Since I have been here, dozens of people have asked me if I am married and if I have kids. When they find out I am single and I don’t have any kids then they ask me why I am not married and when I am planning to get married. This happened quite a bit the first week that I started to believe my parents had something to do with it. 
A coworker told me that marriage was important in Liberia, especially for women and the status of women. Then I started to realize that many couples live together, have families for years and never get married, or get married much later. According to some of the men, marriage is very expensive (costs up to $3,000) and many cannot afford it. My driver Franklin has been talking about his wife and kids for the past two weeks. Today I asked him if he was married. He said no but he was “legally loving”.
Women. I read Greg Mortenson’s “Three Cups of Tea” — and just last night listened to this excellent podcast:
http://earideas.com/earideas/explore/show/81824/Greg+Mortenson,+Co-founder,+Central+Asia+Institute%3B+Co-author,+Three+Cups+of+Tea
Some great remarks on the (positive) political climate re: educating women and girls in Afghanistan.
Comment by dom brassey — December 31, 2009 @ 7:12 pm |
Luv it. How sweet?!. You go girl. Can’t wait to show your blog to my afro-Liberian-American-German friend.
Comment by fennel doyle — December 31, 2009 @ 10:00 pm |