Reality (posted by Ellen)

In our efforts to understand better the needs and concerns of adolescent girls in rural western Kenya, we have conducted a number of “key informant interviews.” We have talked with female teachers and guardians, as well as primary and secondary school girls. Tomorrow we will meet with a group of women professionals, hopefully to begin sorting out how best to respond to all that we have learned this week.

Each of these meetings has been held in a neutral school setting, while orderly classes take place in the adjoining rooms. All of the women have been well-dressed and have spoken with the quiet formality so typical in this culture. Everyone, from school administrators to young 5^th grade girls, has known the protocols for such a meeting (except perhaps the visiting Americans!) and great attention has been given to impeccable behavior.

In such meeting settings and style, I find that it is easy to forget where I am and to whom I am speaking. It is easy to forget that, for these Kenyan women and girls, the issues we are discussing are not something they have read about in a book like Half the Sky (Nicholas Kristoff and Sheryl WuDunn) or heard on an NPR broadcast. The reality is that to ask a Kenyan woman about issues affecting girls is to ask them to share the stories of their own lives.

“My major cry is poverty,” one guardian says, and goes on to tell about inadequate food, unsafe housing, and an inability to pay her daughter’s school fees. A secondary school girl, who heads her own household, describes coming home from school late in the day, knowing that she still has to fetch water, make dinner, and do other household chores before she can begin her homework. “I don’t know where to begin,” she says. A primary school girl reveals the temptation to seek money and necessary supplies from the local men in exchange for sexual favors. A teacher shares her helplessness about young female students she believes are being sexually exploited by neighboring men.

By the end of each meeting I am exhausted. The complex interplay of culture, poverty and disease make it easy to get overwhelmed. Yet, in the midst of these difficult stories, I have been struck by the strength and resilience which have been revealed. I have been awed by the courage of these women and girls’ to speak so openly about their lives. I have admired their passionate desire to create change, even if they, like us, are unsure where to begin.

We have been privileged to hear these women and girls’ stories. To me, the only way we can honor their trust is to join hands and begin to work for change.