Strong values... help or hinderance?

I have always been a person with strong values and ideas.  One of my values is that of equality and women's rights.  Growing up my Dad travelled a lot for work, as a result it was often just my Mom at home.  My Mom is an amazingly strong woman.  She has taught me many life lessons, but one of the most important lessons she taught me was that I could do anything I wanted to.  She taught me to be independent and stand on my own two feet.  She (and some others) have shown me that I do not have to conform to societies gender stereotypes.  I have always been supported in all I have done in life.  I was supported and loved as a child when I chose to be a tom boy for a very long time (some joked that I was the son my parents never had).  I did not have to wear dresses, stay quiet and always be on my best behaviour.  In fact I was encourage to try new things, get dirty and have fun.  I have never been told that as a woman I need to stay at home and take care of a family when I grow up.  I was never raised to think that the kitchen is where a woman belongs.  I am extremely grateful for all of the support and freedom I was given while growing up (and still today).  As a result of my upbringing I have a very strong belief in equality between all people on earth (especially equality between genders).  

Last night as I was walking home from a party I had a very interesting/personally frustrating and infuriating conversation with a boy from my residence.  (For the sake of this entry I will call the boy Jack.)  It was very cold outside and I did not have gloves on, and as a result my hand was getting very cold from holding my water bottle.   Jack was wearing gloves and offered to carry it for me so I would be able to put my hands into my pockets.  I was very grateful for this and took him up on his offer.  As we continued to walk home my feet began to hurt due to the fact i was wearing 3 inch heel boots.  As we approached the door of our building I said "Thanks for carrying my water bottle for me.  I can take it back now."  I thought this was a logical suggestion since we had basically reached our destination, but apparently not.  I was told "Men are supposed to carry things for women, women are not as strong as men."  This statement through me for a loop.  I really did not know how to respond to this.  Such blatant sexism is relatively foreign to me.  We continued up the stairs in silence because I did not know what to say.  When we got through the door I was very quick to say "Wait a minute, I want to take my heels off before we climb 4 flights of stairs. My feet are really sore."  The response I received to this was even more off putting then the previous comment "Why do you have to take them off? Your feet shouldn't hurt.  Women should naturally be able to walk in heels, just like they should naturally be able to cook and clean.  It is just what women do." Again I was caught off guard and did not know how to respond at first.  All I managed to get out before we went our separate ways was "You have got to be kidding, I cannot believe you actually said that." 

This experience made me feel irritated and belittled.  However I reflected on it the rest of the night and all of today.  It made me realize again how strong my values and life views are.  It also made me think about going away to Ghana this summer.  I am going to live in a country where women are not seen as equal, where women do not have the same privileges and opportunities as men.  I knew this before, but I had never really spent a lot of time reflecting on it.  The reality of my future situation this summer suddenly hit me, hard.  What if in Fotobi I experience discrimination based on my gender? How will I react if I am told that I should not be doing something because I am a girl?  

My reflections brought me back to class last semester and our discussion about pushing our beliefs and values onto others.  I know that it is not good or helpful to push foreign values onto others.  It is egocentric of me to assume my way of life is better then others, and it would be  obnoxious to tell others how to live when I am a guest in their village.  It would be like going to someone's house and telling them that their way of decorating is not right and they should decorate more like you.  I am very respectful of other peoples opinions, but I honestly do not know what I would do if I was told to stay behind/inside because I am a girl.  I have a feeling that I will have an earlier curfew due to the fact that I am a girl, and I will adjust to this and deal with it, but it will be strange and foreign to me.  This is yet another way that this summer will push me and challenge me.  It will expose me to new ways of life and and different ways of viewing the world.  I hope that this summer will expand my understanding of different world views an culture.  

Moral of my story, I have very strong views and values and this summer is really going to challenge me.  I am going to struggle with the different status that women hold in Africa.  It will be hard for me to hold my tongue in situations where women are being put down or belittled.  This summer will be a challenge in more way then one, but I strongly believe that it will help me grow as a person and expand my world views.  

Be the change you want to see

I was sent this video not to long ago and it has really stuck with me.   

I believe that everyone has the responsibility to create the type of world they want to see.  The excuse of "I am only one person, I cannot make a difference." needs to end.  If everyone in the world says that then nothing will ever change, and we will indeed become a lost generation.  

