Picture: Mother Teresa

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Spoken Word Piece from Dreams Of A Better Tomorrow

I met my wonderful friend Anna on my gap year. She has an inspirational passion for justice and has encouraged me on many occasions to stand up for what I believe in. She has a justice blog called 'Dreams Of A Better Tomorrow', I strongly advise that you take a read of it.

She has recorded a spoken word piece that she wrote about water.

Here it is:

Find Anna at dreamsofabettertomorrow.blogspot.com

Stuart

In March this year, I spent a week at the Kisaakye Rehabilitation Centre in Kiyunga, Uganda. The organisation works with children who have physical and/or mental disabilities and helps their families to care for them. During my week with them, I visited children with epilepsy, hydrocephalus, cerebral palsy and muscular dystrophy. If you want to read more about my week with Kisaakye Rehabilitation, here is a link to my blog post at the time:

http://gracegapyear.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/kisaakye.html

On one of the days, we helped with their drop-in clinic. A young boy called Stuart was brought by his mother. He had cerebral palsy caused by untreated malaria. They did some physiotherapy with him and his joints had become very stiff and immobile. 

I was asked to put a pair of plastic sandals on Stuart's feet so he could be encouraged to stand up. His legs were so thin and felt so fragile in my hands. 

This evening I found out that Stuart has sadly passed away. I received this news with a heavy heart as I remembered working so closely with him and his mother that afternoon. My heart breaks for his mother who lovingly cared for him everyday. Stuart was in a lot of pain when he was alive and so we can rest in the knowledge that he is free from that now and at peace. 

This makes clear the reality of life in a developing country when living with a disability. The struggle of poverty is made harsher by physical or mental restrictions. Money for food, school and rent is already a burden, with the addition of medicine and treatment.

The volunteers at Kisaakye Rehabilitation do an amazing job and they certainly did what they could to make Stuart more comfortable. They work entirely on donations. If you feel led to support this charity please get in contact via their Facebook page.

Rest in our Father's Heavenly Peace, precious Stuart.

#bringbackourgirls

On 15th April this year, around 230 girls were kidnapped from their school by an extremist group. The 11th September marks 150 days since their capture, and it's thought that 180 girls are still missing. Why? Why has it taken so long? Is it because they're Nigerian? Would 180 British or American girls be left for almost 5 months? It's wrong for us to measure someone's worth based on their ethnicity or nationality. Is it because they're girls? Do they not hold the same value and significance as boys? All they'd ever become is wives and mothers, so why the panic? Well, let me be the first to say that these girls are precious, and valuable, and full of so much potential.

These girls were taken against their will. The extremist militants who kidnapped them are known as Boko Haram which means "Western/Non-Islamic education is a sin". They don't believe that girls should be allowed to attend school. A woman's 'place' is the home, serving her husband and bearing him children. But maybe the real reason is because they are scared of the potential that girls hold. Educate girls and you empower them. In school, girls thrive, and they dream, and they create ambitions and ideas. Maybe the real reason is that they feel threatened by the girls. That they will rise up and show that actually, they are just as intelligent and valuable and important as boys.

However Boko Haram have robbed these 180 girls of such expression and growth. They claimed them as if they were merely a possession, like a misplaced jacket in lost property. They have stolen their voices and taken their freedom. Which is why it is so important for us to take action. In a culture of social media, our voices echo even louder. We must demand justice for these girls and their families. In Apirl, when the kidnapped occured, a campaign emerged titled 'Bring Back Our Girls'. Not long before our Facebook walls were full of 'no make up selfies' raising awareness and money for Breast Cancer Support. My friend Anna and I had seen the success of that and wanted to apply the same idea. We took photos of ourselves holding a sign bearing #bringbackourgirls and uploaded it to Facebook and Twitter.

We took photos of everyone who was round our house and encouraged our friends to get involved. Now I'm not claiming that I'm best pals with the Obamas but later that evening, Michelle Obama uploaded a photo supporting the girls. Malala Yousafzai, Dwayne Johnson and Cara Delevingne were just some of the those who shared photos showing their support.

It seemed the world was up in arms about this, and we all waited for the news that the girls had returned home. But the news never came. After a week or so, people started to forget. #bringbackourgirls was no longer trending. People stopped talking. News readers stopped reporting. The 180 missing Nigerian girls became another statistic.

But today we stand up and we say that 150 days is too long. We refuse to regard these girls as just as number. As anything less than precious girls with names and minds and lives. We ask our government to keep up the pressure on the Nigerian government, and to offer support where it is necessary. We want these girls returned home safely. We want their village returned to peace.

