HSC.....dreaming a future

MY youngest just left to take her English exam for the HSC…..she was quietly confident, a tad nervous and very organized….I was reading a book about the women of Northern Africa at the time, and looked up from my pages of suffering, discrimination, struggle and pain to see a young woman with clean smart uniform, sparkling eyes and a future in which she has the power to shape her life, possibilities and opportunities and dreams to explore. I felt immensely grateful….how fortunate was I, how fortunate was she….the only fear she had in her right now was the fear of not doing as well as she might have liked in her exams….I sent her off with a big hug and reminded her how lucky she was that she was here now doing this!! How lucky she was to have had an education and to be able to continue that education, to follow her dreams….because for so many dreams are an impossible luxury…education is a distant dream…

In many neo-colonial countries of the Two Thirds World, women are bearing the brunt of International Monetary Fund and World Bank-imposed structural adjustment programs, being pushed back into the dark ages by the rise of religious fundamentalism and are the largely invisible victims of the increasing number of localized wars over ever shrinking resources. But of course it is not only women that suffer and not only woman who miss out on the things we take for granted, who are through circumstances beyond their control denied an education…it is their children…because of war, genocide, famine, displacement and prejudice. In some instances children have become the currency of war, abducted by rebels as child soldiers.

“If we have peace I can finish my school. The most painful thing for me is no education. If there was no war and I continue my school, the life can be 100%.” Martha Yar Gak (war survivor Sudan )

The biggest threat to education however, is simply a lack of funding. Many of the teachers in third world countries are volunteers. Certainly, they are great assets. There are some college educated teachers in third world countries but often they work for little or no money at all. There is a huge need for college and university educated teachers and for adequate classrooms. Many of the classrooms have few books and not near enough supplies. And there are those places with no classrooms at all……
And yet, all children around the world have the right to an education and deserve the right to their dreams. Investing in education is not just the correct thing to do; it's the smart thing to do. Why? Because education gives people the skills they need to help themselves out of poverty and into prosperity, away from war and prejudice and into equality and love.

So I give thanks for what I and all my children have had the opportunity to receive, and I am glad for all they have as a result and although at times it seems hard, compared to many it is oh so very easy!! Enjoy your exams my daughter, rejoice that you can and will have access to dreams….