On Tuesday, November 19, 2013 the Office of Service Learning held a showing of a documentary called Girl Rising in the Alton Auditorium. This short film followed the stories of four girls from all around the world and their struggle to overcome the obstacles of poverty, lack of education, and general sexism and oppression of women. The girls whose stories we saw were Suma from Nepal, Azmera from Ethiopia, Yasmin from Egypt, Senna from Peru, and Ruksana from India. Each of these girls has a very unique story and struggle and their fights to overcome them are inspirational to say the least.
To begin with, Suma from Nepal was born into an impoverished family and was unfortunately sold into slavery very quickly because the family needed the money to pay for her brother’s education. Suma went from master to master when eventually she was set free by a social worker who threatened to have her last master arrested because slavery of young girls was illegal in Nepal. She escaped and is now trying to be independent and help women attain equal rights in Nepal. Then Azmera from Ethiopia was around the age of thirteen and lived with her mother, father, and brother until her father passed and eventually her mother tried to sell her into an early marriage because school was getting to be too much to pay for, but Amzera and her older brother stopped this agreement from going through and Azmera was able to continue her education. Additionally, Yasmin from Egypt was living with her mom and one day she was taken by a man who promised to buy her some juice and then raped. She fought back against the man and she was brought to the police station for questioning where the cops tell her and her mom that justice may never be won for Yasmin and what happened to her because rape against young girls in Egypt is hard to prove and is, in some cases, acceptable. Senna from Peru is another teen girl facing impoverished conditions who is trying to make something of herself. Her father worked in gold mines until an accident after which her mother took his place. Senna’s father always wanted her to become something successful like an engineer so Senna tries her hardest to make her father proud even after his death. Finally, Ruksana from India is among the youngest of the girls we saw in the film and also the strongest. She dreams of better days in India and she loves to draw and unlike many girls in India, Ruksana’s father supports his daughter and wants her to be educated and to be successful. Unfortunately, the family almost leaves the city they live in for the village when their house is torn down by a brutal police force. In the end, though, they are able to rebuild their home so they can live in the city and the girls can finish their education.
After the film, there was a panel discussion that included four successful female professors, mostly from Stockton. They talked about things such as educating girls, economics, and how sexism and poverty could be helped in these countries. They said that as soon as people start realizing that educating girls is the way to a better economy and a better life, countries will find themselves in better economic states. Overall, I found this event to be very educational and something that everyone, especially all young girls, should be required to see.