Reality
Thursday, January 30, 2014
My post yesterday sparked a discussion on facebook that I welcomed and engaged in. I also thought about the comments that were made quite a bit today. I was crossing over this bridge on my way home from town and spotted these three little girls sifting through garbage and sewage and you know what I thought? I have to use my voice for them, because if I don't then who will?
I recognize that everyone's reality is different, but this is the reality of these three girls and it's something that's really twisted in our world that we need to look at. It's injustice. There is no reason why these girls should have to work in a sewage dump every day. I use my journal to talk about the positive and the good, to instill hope in you all and to convince you that fighting this fight is so darn worth it. I've devoted my life to this cause and I want you to too. I write about my incredibly adorable, smart, and hilarious 44 children. I write about how well my students are doing in school. I write about how AMAZING our team is and my dreams and goals for the future. My instagram feed is FILLED with pictures of stunning faces, and beautiful scenery, and himalayan skylines and cute baby goats. But there's a HUGE part of my reality here that looks exactly like this picture you see right here. There is so much I don't write about because it's just too hard. But you know what I'm starting to realize? Just like I take pictures of the mountains, I have to take these pictures too. Because the only other option is too look away and not do anything about it, or talk about it, and pretend that these girls' lives don't matter.
I will be as honest as I absolutely can be, while using discernment and respecting my children's privacy but I will not sugar coat the reality of the world that I live in and the lives of girls and women here. And I will not simply talk about the good and the positive because it is part of my responsibility as a citizen on this earth to shine a light on the darkness and to do something about it.
I'm especially sensitive right now because I feel a sense of urgency to speak up for the women in my women's center whose husbands beat them every day and for the girls at Shambat Center I just met who were married off as children. I have to speak up for the 13-year-old who Magdalena and I bought back this week for 5,000 rupees, after she was given away. We payed her "owner" 5,000 rupees, the equivalent of 50$, so she could come back to our women's center, go to school, live with her 3 little sisters, and not have to work for food and 15 cents a day. There should not be one child on the face of this planet who has to face that reality and I will write about it now and forever.