Thursday 12 November 2009

I really should never complain.

I had a girlfriend visit this morning with her little one. So, so cute. We had a lovely chat and coffee and cake (oh my own new yummy recipe- which I will post when I get a photo of the half demolished remnants of it.)

Here it is.
Ricotta and apple cake (Easily adapted to wheat free/gluten free version)

After she left I thought I'd pop on the telly and see what was on Oprah- my guilty holiday pleasure, I love the weepy ones not the celebrity interview ones and today was indeed a weepy one. About a woman who had grown up in poverty in Africa desperate to go to school but not allowed to. So she did her brothers home work on a stone "desk". Her father refused to let her go to school and she was married off at 11. By the time she was 18 she was a mother of three with a husband who beat her daily. One day a woman from an aide organisation came to her village and planted a seed in her mind that it was possible for a woman to get an education. She now has her masters in agricultural studies is living and studying in America and is remarried. They then went on to show again the atrocities that happen in the Congo with the poor women who are victims of rape. Tears were flowing in my house by this stage. Chicky babe who was going to make fun of her teary mother did not when I told her why I was crying.
It fascinates me how dedicated these women are to education- as a teacher who deals with children of various backgrounds I am struck by the difference in general by the poorer people in Africa and India and their keen desire to attend school and the general reluctance of many kids here to take hold of the opportunities education holds.
Another thing that is interesting is the success of programmes that educate and empower women. Money loaned to men in these communities is often used to show off to others in the community whereas small business loans give directly to women will enhance the whole family and also the wider community who are often employed by these women as their businesses grow. This money is usually always repaid and the profits are often used to educate the children. I of course-did as instructed by Oprah and went straight to her website and found the link list page to find avenues to help. Often I will go to Oxfam and buy a business for a woman in a developing country but now I have found on line links where I can do this with my new pay pal account. I've added it to my sidebar so I can find it easily again perhaps you might like to take a look too.
One day when I win lotto I would love to build a school for women - I guess I am quite passionate about it because along with the social security assistance I initially received, being educated has given me the chance to escape an abusive relationship and to support my family independently and to a comfortable standard, we may not have had everything our hearts desire and we have a modest house and don't have the latest gadgets and flat screen TV's but in comparison to many people in the world we enjoy a standard of extreme luxury.

1 comment:

Louise Dalton said...

Thankyou for sharing all of this LRH. X Lou