Savvy Women

I’d like to begin by wishing everyone a wonderful International Women’s Day (IWD). For just about a hundred years, March 8th has been set aside to commemorate the contributions (great and small) made by women everywhere. For a really interesting short video, produced by Russia Today, on the history of IWD in the Soviet Union and Russia, click here,  and if you’d like to see a country-by-country list of events planned for the day, stay on that same page and scroll down just a touch. The list will be on the right-hand side of your screen.

After downing my soup, I strolled back home, got online and did a little research for my next blog topic. While doing so, I ran across the clip I’ve embedded. It’s such a nice little video that I don’t want to include any spoilers here. I will say this, though. It shows a wonderful example of why this world needs a day that is set aside for thanking women for doing all the things that they do.

It’s no secret that Cairo is one of the most polluted cities in the world. Often, the air is so dirty that the sky actually looks brown rather than blue. That’s right, you heard me correctly; I said the air in Egypt’s capital is frequently BROWN. Of course, my lungs are not especially happy about this fact.

As an American who lives in such a place, I am aware (sometimes painfully) of what can happen when human beings abuse the environment. I think if more of my compatriots could come to a city like Cairo, they’d become overnight converts to the Green Movement. They’d understand that we can’t trash up the whole place without having it come back to bite us.

I often despair for the future of the planet, but then I see something, like the video I’ve included in this week’s blog, that gives me a bit of hope.

(Note: There is a problem with this video’s embed code, so clicking on the image will redirect you to the site where the clip originally appeared. You’ll have to return to the blog by hitting the “back” button. Sorry for the inconvenience.)

After watching this clip once again, I do feel that the world, and all of us who call it home, might just have a chance after all. But what we need, if this hope is to be realized, are more countries like Sweden and more programs like Climate Pilots and more people like the Stokeses.

I know that what I’m about to say might come across as hopelessly utopian, but I don’t care. I’m going to say it anyway. So here goes. I hope the day comes when a country’s power is no longer measured by how large its army is or by how many weapons it has but rather by how clean it keeps it water and air and land, and thus, by extension, how strong and healthy are its people.

After watching this CNN video on Gamma Gamma Chi, America’s first “Islamic-based” sorority, I had a look at the group’s website,  read about the organization’s history, and learned that it was founded, in 2005, by Dr. Althia F. Ali and Imani Canty. This “mother-daughter team” started the honor society as a way to “help improve the image of Muslim women and Islam in general.” Since its inception, the group has flowered and now has chapters located in several towns and cities throughout the United States.

I really enjoyed listening to Dr. Ali talk about Gamma Gamma Chi’s mission in the CNN piece. She came across as a great spokeswoman, especially as she discussed the ways the sorority could help “defy stereotypes” and then argued that this mission was needed because so few Americans have the opportunity to meet Muslims and interact with them. Toward the end of the video, Ali made it clear that the sorors were hoping to be as inclusive a group as possible and would welcome non-Muslims to either join the sorority or partner with it as it conducted various community-service projects.

I was drawn to this video because I’m an American who currently lives in Egypt and has spent most of the last twelve years living in the Middle East–firstly, in the United Arab Emirates and then later, in Turkey, before moving to Cairo. One of the reasons I continue to reside in this part of the world is related to something that Ali said. She pointed out that Muslim women should engage with non-Muslims and not shut themselves off. Actually, her point is an extremely important one. All of us should actively seek to meet as many different kinds of people as possible.

It’s only through interacting with others who are “different” that we learn and become (hopefully) tolerant of diversity. I have understood this ever since I joined the Peace Corps and was sent to live among Eastern Europeans. That experience helped me realize that I have a duty (to myself and to others) to learn as much as I can about the world and those who inhabit it, especially about those who live in places that are so often misunderstood by so many Americans. After educating myself about other places, peoples, and cultures, I can then do my part to educate those who have not had the opportunity to live in as many different countries as I have.

I hope I don’t sound too preachy here. That’s the last thing I want to sound like. I just very strongly believe that borders and boundaries (of all types) separate people, so we should do what we can to tear those walls down.