Sometimes, fate intervenes in such a way that it not only has a profound effect on your life, it changes it, and sometimes, fate changes your life dramatically. I'm not positive, but I think last night was one of those times. As I played Candyland with my daughter, I was trying my best to also watch a U.S. Senate debate between Bob Kerry and Deb Fischer on the local PBS station. After it concluded, a teaser ran for the show coming up next.
In it, George Clooney spoke about the numerous atrocities committed against women and girls around the world, and in some cases, very, very young girls. These atrocities include everything from sex trafficking, rape, physical and mental abuse to outright murder of babies unfortunate enough to be born females and not males, who hold more "value." As a father of three girls ranging in age from four to 17, I was naturally intrigued.
The documentary turned out to be entitled "Half The Sky" and was presented through PBS's fantastic "Independent Lens" series. Within minutes I was enthralled, horrified, crying, mystified, demoralized, uplifted, inspired, and incensed. Those feeling haven't altered much in the hours since.
I won't pretend to be an expert about "Half The Sky," but here's what I can relay. The documentary is based on a book of the same name written by journalist Nicholas Kristof and his wife Sheryl WuDunn, both Pulitzer Prize winners. In the book, the pair tell of their travels and experiences through Africa and Asia and their meetings with "extraordinary women struggling there, among them a Cambodian teenager sold into sex slavery and an Ethiopian woman who suffered devastating injuries in childbirth. Drawing on the breadth of their combined reporting experience, Kristof and WuDunn depict our world with anger, sadness, clarity, and, ultimately, hope. "
The documentary essentially tells those stories from 10 countries, but it does so by involving the help of several female actresses, including America Ferrera, Diane Lane, Eva Mendes, Meg Ryan, Gabrielle Union, and Olivia Wilde. Brilliantly, their celebrity statuses are used to draw attention to issues that need the attention and so much more. You'd be better served by me just letting PBS describe the film:
Across the globe oppression is being confronted, and real meaningful solutions are being fashioned through health care, education, and economic empowerment for women and girls. The linked problems of sex trafficking and forced prostitution, gender-based violence, and maternal mortality — which needlessly claim one woman every 90 seconds — present to us the single most vital opportunity of our time: the opportunity to make a change. All over the world women are seizing this opportunity.
I've written before about my general appreciation of women. I admire the obstacles that even the most successful of women have to deal with on a daily basis. I admire that despite women still being placed on a different status level than men just because of gender, they continue to battle and make their way. But within the gender, there are women who battle and then there are women who scrap, claw, and literally hold unto for dear life. The women featured in "Half The Sky" fall into the latter camp. These are women who have survived being sold by their own mothers to brothels at the age of three and younger. These are women who have been raped, beaten, left with a sexually transmitted disease, and banished from their families in shame, only to watch the man who did it all to them walk free, if he's ever even arrested in the first place, which most aren't. These are women who are forced to quit school in the first, second, or third grade to stay home and run households, all the while being treated no better than dogs.
It takes a lot to make me cry. It doesn't happen very often, but when it does, it really does. Last night I cried. I cried hardest for the heroic women who not only survived but now live solely to nurture and better the lives of those girls who have experienced the same evils as they did. I can't say that I've come across more inspiring, magnificent women before.
In all, the documentary has motivated me to take action. What they means, I don't know exactly yet. But as one women so wisely pointed out, all I need to do is look within my heart to find the answer. We can all do something. We just have to act. Just take the first step.
I believe my first step is learning more about the Half The Sky Movement. I believe ultimately I'll turn my attention and resources to Room To Read, a program featured in the documentary that works to help educate children who otherwise wouldn't receive one. This includes girls in impoverished countries who have typically been forced to settle for a life sans education and opportunities.
For those interested, Room To Read was started by John Wood, "an overworked Microsoft executive" who "escaped to Nepal for a much-needed backpacking getaway. While hiking in the Himalayas, John met a Nepalese “Education Resource Officer” who invited him to visit a school in a neighboring village. Little did John know that this short detour would change his life forever. At the school, John saw the harsh reality confronting not only this village, but millions of Nepalese children–a dilapidated schoolroom and a severe shortage of books. John was stunned to discover that the few books this school had had–a Danielle Steele romance, the Lonely Planet Guide to Mongolia, and a few other backpacker castoffs–were so precious that they were kept under lock and key...to protect them from the children!
As John left the village, the headmaster made a simple request: "Perhaps, Sir, you will someday come back with books." His request would not go unheard. John emailed friends asking for help collecting children's books, and within two months had collected over 3,000 books. The following year, John and his father, accompanied by a train of eight book-bearing donkeys, returned to the village in Nepal. Seeing the faces of the children with the books convinced John to leave the corporate world and devote himself to becoming the Andrew Carnegie of the developing world. In late 1999, John quit his executive position with Microsoft and started Room to Read."
