Waking up and getting ready for school or college and, eventually, for work, are common actions we do during our entire lives. Education is a colossal element that we have the right to obtain and possess. Underestimating what it can do, what it can create and produce, is an enormous mistake made constantly by anybody who ignores the fact that in places, right in the same Earth where we stand and educate ourselves in, there are girls and women who are not given the opportunity and the right of Education. Girls who will never experience waking up, putting on a tidy uniform, preparing a backpack full of school supplies, or studying for a test. Women who will not have the opportunity to venture through life while being professionals, doing what they dreamt so much about while being little girls.
Over 66 million girls around the globe are out of school. Not because they chose to do so, but because they have no other choice. In the developing world, where patriarchy still reigns in all its glory and religion dictates much of our lives, being a woman is stigmatized in ways that should not be permitted. Girls in these parts of the world are expected to work, to care for children, or are forced to become part of the very sinister and dark world of human trafficking, mainly for sexual purposes. Going through life without knowing how to read or write, or without the opportunity of saying “When I grow up, I want to be…” seems inconceivable and preposterous to girls and women from the 21st century that were given the right of education ever since they were little girls.
Girl Rising, a global movement and campaign for girl’s education, captured the arduous but inspiring stories of nine different girls, each one from a different country, in their 2013 feature film (streaming right now on Netflix). These nine stories, all incredibly inspirational, offer a wider view of the realities girl and women, from the same age groups and interests as us, have to live through… without ever stepping into a school or creating a word with a pencil. The girls from the film eventually get justice made for themselves, reaching and obtaining an incomparable possession: Education.
Suma, who shares her story in the film, narrates the onerous and tedious life she had before attaining her right to Education. The Nepali girl is forced into the “Kamlari” life at the age of 6, while her brothers get the opportunity of attending school. Born in extreme poverty, families find themselves in the imminent struggle of providing the basic needs: food, clothing, and education. Rich families offer to take their kids in, promising all of those basic needs, but usually do exactly the opposite: the kids serve as domestic and sexual slaves. This practice – these kids – are later on known as the “Kamlari.” It was proclaimed illegal by the Supreme Court of Nepal in 2006, but the practice still takes place in the country, hidden from the authorities. Suma, a former “Kamlari”, gets a glimpse into her future when she gets the opportunity of to learn how to read. As she finally gains her freedom, her life is completely different, since she’s finally able achieve what she should have been given years before: her education, the start of her future, what would help her to tell her story and share the crude realities some people are bound to live. (Watch Suma’s story here)
As girls and women who do get the opportunity of education, it’s our duty to raise awareness of this difficult but palpable reality. Education is the highest investment anyone can make: it brings progress, creation, awareness, examination and reasoning. Every girl has a right to go to school, to use a pencil, just like we have. Let’s stop them from dreaming of an education – let’s help them get one.
External links:
Girl Rising Homepage: http://girlrising.com/
Girl Rising Twitter account: https://twitter.com/girlrising
Girl Rising Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/GirlRising
Girl Rising Film Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJsvklXhYaE
Girl Rising’s NGO partners: A New Day Cambodia, Plan International, Room to Read, CARE, Partners In Health, World Vision International, Girl Up.