To give a better understanding of the example that is mentioned in the book, I would like to mention about my friend's experience as a worker in a NGO in India. After living in the US for twenty long years my friend decided to move back to India. He, as I tease him all the time, had reached what I call the self-actualization stage in life. He had lived the American dream and now wanted to dedicate his life = for his home country, India.
When he first joined the NGO in India he was excited about his job. He was in charge of not only helping children in school but also finding strategies to keep students in school. He thought helping kids by offering books, food, pencil, dresses and so on would lure them to school. Well lure them it did. But once the kids got what they wanted they would stop coming to school. My friend,(for now we will call him Prady), did some research and found out that the kids would come to school take all the things and then sell it elsewhere for money. The money so earned would go into the pockets of their parents who would then use that money to gamble or get drunk. Worse some parents would sell their daughters to pimps for money.
Which meant that Prady had to find solution for parents first and then the children. He then came up with a master plan. He would give things to children and once the school day came to an end, he would collect the things back from the children. Food was given only to students who attended school everyday. For girls (who voluntarily came for help) he built a hostel and saw to it that they were inaccessible to their parents. Initially the parents would create chaos but then Prady got the cops to take care of such parents who were of course abusive to their children and on top of which created scene outside the gates of the school and hostel.
As a result some parents, mainly due to lack of money, turned new leaf and started working in craft factories of the NGO and those who did not died a sorry death. Parents are adults and for adults its hard to kill old habits where as for children especially girls education helps them develop confidence and someday become financially independent.
Research has proven that educating women in under developed or developing countries help boost the economy. Because when a man works (in poor and third world countries) he uses (not everyone but most of them) money for things he wants, say hobbies, alcohol, gambling... Whereas women if they earn money they become back bone for the entire family, community and sometimes the whole village.
And to prove this very point the authors have talked about this school in Cambodia, sponsored by generous students and parents of a private school in Washington D.C. The school when first began had girls come to school every day but as the girls grew up they started dropping out mainly because the walk to the school had men waiting to pick on them, sheer poverty and illness. As a result the sponsors started a living place for the girls and today most of them have graduated and are bread winners for their family. Moral of the story is that sometimes a solution might not be the solution and it is important to consider what the problems the proposed solution can create and have a back up plan ready for every single strategy.
For the girls in Cambodia living space in the school premise makes all the difference. But unfortunately for those who never got the privilege to live right next to school ended up in brothels. Seems like there is not enough law in any country that can stop naive and innocent girls from being sold for their flesh. Every country has rules against flesh trade which unfortunately does not get implemented. Why? Because police or other influential people who can make a difference either take bribes from pimps to keep the show going or they do not care.
Like this one policeman in India who thinks that catching pirated DVD's in Indo-Nepal border is more important than catching pimps since America recognizes people who catch smugglers over people who catch pimps. But is it true? The authors of this book say it is! Generally countries raid brothels when they feel that the US is trying to address issue and that is one strategy that works. At one time in Mumbai there were more whores than one could count. As soon as the problem came into limelight police started cracking brothels down and as a result pimps started charging more for whores and considering the risks customers refused to come or the brothel owners refused to buy such expensive girls. Many girls were freed thanks to this operation called, 'Catch pimps and owners of brothels because the world (the world here is the US) is watching us.'
Yeah! People think this all led to happy ending! But what exactly happened was that most girls who went back home faced "stigma" and came back to the profession and the rest did not come back because they got AIDS, due to unsafe sex and died. To go one step ahead some of the girls met generous men who married them. But not all married prostitutes lived. Some of them who had AIDS, unaware of their illness, infected their spouse and children, and as a result the prostitutes along with their entire family met a sorry end.
Now this a classic example of solution creating problems. What a country's government has to keep in mind while rescuing women is that they have no place to go. And if they do not have a place to go then they will come back. Therefore a country's government should take steps to rehabilitate such rescued women and give them a chance at a second new career. The country's government should also educate men, pimps, owners of brothel and prostitutes to use condoms and NOT follow unsafe sex. They need to understand that NOT using condom is not fun but a death sentence.
Supporting NGO's, using some of the budget money to support women, helping girls get educated, can help a country to go a long way. Throughout the book the authors have stressed on this point to provide solution for a solution. They have done research that supports their argument.
The authors in this book want people to awaken and co-operate with the government of their country. The authors request people to do what the government fails to do and that is finding solution to the problem created by a solution. As an individual you and I can help one or more women in distress and make some difference in their lives. One woman or two does not matter.We can all start small and then make it big because one small help can go a long way. Since whatever you do touches someone somewhere. And that one someone who gets help will pass on that help to one too many. Which means that you would have helped more people than you could have imagined.
Maybe you will not get anything back in kind but someone somewhere with tears in her eyes will bless you for every thing that you ever did for her. And that according to me is invaluable.
We can leave the problems for the government to solve and blame the country for all our problems on this earth. But before this kind of thought even comes to your mind think of what president J.F.Kennedy once said,"Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country."
Hope this statement inspires each one of you out there to make a big difference to make this world a better place for women and girls in distress to live.
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