Changing Lives by Changing Cultural Norms
Cultural norms are the unwritten rules and expectations that guide behavior within a particular society or group.
For girls living in slums, the evidence of male prejudice is most obvious. Parents feel pressure that they should have at least one boy. The son will have the better opportunity for an education and a job and help support the entire family. The norm for the girl is to arrange the marriage of your underage daughter to lessen your financial burden. Most girls from these areas aren’t given the opportunity for an education. Girls are perceived as an object and a liability. This makes her more susceptible to social evils like sexual assault, harassment, domestic violence, rape and other violent acts. Girls are meant to do chores, get married and have children. When a girl is 12 and lives in poverty her future is out of her control unless there is intervention. Changing cultural norms is a long-term process, often taking years to fully implement. To change social norms for girls living in slums, there must be focus on community engagement, education, economic empowerment, and challenging harmful stereotypes through programs, and provide girls with opportunities to thrive. Some of the ways to change negative social norms are as follows. Engaging with the community and providing awareness programs of these harmful norms. Provide positive role models for the girls. Ensure that girls have access to quality education and scholarships, after-school programs, with life skills , literacy and health initiatives. Provide girls with vocational training and skills development that prepare them for the workforce. Offer financial programs to empower girls to manage their own finances and make informed decisions. Support girls’ participation in leadership programs and encourage them to take on leadership roles in their communities.
I am happy to say Rahab’s Rope is doing all these things. We have provided many awareness programs, keep positive role models in front of the girls through our staff and short-term volunteers. We work diligently to keep girls in school and provide scholarships when necessary. We provide after-school tutoring, life skills and literacy classes. We have provided thousands with vocational training and skills development and resume writing to prepare women to enter the workforce. We have helped many open their own bank accounts and taught money management. Many of our girls have participated in leadership programs through school, equipping them to be leaders to younger girls in their communities. However, the most important knowledge we provide is the life changing power of Jesus. Women have always played a powerful role in God’s story of redemption throughout scripture and throughout our lives today. The Bible portrays women as strong, resilient and faithful. Through faith and actions women have motivated countless generations. We have seen so many changes for the girls and women we work with. Over the next couple of weeks, I will share a few stories that give evidence of the social and spiritual changes we have seen. I am so excited to share these stories with you.
Today I want to celebrate a young woman that has grown up in a very poor slum. Her name is Kajal. We have been working in the slum where she lives since 2010. When we first began the average grade children dropped out of school was second grade. We also found that over the years children had gone missing, but their families did not know what had happened to them. We began a tutoring program for children working with the families and the children to keep them in school. In the beginning families could not see the importance of education. They only knew it would cost them money to send the child to school. If they could afford to send a child to school, it would be the son. Girls just needed to do chores, get married, have children and start the cycle all over again.
Kajal has been coming to our center since she was 8 years old, she is now 22. Kajal grew up in a home with her mother, father, 2 brothers and 2 sisters. All her siblings have physical disabilities. As with many children from the slum, the parents work, and the children are left alone no matter what their age. When Kajal was 12 and home alone a man raped her. It was devastating. We were so concerned about what this would do, how it would affect Kajal emotionally, whether her parents would let her continue her studies, would she be able to come to our center, there were so many negative things that could happen from this event to keep her down. Our staff counseled with her and the family, prayed with them. And Kajal overcame. She continued her studies, coming to our tutoring program and the girl’s life skills program. She received overwhelming support from the other teenage girls. She believes and loves the Lord. When she finished high school and chose her direction for pre-university, she said she wanted to become a police officer. She wants to help girls that will go through what she has been through. We gave financially to help ensure Kajal’s dream would come true. Just last month Kajal completed her education and training successfully. She was offered a job by a police station some distance away and her parents did not want her to be that far from them. While this seemed like a set back, God had a better plan for her. Kajal is now an officer at the local airport. She inspects people’s paperwork, identification card or passport before they are allowed to enter the airport. I can’t explain how big of a deal it is that a young woman is given this position, especially a girl from a slum. You see very few women in this position at the airport, it is normally a man. All the girls at our center are so excited and see that their dream is possible. I hope when I go back, I get to go through Kajal’s line for inspection.
Check back next week for another life-changing story!
Matthew 19:26, Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
