Facing challenges in my environment- was the lesson that I taught on Saturday the 11th September 2021 at Mukuru slums as we spoke to the girls in the afternoon.
See some pictures below from the visit:
As a woman/girl-child, you are faced with various challenges until your death. First, society is always treating the girl-child as a second class citizen in many ways since time immemorial.
We have examples from the Bible which are authentic and we can discuss such. Also, in the Quran, women have faced various challenges and continue to be an endangered species.
The first challenge one has to look at is the fact that a woman is considered a weaker vessel. The Bible refers to women as weaker vessels, and in many ways we really are. When we understand that we are considered weaker than men, it puts us under certain incapacitation. One cannot jump such hurdles that a male companion can handle. For those who watch Zora from citizen TV, you can recall when Zora got rejected by her husband and went looking for what to do, and landed in a building and construction site. The men jittered at her and really mistreat her because she is a woman. Some jobs cannot be given to women, for example, a night watchman. This feeling of wanting to jump the several hurdles one faces is already hard and our society seems not to recognize that.
The second challenge a woman faces is bearing the burden of her clan as the vessel through which life has to come to this earth. God created males and females for reproduction purposes and from an equal perspective, a woman can’t reproduce without a male and vice versa. However, the woman has to bear the burden or the heavier load in the equation. She has to carry another life for 9 months and be careful not to lose herself or the child she carries. This burden is never easy as there are major changes that impact her life before, during and after. She has to grow two twin towers, grown enough bum to support the weight, eat so much food to sustain herself and the life she carries, persevere the mood swings and so forth. The life of this woman causes so many physiological changes to happen. One loses the shape, and some it will never be recovered unless under heavy punishment of a gym. The periods one has to experience every month seem like a whole burden for not less than 30 years of a woman on earth. These ones are the greatest burden that all women carry upon their shoulders because they have to use cash to sustain themselves as dignified during those times. This means that a woman needs 35 (years)x15 (times per annum)x50 (shillings)= over 21,000 kshs, a math that a boy child has no idea about. This one main challenge has seen girls marry earlier since they feel they have no financial capacity to tackle the financial burden associated with this. Others feel that this is an embarrassment that they can’t handle by themselves without the help of a sugar daddie. I mean this is the main challenge because society looks down on a woman who has messed up on her dress as careless or as a cast-away. In some places, one cannot serve her family when they are on their menses. While at other societies or religious institutions, one is considered unclean and can’t participate in rituals that the rest of ‘normal’ people can be allowed to participate in. For example, during the Ramadhan, a woman in her menses can’t participate and is told to ask for permission from her husband in order to do it later in life. In some societies, a woman is tied to one seat away from the rest until she is done with the period. It makes one be segregated from the ‘normal’ people.
Where does this leave a woman?
The predicament of women is that they can’t be good leaders since they don’t meet expectations. In many societies including ours, women are viewed as less capable than men. We may be aware that our constitution needs an amendment to accommodate the 1/3 gender rule. We are yet to get to a place where we are equal contributors to society. The other challenge we look at is the religious burden upon a woman. This has to do with the various rules some religions restrict women basing on. In Islam, women are carriers of jinns, their place is hell, and they must always obey their husbands. Their best place is to be sex virgins for the jihadists who die in a suicide or any other jihad attacks on Christians and jews. They are given over to be a meal.
In traditional society, women were not allowed in places of worship and must wait for the men to offer sacrifices on their behalf. Some societies count women among goats and animals.
Some Christian circles want to have women shut up when they come to church, they can't partake of the holy communion on their menses and they can’t be involved in major decisions. Some do not ordain women to be leaders.
As we look at all these limitations and challenges facing a modern woman, what lands on us is the feeling of emptiness and helplessness. We feel inadequate and hopeless to face another day, and some opt to be downcasted for life. However, what should be our response?
How have people overcome these challenges?
A story of two people who looked at a glass that had water halfway is given to us. The two gave a very different story when asked what the content of the glass was; one said that the glass was half full while the other said it was half empty. Much as both were correct under the same condition, there is a game of attitude. The challenges I have mentioned have existed for all women of all ages. However, the successful ones had something that made the situation look a bit different. That is the game of attitude. Attitude is everything you need as a woman in the situation you find yourself in. Circumstances face all women of all times, but the attitude has won the battle of the mind. There are two women mentioned in the Bible, one was born in the palace while the other was born for the palace. Esther and Vashti are presented in all their strengths and weaknesses. Vashti had the guts to refuse what her husband asked of her in the presence of guests. But Esther or Haddasah was found a very interesting girl and she found favour in the sight of the king. Esther had worse challenges than we have mentioned since she had been taken captive in a foreign land. Her people were meant to be annihilated or finished in one day including herself. She had no parents, and only her uncle remaining faced the challenges of being bullied at his workplace. She was born a slave and her life was a total mess. However, she had been born for the palace. You could be born and raised up in the slums, but you’re not meant to finish yourself because of that. You can choose to change your attitude and destiny will automatically align itself.
This is part one of the series dubbed womanhood. Tune in for the next blog by end of this week.
Wow wow this is amazing, may the Lord bless you with your Team