Half the Sky

Recently I had the pleasure of reading a book that has profoundly touched me in ways i'm not even sure how to explain. Now being a grad student there is not a whole lot of time to read books for pleasure, but I could not put this book down and essentially read it every chance I could get. This book, Half the Sky, has reaffirmed what I already knew...that educating a girl can be one of the single most important things we can do and can truly be the missing piece to changing this world. This book revitalized me and my vision for my future work.This book has helped me put my burn out on hold and re-introduced me to a cause that I am so passionate about. Being that this is my field I found the book capitivating and i'm sure for those of you who may not have the same interests as me will find it just as interesting and capitivating as I have. This book first introduced to me through a TED talk I watched in my Comparative and International Ed. class, intrigued me. I began seeing it pop up more and more and finally I broke down, walked into the Barnes and Noble in Union Station and bought the book. The book captured me on the first page and wouldn't let go. Now as I work on plans for what I hope to become my Capstone(Thesis) Project, I have a clearer vision of what to look for in my own research. I have sound information on programs that have worked and those that have not and why they haven't. I'm not going to much in this program, I just strongly recommend that you read this book for yourself and find out for yourself what it is I am talking about.

Currently as some of you may know, I am working on research that explores adult education programs, particulary literacy and life skills, that target Sudanese women living in refugee camps. My hope and what I have put countless hours of research, reading, and writing into is a proposal for funding to allow me to actually travel to Chad and do on the ground research of the above mentioned topic. I have always had this itch to work with refugees, but prior to now never quite figured out how. I realized that my work in the Peace Corps has exposed me to just how I am going to work with this population and has helped me figure out why I would want to do this work. I don't think you can fully understand just how the impact of an education can have on a girl until you see the impact for yourself. I had the wonderful opportunity of having two beautiful girls, Chisomo and Martha, who happened to be my students, live with me while in Malawi. Seeing their transformation from before to after really confirmed in my mind that an education can change a life and even if it seems like an insignificant change. I have always found myself working with marginalized populations and now find myself doing research and hoping to work with one of the most marginalized populations- refugees. I have copied and pasted one of my research proposals to give you a brief but hopefully substantial idea of what we are up against. What is even more troubling is that most of the male population has either been killed or recruited to join an army, leaving women with a burden of responsibility to care for the welfare of the family and community. Despite this, there has been a lack of funding placed in education programs for women, these women who have been left behind and marginalized, are now expected to rebuild and develop their country post-conflict. Please tell me how to build a house without hammer and nails? My point exactly...





Exploration of Adult Education Programs for Sudanese Women Residing in Refugee Camps in Chad

Sudan has been intermittently occupied by civil wars on since independence in 1956. Consequently, hundreds of thousands of Sudanese have been murdered, millions displaced. A civil war ignited in Darfur in 2003 has contributed to this displacement; 262,194 people have sought refuge in 12 camps located throughout eastern Chad. Fifty-six percent (56%) of the Sudanese refugees in these refugee camps are women; approximately sixty percent (60%) are children, 18 and under (United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, 2008).
Of the 100,000 children enrolled in type of formal schooling in the camps, only one out 100 girls can expect to complete primary school (Education Partnership for Children of Conflict). The result: a growing illiteracy rate among and an intensification of all the ills associated with women’s illiteracy. Budgetary constraints account for only 12% of the 296 million dollars allocated by the United Nations and other NGOs for refugee camps in service to educational initiatives. Limited dollars translate into targeted and limited educational offerings. UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund) and UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) have found it necessary to target primary school-aged children as the principal beneficiaries of the limited funds. Only a small percentage of the funding supports adult education. The illiteracy rate of women will continue to increase and related social ills will take an ever increasing toll on the displaced populations.
Access to literacy and life skills programs can have a profound effect on a woman and their children. Schooling that improves literacy for women contributes to lower fertility rates, lower the infant and child mortality rates, lower maternal mortality rates, increased protection against HIV and AIDS infection, increased woman’s participation in the labor force and development initiatives, and increases in intergenerational education benefits. These positive outcomes underscore the significance non-formal education initiatives that target women and illuminate the great need for literacy and life skills programming in the absence of opportunities for formal education.