state legislature changing the age to 18 for both sexes...
...under the glare of rugged hilltops. In the ancient tradition, he explains, the suitor negotiates the marriage with the family through a so-called ambassador. After a deal has been struck, the suitor then goes to meet and collect the bride at 2 a.m. on a Wednesday morning. Local custom also permits polygamy, and some men in the Triqui region have up to seven wives...
However, Garcia says the custom of arranged marriage is dying, with many young people meeting their partners at the village middle school. Girls are also marrying much older - at around age 20 instead of the traditional 14 - he said. Village resident Pilar Martinez echoes his defense of Triqui traditional marriage, saying the payment puts worth on the matrimony. "It is a mark of commitment," she says smiling as she plays with her lively daughter and nephew. Martinez married at age 21 after meeting her husband at school. He paid her father about 9,000 pesos ($650), she says...
...pajamas are silk and are custom-made. I'd be happy to disclose if I knew by whom...
Hospitals have also managed to save money by greening their cleaning supplies. The Hackensack University Medical Center's pediatric oncology center in New Jersey swapped its toxic-chemical-laden cleaners for its own custom-made natural products, dropping cleaning costs by 15% - and, more important, minimizing employees' and young patients' exposure to irritants and harsh substances, such as ammonia. The hospital has also developed a "Greening the Cleaning" program for other hospitals, schools and organizations and, more recently, even began selling a consumer product line that includes laundry detergent and glass cleaner...