Educating girls like Chrissie can save a nation
When I was young, one of my best friends
lived in my grandmother's village. I saw Chrissie every weekend as we
made our way through childhood -- she in the village school and I in the
town school. We finally came together as students in secondary school.
Sadly,
Chrissie studied with me for only one term, as her parents could not
afford the school fee of $6. She returned to her village, married early
and had more than a half-dozen children. She lives there still, locked
in poverty. My parents, on the other hand, could afford the school fees,
and I was lucky enough to finish my schooling and eventually to run a
successful business. Now, I am president of Malawi.
On Wednesday, I take the floor of the U.N. General Assembly as the second female president of an African country, and one of about 14 in the world, I am honored to bring my message of hope for Malawi and for Africa to the world.
When
I travel through my country and talk to the people, I see myself and
Chrissie in the children I meet, who are bursting with intelligence and
creativity and joy. But when I take the stage at the United Nations to
represent my country, I also represent the parents of Malawi's children,
the women who fear the dangers of giving birth and the men who search
desperately to find work to pay for their families' basic needs.
The
bad news about Malawi is not news to anyone. About 85% of Malawians
live in rural villages in extreme poverty; AIDS and malaria are rampant.
A single crop failure can ruin so many. These development challenges
are intertwined in the lives of Malawians, and we must fight for
progress on many fronts if we are to lift my country from poverty.
Joyce Banda
The
journeys of women in my country -- and in countries all over the
developing world -- are never easy. The health of our women in
particular is central to many of our development challenges, and is an
issue to which I have been devoted since I almost lost my life
delivering my fourth child. It was only because I was fortunate enough
to have access to a specialist in a hospital that I am alive today.
Last
year, I visited a hospital where a baby had just died. Born in the dark
of night with no electricity, that child had the cord wrapped around
her neck and no one had seen it. In clinics I see women waiting to give
birth on the floors of the corridors because there is no other place.
When
I took office, I launched the Presidential Initiative for Maternal
Health and Safe Motherhood, a project that I hope will reverse the poor
access to reproductive health services for women in my country. Our
girls, 15- and 16-year-olds, are having children themselves; they
should be going to school, and we must support them and provide them
with family planning education.
When we
empower women with education and access to reproductive health
services, we can lift an entire nation. Women who can choose when to
have children and how many they will have are more likely to complete
their education, start small businesses and participate actively in
society. And as I witnessed with my friend Chrissie, education itself is
vital to give women that choice in the first place. This is why efforts
to improve the lives of women and children reinforce efforts to
strengthen our economy and reduce poverty.
After
the speeches of the world leaders are over, the U.N. General Assembly
will come together to determine how it will tackle poverty and set
benchmarks to measure progress in economic development. I will do
everything I can to make sure that women's reproductive health remains a
central focus.
We cannot afford to squander the potential of girls such as Chrissie any longer.
Good morning, how are you?
ReplyDeleteMy name is Emilio, I am a Spanish boy and I live in a town near to Madrid. I am a very interested person in knowing things so different as the culture, the way of life of the inhabitants of our planet, the fauna, the flora, and the landscapes of all the countries of the world etc. in summary, I am a person that enjoys traveling, learning and respecting people's diversity from all over the world.
I would love to travel and meet in person all the aspects above mentioned, but unfortunately as this is very expensive and my purchasing power is quite small, so I devised a way to travel with the imagination in every corner of our planet. A few years ago I started a collection of used stamps because through them, you can see pictures about fauna, flora, monuments, landscapes etc. from all the countries. As every day is more and more difficult to get stamps, some years ago I started a new collection in order to get traditional letters addressed to me in which my goal was to get at least 1 letter from each country in the world. This modest goal is feasible to reach in the most part of countries, but unfortunately, it is impossible to achieve in other various territories for several reasons, either because they are very small countries with very few population, either because they are countries at war, either because they are countries with extreme poverty or because for whatever reason the postal system is not functioning properly.
For all this, I would ask you one small favor:
Would you be so kind as to send me a letter by traditional mail from Malawi? I understand perfectly that you think that your blog is not the appropriate place to ask this, and even, is very probably that you ignore my letter, but I would call your attention to the difficulty involved in getting a letter from that country, and also I don’t know anyone neither where to write in Malawi in order to increase my collection. a letter for me is like a little souvenir, like if I have had visited that territory with my imagination and at same time, the arrival of the letters from a country is a sign of peace and normality and an original way to promote a country in the world. My postal address is the following one:
Emilio Fernandez Esteban
Calle Valencia, 39
28903 Getafe (Madrid)
Spain
If you wish, you can visit my blog www.cartasenmibuzon.blogspot.com where you can see the pictures of all the letters that I have received from whole World.
Finally, I would like to thank the attention given to this letter, and whether you can help me or not, I send my best wishes for peace, health and happiness for you, your family and all your dear beings.
Yours Sincerely
Emilio Fernandez