Envision the world you want to live in, and work towards the creation of that environment everyday in all you do.  We can change the world if we work together to be the change we want to see.  

Why do I want to go away?

Recently I have been reflecting on a lot of things in life.  My values, morals, beliefs, and dreams (just to name a few).  I am a very strong willed and independent person, and consequently I have many strong opinions and ideas on certain issues.  In many areas of my life I set limits and made decisions long ago and have stuck to those without spending much time exploring why I made those decisions.  Second year of University has brought with it a multitude of new experiences and challenges.  It has pushed me to critically examine my core beliefs, and to grow as a person.  

In keeping with the spirit of self examination and reflection I have recently been thinking a lot about why I want to go away this summer.

Here are some of the thoughts and reflections I have had.  

A wise man once said "Peace cannot be kept by force, it can only be achieved by understanding." (Albert Einstein).  I think that this is very profound and true.  I want to go away this summer to have new experiences, learn new things and most importantly work towards understanding the world around me. 

I have led a very privileged and sheltered life in suburban Canada.  I have travelled many places in the world, but it has mainly been for tourist purposes.  I have not had as many opportunities to live and learn with people from around the world as I would like to.  This summer I want to encounter and understand more cultures, I want to participate and share in the joys and sorrows of everyday life, and to experience different traditions.  I want to build and foster new relationships. 

Getting back to my whole idea about understanding being the way to foster peace, I have had a few more insights/ideas on the subject. I believe that in our world today we all to often trap ourselves into a very small and egocentric world view because we simply cannot move beyond stereotyping, polarizing rhetoric and defensive behavior.  We are so quick to place ourselves on a pedestal, and are even quicker to put down our "enemies" or the "other".  Why do we feel threatened by other peoples differences? Why can we not recognize our commonalities and at the same time celebrate our differences that make us unique?  People in the world spend to much time being suspicious of each others behavior and motivation.  We need to learn to respect and value one another.  I think that working towards understanding one another is a step in the right direction for world relations and peace.

I think that as a world community we need to create contexts where people can relate and interact in ways that facilitate an increased understanding of the beliefs, values, and fears that are held by "others" and of ourselves.  Many conflicts in the world are caused by differing values, world-views, identities and beliefs. By working towards a world of greater understanding I feel we will be working toward a more cohesive and unified global community.  I am not saying that it will solve all of the worlds problems.  There will still be fighting, there will still be disagreements, but the way we approach resolutions to these conflicts will be completely transformed.  No longer are your opponents simply the "other", they are people who have different opinions, values, beliefs, fears and dreams.  They are humans.  By fostering understanding we are fighting against dehumanization.  

I want to go away this summer and be part of this greater world understanding.  I want to broaden my world view, have new experiences, and be in fellowship with others.  I want to gain a greater understanding of issues plaguing the world today.  I want to realize how daily life differs everywhere you go, yet how there are so many delightful similarities.  This summer I want to be humbled. 

I hope that this summer will be the beginning of many experiences that will expose me to the differences in the world and foster a greater understanding of world diversity.  Ghana this summer will be a totally different and powerful experience that I hope will be a "duct tape experience" - an experience that will leave its mark on me =).  All I know for sure is that I will be more changed by this experience then the people I meet while I am away. I am not naive enough to believe that I will "save the world" or make a huge difference in Fotobi, but I have a strong feeling that my life will forever be impacted by this experience and the greater world understanding that it will bring.    

       

FAWE... what is it exactly?

This past week has been an interesting time of ajustment and exploration for me. As I mentioned in my last blog post, my placement was unexpectantly switched. I now am working with an NGO called FAWE (Forum for African Women Educationalists). I will be teaching English at a hish school and doing extracuricular activities with the students. I am very excited for this new opporunity and do believe that it will be an absolutely wonderful and transformational experience. I wanted to know more about FAWE and its mission, values and practices. In one of my courses on international development we needed to write an overview on an NGO, and I had been doing so much research on FAWE already, I figured that it would be a very logical thing to make it my report subject. This is an overview of FAWE.