In it, George Clooney spoke about the numerous atrocities committed against women and girls around the world, and in some cases, very, very young girls. These atrocities include everything from sex trafficking, rape, physical and mental abuse to outright murder of babies unfortunate enough to be born females and not males, who hold more "value." As a father of three girls ranging in age from four to 17, I was naturally intrigued.
The documentary turned out to be entitled "Half The Sky" and was presented through PBS's fantastic "Independent Lens" series. Within minutes I was enthralled, horrified, crying, mystified, demoralized, uplifted, inspired, and incensed. Those feeling haven't altered much in the hours since.
I won't pretend to be an expert about "Half The Sky," but here's what I can relay. The documentary is based on a book of the same name written by journalist Nicholas Kristof and his wife Sheryl WuDunn, both Pulitzer Prize winners. In the book, the pair tell of their travels and experiences through Africa and Asia and their meetings with "extraordinary women struggling there, among them a Cambodian teenager sold into sex slavery and an Ethiopian woman who suffered devastating injuries in childbirth. Drawing on the breadth of their combined reporting experience, Kristof and WuDunn depict our world with anger, sadness, clarity, and, ultimately, hope. "
The documentary essentially tells those stories from 10 countries, but it does so by involving the help of several female actresses, including America Ferrera, Diane Lane, Eva Mendes, Meg Ryan, Gabrielle Union, and Olivia Wilde. Brilliantly, their celebrity statuses are used to draw attention to issues that need the attention and so much more. You'd be better served by me just letting PBS describe the film:
Across the globe oppression is being confronted, and real meaningful solutions are being fashioned through health care, education, and economic empowerment for women and girls. The linked problems of sex trafficking and forced prostitution, gender-based violence, and maternal mortality — which needlessly claim one woman every 90 seconds — present to us the single most vital opportunity of our time: the opportunity to make a change. All over the world women are seizing this opportunity.
I've written before about my general appreciation of women. I admire the obstacles that even the most successful of women have to deal with on a daily basis. I admire that despite women still being placed on a different status level than men just because of gender, they continue to battle and make their way. But within the gender, there are women who battle and then there are women who scrap, claw, and literally hold unto for dear life. The women featured in "Half The Sky" fall into the latter camp. These are women who have survived being sold by their own mothers to brothels at the age of three and younger. These are women who have been raped, beaten, left with a sexually transmitted disease, and banished from their families in shame, only to watch the man who did it all to them walk free, if he's ever even arrested in the first place, which most aren't. These are women who are forced to quit school in the first, second, or third grade to stay home and run households, all the while being treated no better than dogs.
It takes a lot to make me cry. It doesn't happen very often, but when it does, it really does. Last night I cried. I cried hardest for the heroic women who not only survived but now live solely to nurture and better the lives of those girls who have experienced the same evils as they did. I can't say that I've come across more inspiring, magnificent women before.
In all, the documentary has motivated me to take action. What they means, I don't know exactly yet. But as one women so wisely pointed out, all I need to do is look within my heart to find the answer. We can all do something. We just have to act. Just take the first step.
I believe my first step is learning more about the Half The Sky Movement. I believe ultimately I'll turn my attention and resources to Room To Read, a program featured in the documentary that works to help educate children who otherwise wouldn't receive one. This includes girls in impoverished countries who have typically been forced to settle for a life sans education and opportunities.
For those interested, Room To Read was started by John Wood, "an overworked Microsoft executive" who "escaped to Nepal for a much-needed backpacking getaway. While hiking in the Himalayas, John met a Nepalese “Education Resource Officer” who invited him to visit a school in a neighboring village. Little did John know that this short detour would change his life forever. At the school, John saw the harsh reality confronting not only this village, but millions of Nepalese children–a dilapidated schoolroom and a severe shortage of books. John was stunned to discover that the few books this school had had–a Danielle Steele romance, the Lonely Planet Guide to Mongolia, and a few other backpacker castoffs–were so precious that they were kept under lock and key...to protect them from the children!
As John left the village, the headmaster made a simple request: "Perhaps, Sir, you will someday come back with books." His request would not go unheard. John emailed friends asking for help collecting children's books, and within two months had collected over 3,000 books. The following year, John and his father, accompanied by a train of eight book-bearing donkeys, returned to the village in Nepal. Seeing the faces of the children with the books convinced John to leave the corporate world and devote himself to becoming the Andrew Carnegie of the developing world. In late 1999, John quit his executive position with Microsoft and started Room to Read."
Thank you, fate. I owe you one.
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