Today I bought three boxes of Mac & Cheese at the grocery store (the cheesiest kind, of course). When I got home I found an email waiting for me from my mom with a link to a particularly powerful op-ed from the NY Times, Divorced Before Puberty.I stayed in the Old City when I visited Yemen in 2008 and woke each morning to the sounds of chickens, children and Call to Prayer. Both in and outside of Sana'a I was fascinated by the history, taken by friendliness of those I met and charmed by the architecture, almost reminiscent of gingerbread houses of all things, and the smiling dusty faces of the packs of
children that tailed me everywhere I went.But there was another part of Yemen that was equally sad. Women seemed shrouded in life, disappearing behind veils, gloves and doors. Men, and their incomes, were lost to the addictive qat. Few children found their way to school. Unemployment rampant in a country oil-rich but desperately and pathetically corrupt.
But those smiling kids. It's hopelessly idealistic, but providing a future and the hope for opportunity via health care, education, employment -the basics- seemed the most powerful
antidote to extremism, poverty and addiction.So to Mr. Kristof and the following statement, I said, "Hear Hear!":
"The United States last month announced $150 million in military assistance for Yemen to fight extremists. In contrast, it costs just $50 to send a girl to public school for a year — and little girls like Nujood may prove more effective than missiles at defeating terrorists."
And then I thought of the $3 I spent on throw-away food that would have also funded around three weeks of school. Uncomfortable. The best I could do in that moment was find an international relief organization I respected and donate. But I think I can do better.
Insha'Allah.
2 comments:
I hope I live long enough and am healthy enough to teach in one of those countries and to open, in some small way, opportunities and doors for the women who will change the world for their children. Some day, Insha'Allah
I love your photos at the top of your blog, Rachel! Amazing post. Michelle's school recently raised over $1,000 by collecting pennies for Pennies for Peace, which helps Greg Mortensen build schools in Pakistan (3 Cups of Tea...you read it, right?). Anyway, they showed statistics of how very little it costs to run a school there for a year and it is shocking how little it takes to change a life. Or many lives. Through education and other basics that we tend to take for granted. I'd love to some day have an opportunity to teach kids in a country like that. For now, I try to reach the kids right here in the US of A who literally come to me from all 4 corners of the world. (Hard to believe Salt Lake has such diversity, but it does at the schools where I've worked!:))
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