Living Below the Line: Day 3...Solidarity

Today was a reminder of the power of solidarity. People, especially women, need social support systems to help them weather tough times and share in their moments of joy. It's what women do, we talk about our issues with close friends in order to solve them. Admittedly, we probably over communicate, but we rely on our "girl networks" to help us weather good times and bad. Our team is called Solidarity Sisters because after all, this is an exercise in empathy.  Our group comprises women in Atlanta raising awareness for the 1.4 billion people living in poverty around the world, most of whom we will never meet, but some who remain forever on our minds...

In Bangladesh, the word ekata means “unity,” but in Murikandi village, ekata means that young girls are continuing their education. It means that women are contributing to household decisions. And it means that domestic violence and early marriage will not be tolerated.

In 2006, as part of CARE’s Strengthening Household Ability to Respond to Development Opportunities project (SHOUHARDO), women and adolescent girls formed discussion groups in their villages to openly talk about women’s issues and how to exercise their rights within the community. Using the word ekata as an acronym for Empowerment, Knowledge and Transformative Action, the group focuses on the state of women’s affairs in their community and what to do about issues such as early marriage, violence against women, education – especially for girls – and male-female relationship dynamics.

Sofia

The group comprises 30 members: 10 adolescent girls and 20 women.They know that if they include girls early on, greater change is possible. Sofia, one of the oldest members of the group at 50 years old, is also a village development committee member and stated, "Back in the day, we knew we didn't have rights. We had to look after our husbands like slaves. Now I see girls like Runa are able to speak out. Before I was so unhappy, but now, I believe we have more rights."



Runa at age 14.

But if not for women like Sofia, Runa would not have had a chance to speak out. When she first joined Ekata, her parents took her out of school - not as punishment, but to avoid the risks that many parents fear for their young girls once they hit puberty, like early pregnancy or harrassment and violation by male classmates. Ekata banded together and visited Runa's parents, convincing them that education was too important to let unfounded fear get in the way. With education and self-esteem, Runa would mitigate a lot of the risks they feared. When I met her in 2009, Runa was back in school, in Grade 9. All of the women in the group are committed to sending their girls to school, along with their boys. In fact, the group's facilitator, Reepa, left the village to start university in 2010. Shopna, another member added, "We are an example for our community. Our neighbors see what we do and copy us."

As Solidarity Sisters, we have pooled our resources to buy food, posted messages of support on Facebook and gathered for group dinners to provide a social outlet. Tonight we broke bread at my house (not literally...) with a yummy pasta and tomato sauce dinner and took a 2-mile walk afterwards as a symbolic gesture to the women who not only have to eat and drink on $1.50 per day, but who also have to walk great distances to fetch water for their family... or to bring themselves to a medical clinic to give birth... or reach a market to sell what little crops they might have. And in true Ekata fashion, we invited another CARE employee, who is doing the challenge solo, to join our dinner. (Shout out to Becky who is the top individual fundraiser for CARE!! And a big thank you to all who have supported the Solidarity Sisters, we are the top fundraising team for CARE!!) 

So while we will never really be able to experience the full essence of poverty through this experiment, it has made us realize the value of unity and the decisions that women have to make with limited resources. During our dinner we had a lively discussion about the fact that yes, you can eat cheaply. However, it's tough to get all the nutrients we need on $1.50. Here's how my nutrition broke out today:

Calories = 889

Fat = 19%

Carbohydrates = 65%

Protein = 16%

Well no wonder I have been craving peanut butter and nuts all day...