For my 19th birthday — declare #YesAllGirls
Today — my 19th birthday — I’m in Kenya visiting Dadaab, the world’s largest refugee camp.
Every year on my birthday I travel to meet girls who are struggling to go to school — to stand with them and to make sure the world hears their stories.
Today in Dadaab I met Rahma Hussein Noor, a 19 year-old who has struggled more than most of us can imagine just to go to school.
Rahma came to Dadaab at age 13, having never set foot in a classroom. She worked hard to catch up with her classmates and, in a few years, graduated primary school.
Rahma then enrolled in a secondary school in Dadaab. But when her family returned to Somalia last year, Rahma could not find another school to attend.
After two months, her father said her education was over and decided to marry her to a man over 50 years old whom Rahma had never met.
Rahma snuck out of her house and took an eight day bus ride back to the refugee camp…all to continue her education.
Rahma is not alone. Many girls from Syria, Burundi, Afghanistan, Pakistan and all around the world have lost so much and are then forced to fight for a right they already have — the right to go to school.
Last year, the world agreed to provide 12 years of education for every boy and girl. Yet, nearly one year after making the commitment, where do we stand?
We are facing a global refugee crisis and more and more girls like Rahma are at risk of losing their chance to go to school — and their dreams for a better future.
We cannot allow girls like Rahma to fight alone. It’s time to do right by girls — #YesAllGirls.
Nothing would make me prouder on my birthday than knowing we are in this together.
Archive for the ‘Afghanistan’ Category
Malala on her 19th Birthday
Posted in Afghanistan, Children's rights, Feminism, Human Rights, Pakistan, sexism, Shariah Law, violence against women, Women, women and girls, Women in War, Women's Issues, Women's rights on July 13, 2016| Leave a Comment »
Karen Finney on the REAL Costs of War: Must Read / Must Share
Posted in Afghanistan, Children's rights, Human Rights, Uncategorized, US House of Representatives, Women in Military, tagged Afghanistan, David Miliband, House of Representatives, human rights, Karen Finney, terrorism on March 20, 2012| 3 Comments »
Since this blog is about homegirls (and boys) and security, I think it is appropriate to share here a brilliant analysis by Karen Finney at The Hill exposing costs of war that fall through the cracks in budget proposals.
This is the real cost, and it is incumbent upon all of us to consider deeply how secure continued operations and deployments keep us and whether current levels are worth these costs . Equally important is our encouragement to legislators to be certain these costs are covered in current and future budgets. Not worth merely a read, worth sharing every way you know how. Homegirl Karen hit a home run with this one!
By Karen Finney– 03/19/12 06:14 PM ETWe may never know all of the factors that led an American soldier to allegedly murder 16 people in Afghanistan. The more we do learn, the more it seems there were signs of the toll that repeated deployments, an injury and the stress of his situation back home were taking. None of that excuses what the soldier reportedly did. However, given the number of Americans who have served or are serving in Iraq and Afghanistan who could be facing similar stressors, we have a responsibility to better understand and factor in these human costs in any conversations about the way forward — particularly for the benefit of the 40 percent of U.S. citizens who still believe the war is worth the costs.
Edited to add:
This is more than an op-ed in a column. In a comment in the thread below I called it a treatise. Karen Finney may well be the 21st century Thomas Paine for women and others. Looking at this text again, I see it as the basis of a doctrine, the Finney Budgetary Doctrine. This is very important information that Karen has compiled, and the implications are enormous and look far down the road. That is where we all should be looking.
Hold the line
Posted in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Hillary Clinton, India, misogyny, Pakistan, sexism, violence against women on January 8, 2009| Leave a Comment »
As students, my friends and I used to joke about an old line that I always thought came from a movie. To lure a woman up to a bachelor’s apartment after a date, a playboy would ask, “Do you want to come up and see my etchings?” With Wedgewood and Waterford on the verge of bankruptcy, it is doubtful that most Americans worry much about etched glass except for the coffee pot that gets clouded after too many dishwasher cycles.
