Daring to be....Me

My day yesterday contained no where near the amount of catastrophic events of a day in the life of Jack Bauer (24), however by the time I hit the pillow last night, I had pretty much had enough. Here's the rundown...

10:00am- A girl who couldn't have been more than 14 years old attended my English class in DS village. I would say that she was just like all the other girls, except for the makeup she was wearing and that fact that she's around 7 months pregnant.

This isn't all that uncommon, except for the fact that she is the man's SECOND wife and his daughter from his first wife is in the class as well. (She's about 16!) Later I asked my staff if that girl was his only child and they said, "No, he has 9 children--5 boys and 4 girls from his first wife."

I was blown away! What reason does he have for taking a second wife? Let alone a girl that is younger than his daughter????

It doesn't help that I've almost finished reading "A Thousand Splendid Suns" and am imagining the life of my student as very similar to the life of "Laila" (which also happens to be the name I go by here). Ugh. My stomach felt sick thinking about it.

12:15 pm- Over lunch, my staff informs me that in the other village where we work, there has been a rumor circulating about me. Apparently, everyone in the village was/is under the assumption that I was/am planning to drug their children and when they fall asleep, I will kidnap them and take them to America. (OK, laugh now...but these people seriously believe this to be true!)

The whisper of it was there before I left, but the whole truth of this gossip came out to my staff while I was away. My staff explained to them that this simply isn't true and questioned how they can like me so much and believe such thoughts.

Their response....fear.

Apparently tomorrow when I return, I have a lot of explaining to do.

12:30pm- My staff informs me that I am from Sweden. :) Yes, this is what they have told everyone in both villages. They think it's too dangerous for them to know my true nationality, and so they've made this up.

Who knew??

2:35pm- Our two male staff returned from their lessons. They are both fired up and proceed to explain in rapid speed how, on Friday, the mullah, during his usual Friday "lecture" over the loud speakers of the village, condemned the usage of jump ropes by girls. This was against their religion and should be banned from this point forward.

What does this have to do with us? ....Well, last week we had just given out jump ropes to all the girls as part of their gift for completing the basic health education course. In our minds (including the minds of my co-workers who are also Muslim), this was a way for the girls to exercise without having to leave their homes.

Needless to say, my two male staff spoke with the mullah directly, explaining if he thought something was wrong, he should come to us first. They also tried to reason with him about the benefits of the jump rope and the mullah's response was this...

"If girls want to be physically healthy, they should pray 5 times a day."

My staff agrees and the mullah then concurs to come to us first next time.

2:45pm- I get into an argument/discussion with one of my male staff members about this whole idea of girls not being able to jump rope. He tells me that "according to Islam" girls should not be allowed to jump or run or walk with a wide stride or ride horses, etc. I asked him if this was in the Koran and he responded with, "This is Islam" and I said, "Who says?" and he says, "I heard it once." And I said, "If you can't find this in your book, then you are no better off than these villagers. You are simply taking something that is said and believing it to be truth."

OK, so I'm not sure if my debating skills were at their best but I was mad!! Ignorance is NOT bliss and it's killing these people and oppressing half the population!!!

Luckily, we were saved by the bell, so to speak, as it was time to head back to the office.

6:15pm- My parents and I tried to talk via the phone, but after the 5th time of being cut off after 1 minute, we all gave up and I resorted back to email.

6:45pm- I get online to send an email to my mom and I have an email from Tricks waiting for me. It has my return itinerary inside (luckily she had decoded it for me) and so I officially have a date for when I'll be returning to the States.

Drumroll please...

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 23rd at 6pm!!! :) Just in time for some Black Friday shopping! Ha!

I'll be around until sometime after the first of the year, so if you want to get together, let me know! :)

7:00pm- I went back to reading my book and fell asleep sometime around 10pm.

Just when I think I'm finally breaking in, I realize how very much further I have to go...

These words from Bebo Norman's song, "I Will Lift My Eyes" have really been resonating with me lately and I will end with them today:

I will lift my eyes to the Maker of the mountains I can't climb.
I will lift my eyes to the Calmer of the oceans raging wild
I will lift my eyes to the Healer of the hurt I hold inside.
I will lift my eyes...lift my eyes...to You.