So I've been here for one week. And so far, everything has been easier than I thought it would be.. granted, it's only been a week, and I know I'll face more challenges along the way, but right now everything is fantastic. I'm learning how to do everything.. how to ride the buses, how to relate to people in Spanish even if you don't know what to say (usually smiling and nodding is a good technique), how to drink orange juice out of a plastic bag. It's definitely true that I have more to learn, but right now, with school out of session still, I'm not doing much.
But there is one thing I see as a big challenge right now. A few weeks before I left, Cheryl (the director of the project) emailed me and asked me about doing a bible study for girls ages 10-14ish. The bible study would be in sort of a youth group setting, based on a book called Becoming a Young Woman of God. This seemed like (and is) a great idea.. as Cheryl pointed out to me in the email, a lot of girls that age are starting to think about where their lives will take them, and for many in Nicaragua, a ¨marriage¨to and children with a man who may not really love them is only a few years away. This is not always true, of course, but it is an overwhelming reality.
I got the book from Omar the first day I got here, and most of it looked great.. the first chapter talks about our culture and what it expects of women, how our culture sees women, and how we can be who God wants us to be. All good stuff. There was, of course, the fact that the entire book is in English, so I'll have to translate what I want to get across to them, which will be a challenge. But what struck me as an even greater challenge as I read the book was that this was written for middle-school girls in the United States, which wouldn't be a problem besides the language.. except that it's all about culture. So the culture it's talking about is American culture. My challenge is finding some way to translate this culture into something that applies to them.
And actually, maybe what I'm talking about is not pop culture.. the stuff the book is referencing when it talks about how ¨the media¨ portrays women. What bothered me was the part about choices.. choosing who we want to be, the kind of careers we will have, etc. that I don't think fully translates into this culture. Because as much as I want to believe that these girls will have more opportunities than their mothers had and that I can make a difference in that, deep down I know that these are choices that have already been made for them. I want them to have dreams, but I'm not sure that their world can support them. I fear that there is not much I can do to guarantee that they can be all they can be, because of their educational level, economic status, and the world they are inheriting. Chacocente is helping with the first two as much as they can, but I know that it will take much more than a bible study to change the world situation they are already growing up in.
If you're looking for answers to all of these huge questions I just posed, sorry to disappoint you. I'm just starting to write out lesson plans for this bible study and a lot of questions have and will continue to arise. But most of these questions are not things that any of us can answer with too much coherence. For now, it's enough to be thinking and talking about these issues.. and giving our children something to dream about.
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i hear ya, girlie. that's something i've been thinking about two since cheryl sent me the email. i hope and pray we will be able to give them a clear message...and give them the room to dream. i'll see you very soon!!!
ReplyDeleteHi Maddie,
ReplyDeleteWow -- only a week and already you're into the deep questions! We are so very proud of you... so what kind of choices will the young women face? Will a few of the Chacocente girls get to go to college?
It will be fascinating to prepare for this class, and to teach it... will lead into many interesting conversations both with your fellow volunteers, and the Chacocente community... hang in there and give the little ones lots of hugs from us...
Love
Mom
Great post Maddie. Makes me remember the summer I worked in Westernville (the little town where I grew up) in the summer rec program. I was asking a little girl what she wanted to be when she grew up, and guessing things like doctor, astronaut, etc. But she said, "No, I want to work at McDonalds." It made me so sad, because I knew enough of her family situation to guess that she was probably closer to the truth of her future than I was, if everything stayed the same.
ReplyDeleteSo, maybe the best we can do is help people learn to value themselves in the way God values them, knowing that we can't always change or see the specifics of how things will play out.
Interesting post, Maddie. Totally second your friend by saying one week and already into deep questions. But I'm happy to see you recognizing the huge gaps between these two worlds we're living in. While not all of their dreams might come true, you could help shape how they view life and thus creating better young girls (I always see this being the role of teachers.. everywhere). I don't have any classroom-teaching experience, but I think to immerse yourself into the culture and to learn from the young girls will be as helping to you as it will be to them. To dream is to live. Paz y felices fiestas.
ReplyDeleteMaddie,
ReplyDeleteI am so proud that we have young women doing amazing things!
You are right in saying that this book (or books actually. This and the sequal Living as a Young Woman of God were origionally written as one book.) was intended for a middle school girl living in America. However, the whole of the message is that your identity comes from God. It does not matter if you are a mother or a wife or a doctor, or the president of the country. It does not matter if you are filthy rich or if you really did just come out of the city dump those things do not define why you have value or not. Your value comes from Christ. He made you so you are a princess. You are just as valuable and loved and have just as much worth as anyone else on the planet.
I know that if you can stop your life as an American teen for a few months to give to these girls then translating a book is something you can do as well. God took you there and set this book in your lap so the message will be spoken through Christ. I do not know that culture but I know the book better than anyone! I would be honored to do whatever I can do to help you!
Thanks for being a remarkable woman for other girls and women to look up to.
Jen Rawson
Hey, Maddie, Today's my first chance to read your blog and I'm really impressed! Your experiences, the cultural differences, the way you are noticing how oppression is affecting the young people you're working with, and the very clear, honest way you write...I could go on, but as my niece, you know how we all appreciate you!
ReplyDeleteThe question you raise about choices is real and spiritual because of the great conflict between our God given identities and our culture-bound oppressions. Even you and I have restricted choices because of our culture, often unconsciously so.
I'm confident that once you begin to open that book with young women, they will want to tell you what they like about themselves, what they can't stand about being a young Latina in Nica, and what they never again want people to say, think or do about them. Listening to their stories will be like getting gifts from them. Once they see you're trying to understand, they will show (with the passion you reference in #4)what they need -- in relationships, in economic human rights, etc. You will then know how to support them in asking these "choice" questions themselves, and maybe even asking people who can do something about their situation. I can't wait to hear what comes out of your conversations, though you may want to keep the details confidential to build trust with them. Thanks so much for being there for people!
Maddie!
ReplyDeleteYou write so well and with such critical reflection about your experiences. It's so weird that I read this because I was thinking about you today in class! My senior seminar for Anthropology is focused on economic theory and development practice, and I thought of your work as we were talking about the possibilities of sustainable development.
I am so proud of you! And- even though these girls face such challenges simply because of the life they were born into, your writing about it is a testimony to their lives and struggles- you're like Rigoberta Menchu, only, you know, a couple countries away, and not indigenous.
Anyway, I love you, and everything you're doing sounds amazing!
love love love
Emma