Etching, the effect of acid on glass or metal, is an artful, precious medium and becoming rarer as time goes on. When you think about how hard glass or metal is, and see the effect of the acid, then it is very painful to imagine the effect of acid on human (or animal) skin and bone. Someone in my town poured acid on a beagle puppy last year and caused an outrage. The puppy was saved (by my vet).
Even more disturbing, then, is this story from Bangladesh about acid attacks on women and girls. I have written here before about this. I will continue to post about this issue until communities address this issue in an effective way. This would include international organizations, and domestic groups interested in human rights and dedicated to eradicating cruelty and violence. I almost added “against women and girls” and am holding back on that. Hillary Clinton said,” …human rights are women’s rights – and women’s rights are human rights.” Acid attacks are violations of human rights – period.
BANGLADESH: Acid attacks continue despite new laws
Photo: Contributor/IRINWorkers at the Acid Survivors Foundation express their solidarity with acid victims to raise social awareness against the practice DHAKA, 5 January 2009 (IRIN) – Acid attacks against women and girls are continuing despite legal campaigns to halt their spread.
Over 2,600 cases have been reported since 1999, according to the Acid Survivors Foundation (ASF) of Bangladesh. Almost all the attacks have been on women or girls. Many of the victims are under 18, says ASF, which has been working to eliminate acid violence for almost a decade.
The main reason for the violence is dowries, refusal of love proposals, or land disputes, ASF said. Bent on revenge, perpetrators throw acid into their victims’ faces in an effort to severely disfigure them, often with horrifying results.
Nitric or sulphuric acid has a catastrophic effect on human flesh, ASF said, resulting in skin tissue melting, often exposing the bones below the flesh, and even dissolving bone.
Scarred for life and badly burned, many survivors also lose their sight in one or both eyes. Others are so psychologically traumatised they never recover.
On the Agenda @ State
Posted in Afghanistan, Condoleeza Rice, Glamour Women of the Year, Hillary Clinton, misogyny, Saudi Arabia, sexism, Shariah Law, violence against women, Yemen on December 23, 2008| Leave a Comment »
This article popped up on Digg today:
Saudi court tells girl aged EIGHT she cannot divorce husband who is 50 years her senior
By Mail Foreign Service
Last updated at 9:49 AM on 22nd December 2008A Saudi court has rejected a plea to divorce an eight-year-old girl married off by her father to a man who is 58, saying the case should wait until the girl reaches puberty.
The divorce plea was filed in August by the girl’s divorced mother with a court at Unayzah, 135 miles north of Riyadh just after the marriage contract was signed by the father and the groom.
This story has a familiar ring to it. In early November, both Condoleeza Rice and our Homegirl, Hillary Clinton, were honored as two of Glamour Magazine’s Women-of-the-Year. That same evening, Nujood Mohammed Ali and Shada Nasser were also honored. Glamour has awarded a Women-of-the-Year Fund to assist the work Nasser is doing in Yemen to help child brides. Click on the link. Homegirls can help!
Remarks were made during the Primary season that Hillary’s visits to over 80 countries were ceremonial. The truth is that she visited refugee camps and sat in tents listening (and I think we have learned how very well she does that) to stories of displaced persons and mistreated women and girls. (See December3 post: Hillary in Her Own Words). Condi Rice has done the same as related in the Glamour article linked above. So I think the torch that is being passed at the State Department is significant for girls and women in threatened regions as well as in friendly ones.
Ann Curry had an update tonight on the schoolgirls attacked with acid in Kandahar, but I could not find a link at MSNBC. I did however find this story about them at AlJazeera. It is not an update, but tells the story.
We all know these are stories and situations both Secretary Rice and her successor care about. We also know we cannot change laws in far away cultures. But those of us who remember Hillary’s Beijing speech know we have a strong advocate for women and children ready to represent us and be our face and voice to the world.
Hillary, your Homegirls are behind you as you take this next big step. God bless you and keep you safe.
Afterthought: (And I don’t mean to be sexist myself here). I wonder how things would have been if Colin Powell had never been in the picture. What if State had passed directly from Madeleine to Condi to Hill? Sounds like an awesome triple-play to me.