Sunday 14 September 2008

She didn't exist

Photo from Flickr/lastavatar. Commercial Commons Licence.

Rasha lives in a small rural village in Egypt. Girls in villages like hers don't normally have birth certificates. It's as if they didn't exist. With the birth certificates come their identities and all their rights as citizens. Girls in villages like hers don't normally go to school, but she desperately wanted to, and persuaded her father to let her. But the school wouldn't let her enrol because she didn't have a birth certificate. So she stayed at home.

Fortunately for Rasha, a teacher came to the village asking girls to enrol at school. She allowed Rasha to start school without her birth certificate, and helped her apply for one. Now Rasha is 15, she has finished her primary education in three years (normally six) and has gone on to preparatory school. And her father is working with families, encouraging them to send their daughters to school and helping them obtain birth certificates.

The girl effect by CARE.
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11 comments:

  1. Your blog is truly wonderful. You have such a lovely mix of ethical and interesting posts (and your photos often melt my heart). Thanks so much for being committed to helping women and children in oppressed situations - that is why I added you to my blog roll in case you ever wondered why.

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  2. We wanna hear more of those stories around the world. It gives a bit hope anyway. But we should already be there. *sigh*

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  3. A great reminder and good to hear it is a bit of justice in the world after all. I do agree with Mrs. Lifecruiser: we need to spread more stories like this and also to spread them through blogsphere too - thanks for sharing!

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  4. @Megan, that is a huge compliment! Thank you for that and for putting me on your blogroll. I noticed the other day and have only just updated my own sidebar accordingly.
    @Lifecruiser, it is good to hear of a success story. Sadly they aren't always easy to find.
    @Renny, thanks. Yes, a few of us are trying to spread awareness of stories like this. See my blogroll and sidebar - Yummy Biscuits and The Voices.

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  5. This is a wonderful post and a fantastic story. Thanks for sharing.

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  6. what a lovely success story. Its great to hear about cases where things have worked out, unfortunatly as you state, these success stories can be few and far between.

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  7. Very heart warming story, and a great reminder for us not to take things for granted. Thank you!

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  8. Very nice! A great hope for all girls like Rasha

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  9. a. wonderful story, and thanks for the mention. Even if we only see one happy ending. It is always better than none.

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  10. Thanks Lily's Life.
    Caroline, yes, it's a shame we don't hear this sort of thing more often, but as Ettarose says, every little helps.
    And thanks too, SHG. I know you better as WestofMars. I think I may even have exchanged books with you at some time in the past.

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