I had a comment/question for you. Your last thoughts are very compassionate and something I struggle with a lot in, of course, a different context. My hypothetical question is: what is "so little?". Is it that they truely are hurting? Is it education, opportunity? I'm curious about their family structure and the support they get from one another. The justaposition is this: I'm working really hard with these kids from a family where they eat ramen noodles for dinner and have three playstations. Dad is out of the home, mom leaves them alone a lot. Both come in often without warm clothes, no snack etc...
This is a really good point, one I have thought about a lot here and should have mentioned. I remember being a little homesick in the village because I was jealous of all of the time the family got to spend with each other, even if they were working. So yes, they were barely making it food and health wise, there was no room for error. Last year when there was a flood the village really, really struggled. But their family support is incredible and they love each other so much. I think what I keep coming up against is that there really is not another option for any of the people in Samecouta- they can't choose to go school or work, they have to work. I guess I can't comment on what this is like for the family you mentioned- but I agree, the villagers have a beautiful, supporting family system that a lot of people don't have.
To illustrate this a little more I'm going to excerpt part of my paper about Mouit:
"Although my first reaction was that my older sister Hadi is severely limited by her background and physical location, I now believe that she also has access to something different. She has the time to spend with her family, and she lives in a community where she can buy the food she needs for meals at the market in town and then cook it. It is very easy to trace everything that I ate in Mouit. I think it is wrong to immediately judge Hadi’s future as limited. I would not want to marry at my age and or not have the option to attend a university. Yet family is so highly valued in Mouit, (and Samecouta) everyone has a support system. Hadi’s success will be creating a family like the one she has grown up in. This success in much more communal than the personal goals of furthering an education."
Although Samécouta was struggling much more financially than Mouit, I saw similar patterns of strength in community perhaps over individual achievement. Just as a hint, my dream ISP will link directly to these two topics....
Anyways, thanks Mom, for making me think more.
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