A letter from the Rev. Debbie Blane in Sudan
February 15, 2010
Dear Friends,
Greetings! There are three things I am going to share with you in this letter.
The first is the fascinating subject of household help. Well, at least I find it fascinating. In the U.S. the goal of someone who cleans houses for a living is to have as many clients as possible, to move through each house/condo/apartment as quickly and efficiently as possible and move on to the next assignment. This is to maximize earning potential. I have now found out that in Sudan the idea is to spend as much time as possible with one client in order to maximize earning potential. This is what the super rich in the U.S. call “live-in help,” or at least I think so.
I am looking for someone to come in once a week and clean the apartment. Period. 3 to 4 hours max. Yesterday I interviewed a woman who another teacher from the college brought to my apartment in hopes that she would be the person I could employ for this. She was asking for twice the amount of money that I can pay. I told her that I couldn’t be her only source of income that I would need her to be working for other people too. The hope apparently is that I would start her with one day a week and perhaps move to two, or even three. This way of thinking has helped me in re-evaluating American independence. Many Americans (most I dare say) value their independence and “space.” This is an important part of American culture. For cultures that are more family/relationship/unit based, such as Latin America, Asian and African, this desire for independence probably does not make a lot of sense. I am so curious as to where these differences have come from. Suffice it to say that for now I do not have someone to help me with the housework, and this is NOT a good thing.
A proud camel rider happily posing for a picture in Sudan.
The second point of interest for this writing is America as the land of opportunity. A few years ago I would hear this phrase and took it for granted without understanding the depths of implication and promise that are made in uttering it. I have an Asian friend who is struggling with the desire to move beyond the limitations that her culture is placing on her. She does not fit the box of her culture and I do not know what decisions she will ultimately make for her life. I do know that once again I have realized how many cultures, countries, and continents, have such a lack of vision, of imagination or insight for the possibilities for human life.
I read the book Angela’s Ashes several years ago in my preparations for going to Ireland. The book was thoroughly depressing but it got me to think in some very important ways. The book was the first time that I had ever realized that there are some places in the world where a person is not allowed to go to school or to try something new and different. Angela’s Ashes stated very plainly that in America anyone can go to school. I had taken that for granted because that is what I grew up with. In that non-fiction book I learned that the Irish Catholics in Ireland would not let Frank go to school because he was poor. And I learned that the Protestants would not let Frank go to school because he was Catholic.
America was the place he finally made his way to, and he was able to go to school. In America 36-year-old women can go back to school and earn multiple degrees. This is not true in many places in the world. Poverty can be money. OR poverty can be a lack of opportunity, vision, and imagination. Poverty can be the lack of options, possibilities, or even the chance to try.
The third thing that I want to share is a discussion that happened in my classroom this week. My students have amazed me this week. When I give them a topic to discuss and come to a consensus on, they quickly do so. When they are able to frame a topic based on their own experience, they are very articulate and imaginative. Since I highly value imagination, they earn great brownie points with the teacher, who is of course me.
We discussed what happens when culture disagrees with what is written in the Bible. The students said that there needs to be a process of separating out culture from the Bible teaching.
When the Apostle Paul says that women should keep silence in he churches we must put this in the cultural context of the first century CE (Common Era). Women were illiterate in the Biblical times. Their fathers taught their brothers at home and they eventually went to synagogue to learn Hebrew through reading Scripture and then obtaining Bar Mitzvah. But the girls remained with their mothers learning how to keep house and care for children. In Sudan there are places where girls remain illiterate and are married off at the age of 15 because there is a fear that they will become pregnant. This may have to do with a lack of sex education. Here the students saw a direct correlation between their culture and Biblical culture.
When women become literate, when they gain knowledge, then they can become participating members of the community. I shared with the students the story of Mary and Martha and how Jesus encouraged the literacy and learning of women by welcoming Mary into the discipline of learning at his feet. One of the groups in my class said that women with Ph.D.’s do not need to be silent in the churches. I don’t think that women need a Ph.D. to no longer be silent — but I was thrilled that the men in the class could see the principle so clearly. Silence is not a gender issue; it is based on illiteracy and ignorance. When people become literate and understand how to learn appropriately, there is no longer a need for silence.
Blessings,
The Reverend Debbie Blane
The 2010 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 47
