This morning I read my friend's account of her time in Nicaragua. It was, of course, filled with all the Big Events, the things that change your life. Because of that, it seemed a little disjointed. She would tell a story, skip a few days, tell another story, skip a few months. A story here, a life-changing experience there. It just made me think about what her story would be like if she did describe every single day.
Day 1: realized that twenty-five years in America did not teach me anything about living in a third-world country.
Day 2: began to learn how to cook, wash clothes, and communicate in another language.
Day 3: continued to learn how to cook, wash clothes, and communicate in another language.
...
Day 459: getting really good at cooking, washing clothes, and communicating in another language.
Of course there are lots of significant events interspersed between cooking, washing, and communicating, but those three activities are what make up the daily lives of women in third-world countries everywhere. The availability of food and water impact the difficulty of preparing food and washing clothes. Some women walk a long ways to get water. Or take their laundry with them to a source of water. Some women gather fuel for fire to heat food. Some work in the fields to grow and harvest food. Most face dangers on a daily basis--everything from predatory animals in the wild to diseases in impure water to people wishing to inflict harm for a variety of reasons.
Half the Sky by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn tells the stories of women from all parts of the world and the dangers they face. When I read the book, I was horrified by the atrocities committed against women all over the world. It all seemed so foreign and unimaginable to me. When I watched the movie, however, I was struck by the number of scenes shot everywhere from villages in Asia to rivers in Africa to the urban core of overpopulated cities of women doing laundry and cooking food.
Sometimes I feel like all I ever do is wash clothes, fold clothes, put clothes away, plan meals, buy food for meals, prepare meals, clean up after meals, and then start all over again. Reading my friend's account of her time in Nicaragua reminded me of how those things are not just an inconvenience for most women, keeping them from their "real" work; they are life and death. These tasks require hard work, stamina, and creativity. In some cases, they mean facing danger on a daily basis.
My friend's experience reminded me of the stories that women have to tell. Stories of life lived not around the irritating tasks of cooking food and washing clothes, but through those tasks. As I contemplate another giant pile of laundry and sink full of dishes, it is good to remember that women around the world are doing the same thing today.
Surrounded by piles of laundry
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