Day 282

Girl balancing.

Running for the first time since Monday, thoughts floated across my mind while my legs pounded away, managing 2.05 miles (3.29 km) at 7.54 minutes per km.

I thought of the four amazing girls in my group of ten children at Chewonki, how incredibly sweet and good they were, how kind to one another and to others in need, like one little homesick boy, and how willing to work really hard!  Their tent was the first to go up and the first to come down, while the boys needed so much help, one group was utterly clueless!

On the last day the four tall boys said they wanted to carry the wanagon (big heavy wooden box with all the pots, pans, utensils food, etc in it) back to "town" (the main buildings) from our campsite, all the way by themselves, with no switching to different people, a practice previously employed to ensure that no one became too tired. Jane, the counselor, pointed out that it was a long way, nearly a mile, but they were insistent.

Not even a quarter of the way there, the boys put down the wanagon and demanded a switch.  Jane quietly reminded them that no, actually they had decided to carry it the entire way and then she left it to play itself out.  A hot argument ensued, with one boy even stomping some way up the path and having a minor tantrum for a few minutes.   Eventually, after a 10-minute impasse, the girls dropped what they were carrying and marched up to the front, shouldered the pole with the wanagon, and jauntily carried it the rest of the way to "town".  Go GIRLS!

Thinking about them, these beautiful little creatures who have yet to experience all the tribulations associated with relationships with the opposite sex, I thought of how women have been oppressed for so many thousands of years, and what a tragedy this is.

It is tragic not just for individual women who suffer dreadfully under various terrible traditions like female genital mutilation, which takes place predominantly on the northern half of my continent, the continent of Africa, that continent which seems as though it will always be "dark".  Or Chinese girls having their feet bound, a practice which continued for a thousand years and was considered deeply erotic!  Erotic, a woman not being able to walk or be independent at all, with severely deformed feet, which often smelt terrible because of saprobic micro-organisms which invaded folds that were impossible to wash!  Or Sati (the hindu practice of a widow immolating herself by force or voluntarily, on her late husband's funeral pyre), honour killing, sex trafficking, etc. ad nauseum.

Sharks and minnows

It is also a tragedy for the human race.  Each sex needs the other.  Each sex has different strengths and weaknesses, which often complement one another. 

At Chewonki the girls worked hard and didn't complain and whine like some of the boys did.  But certain boys also worked really hard, did amazing things, others engaged in interesting conversations, and some of them were just plain funny, they made us laugh, they played games involving running about a lot, all that energy!  It shouldn't be a war.  We should recognise one another.