I was sharing our vacation plans with my daughter when she remarked, “That is so first world.”
She was right, and it struck me in an uncomfortable way. Naperville is about as opposite to a third world country as it gets.
Our pastor recounted a story of visiting a dump in Guatemala where families lived in shacks with dirt floors. On a pile of trash, he saw a young girl in dirty school clothes diligently doing her homework.
We make a monthly contribution to a third world child through World Vision. This past Christmas we gave an additional amount. We got a picture of Scovia standing next to a stack of plastic chairs, in a new outfit and with a goat, all purchased from less than a week’s worth of our groceries. That goat’s milk will provide extra income for the family and insure that 16-year-old Scovia will be able to go to school.
For that young girl in Guatemala, school is still a part of her life, but that may change as she becomes a young woman. A first period is anything but a momentous rite of passage. Not when she’ll be forced to dig through trash heaps, cut tattered mattress bits or tear clothes into rags to create makeshift sanitary protection.
UNICEF reported that millions of girls living in developing countries skip up to 20 percent of the school year simply because they cannot afford to buy sanitary products. This deliberate absenteeism has enormous consequences on girls’ education and academic potential. Huru, which means “freedom” in Swahili, and AFRIpads help address this situation.
Our daughters have never had to worry about getting an education. Feminine hygiene is part of our society and their life, but that is not always the case in the third world.
Education is a way out, especially for girls.
For more information, visit www.afripads.com or www.huruinternational.org.
