Page 19 - pc_Issue7_Fall2018

Connection
PRESBYTERIAN WORLD SERVICE & DEVELOPMENT
PRESBYTERIAN
19
presbyterian.ca
FALL 2018
A Mother’s Perseverance Changes Attitudes Toward Girls’ Education in Afghanistan
By Anna Muir, PWS&D Communications Assistant
Zarmina felt frustrated by the deep- ly-held belief in her community that there is little need to educate women and girls.
“Our community firmly believes that girls were born to stay within their home,” she explains.
This belief is shared across many par ts of Afghanistan. This, com- pounded by economic constraints and long distances to schools, continues to keep girls at home and away from the classroom.
But Zarmina wanted more for her daughters and the other young women and girls of the community.
Taking a Stand for
Women and Girls
PWS&D has been working with par tners in Afghanistan to bridge the gender divide and help women and girls gain the skills they need to one day obtain employment and help
overcome poverty.
In addition to providing neces-
sary classroom supplies and train- ing teachers, PWS&D helps educate communities about the impor tance of sending children, especially girls, to school.
Gender equality training has been key to increase suppor t for girls’ education among communities and improve attendance rates. This training was what spurred Zarmina to take steps to get other families motivated to send their children to school.
“It was after the training that we realized it is our responsibility to en- rol our children, boys and girls, in school,” shares Zarmina.
Zarmina and a few other mothers star ted a committee to share what they had learned during their train- ing. Together, they helped mothers, fathers and village leaders under- stand that attending school is a ba- sic human right for girls and boys, and one of the most powerful tools
for eliminating poverty.
Before Zarmina’s committee
started their work, 70 per cent of families in the village resisted girls’ education. As a result of their advo- cacy, this number has been reduced to about 15 per cent.
Because of Zarmina’s courage and determination, something that once seemed unthinkable is possi- ble—empowering girls to become leaders and help communities pros- per peacefully.
“I really feel proud that I have been effective in serving my com- munity and convincing my people to send their children to school,” says Zarmina. “The committee members will most cer tainly continue meeting community people and working for this cause. We hope that one day there will be no child out of school, not only in our community, but in the entire country.”
In the struggle to improve access to education in Afghanistan, cultural norms that limit opportunities for
women and girls are significant ob- stacles. Over the next three years— advocating for the right to an educa- tion and training teachers—PWS&D will help over 14,000 students, many of them girls, get the most from their studies, discover their passions and contribute to the peaceful develop- ment of their country.
More families are sending their daugh- ters to school because of gender equal- ity training run by PWS&D partners in Afghanistan. PHOTO CREDIT: COMMUNITY WORLD SERVICE ASIA
World Food Day
Training teachers to improve instructional methods and create a nurturing envi- ronment for students is another way PWS&D’s girls’ education project is improv- ing school attendance. PHOTO CREDIT: COMMUNITY WORLD SERVICE ASIA
Farmers in Pakistan learn to use clay pots for irrigation through a PWS&D-sup- ported project. PHOTO CREDIT: COMMUNITY WORLD SERVICE ASIA
Chomex (centre) works on his farm with his sons Mzee and Aron in Edundu, Ma- lawi. His family benefited from the crop rotation and composting practices they learned from the PWS&D-supported Malawi Farmer-to-Farmer Agro-Ecology Project. PHOTO CREDIT: PAUL JEFFREY
By Anna Muir, PWS&D Communications Assistant
World Food Day—October 16—is a day to raise awareness and action for those who struggle against hun- ger and malnutrition.
Every day, one in nine people around the world go to bed with an empty stomach. Hunger finds families for a variety of reasons—poverty, conflict, oppression, illness. One significant factor pushing vulnerable communi- ties further into poverty and hunger is an increasingly precarious climate.
Extreme weather patterns—a con- sequence of climate change—create challenging circumstances for farm- ers working to harvest plentiful crops and earn livable incomes. Prolonged drought and unpredictable, heavy rains deteriorate healthy soil and dev- astate crops.
PWS&D is responding in collabo- ration with the Canadian Foodgrains Bank and global partners to teach farming practices that adapt to these circumstances. Techniques that help nourish soil and require less water empower farmers as they work to combat hunger in their communities.
Behind many homes in Badin, Pa- kistan, covered tunnels made from recycled logs provide a moist, nur- turing environment to grow plants
like tomatoes. This was a revolu- tionary concept for Ahmad, a farmer participating in a project benefiting 650 drought-affected families. “I ap- preciate the efforts of PWS&D for providing the opportunity to explore this technique,” he says.
In backyard kitchen gardens, tan- gled vines teeming with beans, peas and cucumbers are the result of clay pitchers buried in the soil. When they are filled with water, which seeps through cracks, old pitchers become tools for irrigation.
In Nicaragua, irregular rainfall is less of a problem for Rosa since she learned to store water and start seed- lings in cups for better plant growth. Rosa’s family and 336 others can better meet their needs thanks to this training.
After learning how to dig canals around his plot, Charles from Haiti can stop heavy rains from washing away his sweet potatoes. “My yield is much bigger,” he reports. This technique and others like it are lifting over 4,000 families in three commu- nities above hunger.
Families are improving their diets and well-being in Malawi too. Along with hundreds of other farmers who have learned to rotate different crops on one single plot, Chomex is seeing results. This practice has improved his soil’s fertility, the capture of rain-
fall and crop yields.
Global failure to tackle the impacts
of climate change will affect us all, but it’s the world’s poorest who will continue to suffer most, trapped in cycles of poverty and hunger.
A sustainable source of food opens the door to abundant life, and some- times, it’s the seemingly simple solu- tions that can make a world of differ- ence. Together, we can help ensure that farmers benefit from training that gives them hope to rehabilitate their land and provide for their families.
This World Food Day, learn and share about PWS&D’s response to hunger. Visit WeRespond.ca/world- food-day-2018 to download resourc- es, read about projects and lend your suppor t.
PWS&D is a member of Canadian Foodgrains Bank, a partnership of 15 churches and church agencies working together to end global hunger.
Simple, sustainable farming techniques make a world of difference in the fight against hunger.