Voz da Mulher

I recently finished reading the book “The Red Tent” by Anita Diamant. A lot of volunteers before me told me to bring lots of books, I wanted to and I tried but I’m glad that this one made it in. My sister-in-law let me borrow it (umm…hope you’re not looking for it because it’s kind of on the other side of the ocean right now) and it was a good escape…I’ve already passed it on for another woman to read.

Reading the “Red Tent” made me think about the 5 women who came to Angola from our school. I love that we are all women who came to this country together. I think that each one of the women who came here can offer so much to their projects.

There are three of us together in Benguela. At one point or another we believed that we would be alone at a project in Angola, but at the last minute things changed and we all ended up together. I think all three of us are grateful for this and I feel proud to work along side these two strong women. It has not yet been a month that we are living here. I think all three of us have already cried at some point, felt sick (one has malaria and typhoid fever right now!), been angry, confused, shocked, felt completely at home, totally at peace, and full of happiness. The range of emotions we have in one day here is totally radical and I’m glad we have someone to share them with.

It was almost instantly that we were told how difficult it is to enroll female students into the teacher training colleges. Our group has about 60 males and 30 females. The director of the school is female (very rare and has apparently suffered because of it) but we are they only female teachers here. It’s possible for many of the students here that we are the first female teachers that they’ve ever had and for this reason alone I think that we are needed here. Back home, females tend to dominate primary school teaching, but here it is mostly men who are teachers. Teachers are held in high status and respect here. We can easily notice the division between men and women here and the way that male teachers manipulate or take advantage of female students. I won’t go into details here, but there have been some situations that have totally disgusted me.

The three of us have had conversations about how we want to handle things in the future, or at least try to, to make a small difference if possible. To let girls know that there are other ways they can demand to be treated, other ways that they can respond to give them a place in society that is more equal. Also, to let the men know that this world is not only theirs anymore.