Bring back our girls.

You can read more about the girls and get involved with the campaign here:

www.facebook.com/bringbackourgirls

www.girlsb.org.uk/a-message-of-hope-_531

www.opendoorsuk.org/news/support

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A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

We were waiting at the Eurostar station for our train to France when we popped into a bookshop. I spotted this book. I'd been wanting to read it for a while as we had studied Hosseini's other book 'The Kite Runner' in school and I had enjoyed it. I bought it along with 'The Kabul Beauty School'. Have any of you read any of these books?

A Thousand Splendid Suns is amazingly written and I couldn't put it down. I honestly read it in about 3 days! I've been reading a lot about Afghanistan recently and it's really intriguing reading about other cultures.

This is a heartbreaking story of two women who are victims to their gender and face oppression from their parents, husbands, communities and the Taliban. An eye opening account to the reality of life in Afghanistan during the Russian invasion and Taliban rule. The two women, Mariam and Laila, are true heroines and despite their experiences of violence, starvation, oppression and loss, they demonstrate the unceasing limits to which a mother will go out of love for her children.

One of the issues raised in this book is child marriage, and girls being married to men who are much older than they are. In the developing world in particular this is a huge problem with one in every three girls being married by the age of 18, and one in every seven by the time she is 15.

I've used this old photo of my year 10 class to demonstrate this. If we lived in a developing country, all the girls circled in red would be married by the time they were 18. All the girls circled in blue would be married by the time they were 15! They probably wouldn't have made it into this photo as they would have had to drop out of school after getting married and take up their duties as a housewife. That leaves about half of us to finish school. When you relate the statistics to your own situation, it shocks you even more. Now I am aware that some statistics about this vary, with some saying that it is 1 in 9 girls marrying by the age of 15. However my point remains the same. It shouldn't be happening. It should be 0 in 3 girls, 0 in 7 girls, no girl should be forced to marry until she is ready to make that decision herself.

I think A Thousand Splendid Suns is so compelling because as you read it, a sense of injustice stirs within you and you want to see whether the characters overcome what holds them back. You are led to question why such tragedy and oppression is allowed to happen in this world. And why they so often go unnoticed. Dismissed as 'culture' or 'tradition', people are too scared to speak out about such issues as child marriage because they feel they will offend a religion or community.

But there is a difference between tradition and oppression.

The Afghan marital practice of the bride and groom sitting side by side, and looking at each other in a mirror, is a tradition. It is a precious moment for the couple to share on their big day. However when the bride is only 13 and the mirror reveals her 45 year old husband's face, something is not right.

The Hindu tradition of the couple conducting seven circuits of the Holy Fire, is considered a witness to the vows they make to each other. It is an important part of the ceremony. However when the bride has been forced to drop out of school and give up her education, against her will, to get married, we're looking at injustice.

At Christian weddings, the guests used to throw rice over the couple (nowadays we use confetti) as a sign of fertility. But when the grains shower down on a young boy, who doesn't really know what is going on and whose parents have chosen his wife, things need to change.

Child marriage does happen to both boys and girls, however it is primarily girls who are forced to marry older men. Sometime soon I will write a whole blog on this, but for now - back to the book!

It strikes me how resilient the two main characters of the book are. They go through so much but they do not let it defeat them. I really admire their patience and I don't think I would last as long as they do in that house! I would definitely recommend this book to anyone and everyone. It really opens your eyes about life in Afghanistan. All we ever see on the news is the governments and the soldiers, however this book gives a real insight into how the people and families were affected. It makes you appreciate the freedom that we have in this country, especially in regards to the treatment of women. Go out now and get it from the library. Or find it online. Or I'll lend it to you. Just read it. (and then let me know what you thought!) 

Oceans - My Prayer

You call me out upon the waters

The great unknown, where feet may fail

And there I find You in the mystery

In oceans deep

My faith will stand

And I will call upon Your name

And keep my eyes above the waves

When oceans rise

My soul will rest in Your embrace

For I am Yours and You are mine

Your grace abounds in deepest waters

Your sovereign hand

Will be my guide

Where feet may fail and fear surrounds me

You've never failed and You won't start now

So I will call upon Your name

And keep my eyes above the waves

When oceans rise

My soul will rest in Your embrace

For I am Yours and You are mine

Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders

Let me walk upon the waters

Wherever You would call me

Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander

And my faith will be made stronger

In the presence of my Saviour

I will call upon Your name

Keep my eyes above the waves

My soul will rest in Your embrace

I am Yours and You are mine