This month has been so remarkable! We worked with an organization called Rescue Pink. Their goal is to liberate and uplift girls and women in India through rescue, prevention, and awareness.
You may ask, “What does that even mean?” Good question. This is what they really do:
After school program for school girls, a Women Entrepreneurship Program (WEP), and a Lactating and Pregnant Mothers Nutrition program.
Maybe you didn’t know this, but women in India are not highly valued. Mostly they become wives and mothers while their education takes a back seat. They often get married in their mid to late teens. Up until 1955 there was no law regarding the legal age to marry. Now it is 18 for women, 21 for men. Yet out of the women we interviewed 57% were married underage. It is normal to have children young and boys are preferred because daughters are viewed as a financial burden (probably because of the dowry).
Our main ministry was going out each day and interviewing the women & children in Rescue Pink’s programs. Some interviews were pretty emotional. We asked questions like, “do you have any worries with having girls?” or “have you had any problems from your husband and/or his family because of having daughters?” Those were questions no one ever wanted to ask. For the majority of the women we interviewed, having girls was a difficulty but they were happy to have them; it worried them, but they still held out hope for a son or they had gotten an operation so that they couldn’t have any more children. In the latter cases the women had at least two girls and the risk of having a third outweighed the reward of having a boy.
Then there were the few interviews where the women were nearly in tears. One woman had three beautiful girls but was harassed by her husband and his family to have sons. It got to the point where they threatened that he would leave and marry another woman to give him sons. He blamed her for the abundance of daughters and lack of sons; as Auntie, our translator put it, “as if she could control that.” Another woman took in her niece because her brother wanted to sell her. Those interviews were difficult. They infuriated me. How can you blame the woman for having daughters? Why would you ever sell your child?
Many times I had to stop myself and check my facial expressions. It is different here. The villages don’t have biology classes. Sometimes poverty pushes people to extremes. I disliked seeing women my age or younger having been married around 16 and starting a family around 18. My best friend was married at 19, in America she is the exception, but in India her life is far closer to the rule. The difference is she chose to get married young and these women often have no other option.
The extreme stories break my heart, but I am so, so, so thankful that Rescue Pink is in the lives of these women! My short time here will not change the culture that has worked against women for centuries. Rescue Pink, however, is here in the trenches. They have beautiful, strong, and brave Indian women spreading the word that women are precious and valuable. They give them hope that their daughters can live better lives; that they can earn income and don’t need to be trapped in the cycle of poverty. A whopping 44% of the women we interviewed had no education, yet many of them are learning how to start a business through Rescue Pink. Those women can feed their families, save for their daughter’s futures, and enroll them in private school! They set the example for their daughters that they can achieve dreams.
It was such a pleasure to work with them this month. I loved learning their stories and seeing the seeds of hope grow. Rescue Pink is slowly and surely opening eyes to the value of women. Man, these beautiful women and children make my heart swell & overflow with joy!
