All that is expected of her life...

"All that is expected of her life is to be a wife and a mother," he said to me smugly.  I tried to defend her but the battle was already lost. The girl was taken out of school at the tender age of 13 to train to be a wife and mother. Her meager existence was planned. Dreams of being more than her chosen lot in life were floating into the air like a balloon, to never return. Education was the first area of girl's life to be chained and there is no key to unlock it. This is only the beginning. I felt rage like I've never felt before. Injustice. Narrow mindedness. Power. All enforced at her expense...And yet, we sit and watch as this tragedy unfolds.  Where is the hero to save her? The hero is within, but will have to come at a price. 

Educating Girls is Obscene

The attack on 14-year-old Malala Yousufzai a week ago horrified people across Pakistan and abroad. Today, she was taken to the UK for specialized treatment. She was shot because she was promoting education for girls. Why? It was the Taliban who attacked this girl, with intentions to do it again if she lives.  Did you know that they are not Afghan people at all, but radical Muslims from Saudi Arabia and Yemen. According to the Taliban, educating girls is an obscenity.  Do you know why they think this?  Because the girls will be able to think for themselves. Education is a human right. Women want more from life than to live under the dark cloud of total submission.

The female mind is a terrible thing to waste.

Maruge: 84 Year Old First Grader

There is never a time that it is too late to learn or have your dreams come true. Kimani Ng'ang'a Maruge was a Mau Mau fighter in the war of independence against the British. In Kenya, in 2002, the government announced that primary education was free to everyone. Maruge wanted to learn to read and write.  So, he enrolled in the first grade.  He didn't know that he would cause so much controversy in the community. I watched the National Geographic movie about him called, The First Grader, a few days ago. I was inspired. Why would an 84 year old man want to learn to read and write at his age anyway? Education shouldn't be wasted on the old but on the young.  After all, it is the young people who are the future of any country.  Correct?

When he approached teacher Jane Obinchu about coming to school she said that he couldn't come because he didn't have a uniform.  Maruge made his own uniform and approached the teacher again.  After much persistence from Maruge, teacher Jane allowed him to attend class. 

As word spread about the old man going to school, parents and the school administration tried to have Maruge ousted. He fought for education in the war of independence. Education equals freedom from poverty. Maruge has rekindled ambition in people who did not think that they had hope. I love these kind of stories.  Maruge passed away in 2009, but his inspiration lives on.