Women's Issues

August 29, 2009
Day 14:

One lesson I will take back from this experience is that no matter how bad your problems may seem, it's not as bad as it could be. In Thursday's women tea / chat session, we learned that a woman's husband died about 3 months ago. This woman looks younger than myself, but has 7 children... yes, SEVEN children and the oldest one is 13. She was married when she was about 12 or so. I happened to ask if her brothers in law were helping her out, but she said she lived with her mother in law (which is typical) but expressed that her in law was of no help.

Friday, there was a lot of commotion among the women in Hindi. Rosie translated what she could gather and it turns out that the young widow has been propositioned by her brother-in-law to become his second wife (they are Muslim). I wasn't too surprised by this news, because this tends to happen in certain cultures as a way of helping out family. However, it is shocking that the proposal occurred so soon after the death. Also, we gathered that the brother-in-law is somewhat sketchy and doesn't have her interests, nor her children's, in the best mind. I couldn't imagine having to take on the responsibility of raising 7 kids alone, especially in this country.

Later that night, I met with a former colleague who teaches at an international school in Delhi. I had a fantastic evening meeting his friends, who are a couple of ex-pats, and a Sikh friend. His apartment in Vasant Vihar is incredible, definitely different from slumming it up in the morning. We had a fantastic dinner and I enjoyed a much needed glass of wine. It was really a great night to get away and engage in discussions about travels, culture, and teaching.