In both India and Afghanistan women are creating save places of community for themselves through art. Selling these items through the internet women from all over the world are able to in some way connect and share the burden. Being able to purchase products from these women  with an understanding that we are connected through peace, not just war and exploitation is a really powerful message. Above is the link to a site in Afghanistan.

http://handandcloth.org/

This is the homepage for a program in India that uses traditional Indian arts to heal the wounds of sexual slavery and prostitution.

Untouched natural resources have been found in Afghanistan. Officials say this could change the economic path of this impoverished country.

Can we even picture a developed Afghanistan? Can we see a future for the Afghan people with out war and poverty?

It is widely believed that the major problems facing impoverished countries can be overcome through education. In India this is no exception. On top of having very few resources for education there is also very low motivation. In the slums the general culture is that of poverty. Children growing up in the slums often see nothing else in life. When they are surrounded by poverty their whole lives they don’tknow what else there is to aim for.

This link shows the HOPE Foundation school that I was able to work in this last July. The first classroom you see if full of the same children I taught English to. The woman’s voice that you hear is Kala. She is the principle of the school. She explained to me that regular attendance is a huge problem in the school, especially for the girls. They see no need to get an education because they will just get married young and live at home like their mothers.

The HOPE Foundation School is working so hard to combat this apathetic attitude towards education. Many times they explained to me that having me there made a huge difference because it gave the girls something to strive for. Kala explained that when they see people from the United States it motivates them to study hard so that they can one day afford to come to the states. I have torn feelings about coming to the United States being their motivation, but anything they have that will keep them in school is worth it.

Reproductive and sexual education are major issues in India. There are countless NGO’s and NPO’s that devote their whole lives to teaching women about their reproductive rights as well as birth control pills and other forms of contraceptives. Do these surrogate programs send mixed messages? One minute we tell these mothers to keep their families small, and encourage them to embrace their sexual rights, and the next minute we are telling them that children are a “good” to be exported.

The idea of surrogacy is very controversial and not one I wish to debate through this entry. Simply wanted to see if there is a mixed message being given to Indian women about their reproductive rights.