FAWE (Forum for African Women Educationalists) is an NGO designed to support girls and women to acquire education for development. Five ministers of education founded FAWE in 1992 in order to promote female education in the sub-Saharan region of Africa. The organization has proved over the past 17 years that the lives of African women can be drastically transformed if there is a strong, committed group articulating their concerns. FAWE reminds educational authorities, governments and other stakeholders of their responsibilities to work towards gender parity in the educational system. FAWE recognizes that education is a fundamental human right and is dedicated to working towards gender impartiality and equality in education across Africa. The organization is made up of 35 National Chapters across sub-Saharan Africa. This large network of chapters has enabled FAWE to create a large network of partners in education all across the continent. These partners allow FAWE to promote female education at all levels of society.

FAWE VISION: FAWE’s vision is that gender disparities in education will be significantly reduced and more girls will have access to schooling, complete their studies and perform well at all levels.

MISSION: FAWE’s mission is to work, together with its partners, to create positive societal attitudes, policies and practices that promote equity for girls in terms of access, retention, performance and education quality, through influencing the transformation of education systems in Africa.

GOAL: FAWE’s goal is to increase access and retention as well as improve the quality of education for all girls within the school system and for women in universities.[1]

FAWE uses a four-level plan in order to transform female education and achieve gender impartiality and equality in education across Africa. The first level is Policy Advocacy – influencing the government and other partners to critically examine current educational policies and adopt strategies to achieve greater participation of girls in education. The second level is Community Advocacy – building public awareness (at a grass roots level) of the social and economic value of female education. This new awareness influences the way people think about female education, and causes them to work together to support a common agenda. The third level is Demonstrative Interventions – creating models to demonstrate that certain conditions can be created that are more conducive to girls’ enrollment, continuation and successful completion of the education system. The fourth, and last level is Replication and Mainstreaming – prompting governments to adopt and universalize innovative techniques that have been proven to have a positive impact on girls’ education.

There are many different programs that FAWE has pioneered and spread throughout Africa that have significantly improved the quality of education that females receive. One of these programs is the Bursary program FAWE offers. One of the largest obstructions to female education in Africa is poverty. If African families cannot afford to send all of their children to school then males become the priority. Bursaries from FAWE enable intelligent girls from poor families to receive an education. In 2007, approximately 46, 000 females from 27 countries were beneficiaries of FAWE bursaries. Another FAWE program that produces dramatic results is Tuseme (Let Us Speak Out). Many African cultures dictate that women should be seen and not heard, submissive and unquestioning. This makes participation in the classroom very difficult for females and can have a very detrimental effect on their performances on National Examinations. Tuseme encourages girls to empower themselves so they will voice their concerns. It also supports and assists them to overcome gender-based constraints. This program encourages girls to identify problems that affect them, work to understand these problems more thoroughly, articulate the problems and then take action to solve them. The Tuseme model has been adopted by the ministry of education in 14 countries and has been implemented in over 300 schools. Other influential FAWE programs include: SMT (Science, Math & Technology), HIV/AIDs program, Gender-Responsive Pedagogy and Centers of Excellence.

FAWE requires human, financial and material resources to continue their programs. These resources come from a variety of sources at the regional, national and global levels. National Chapters receive funding from membership donations, development partners, ministries of education and communities. In 2002 FAWE created an endowment fund in order to ensure the organizations long-term financial sustainability. The FAWE budget is currently unavailable due to reconstruction of their website.

As an organization FAWE has many strengths as well as a few weaknesses.

STRENGHTS: FAWE operates on a large scale, but it has many partners across sub-Saharan Africa. This allows for small grassroots movements to take place, for personal transformations to take place. Whenever one girl succeeds in the education system it can change the attitudes of a multitude of citizens and inspire countless others to pursue an education. FAWEs 4 step plan for education transformation is also a large asset to the organization because it affects change at different levels of society (influencing both personal narratives, micro narratives, and macro narratives).

WEAKNESS: FAWE relies on the generosity of others for the majority of their funding, which could present problems if this funding base was to disappear.

I think that FAWE is doing wonderful work in sub-Saharan Africa. They are providing women with the resources and skills to empower themselves. Gender equality brings with it benefits at all levels of society. When women are educated they are able to play a role in government and can influence the direction of society.

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[1] I took these three statements directly from the FAWE website (http://www.fawe.org/). I did not feel it appropriate to change the wording on these things. Accessed on January 31^st. All information in this overview is from this website.

I am very excited to work closely with this organization this summer. I strongly believe that education is a universal human right, and through education a more peaceful, just and equal world can be realized.