Nicholas Kristof on Half The Sky

Today I listened to the most awful talk ever.  Who am I kidding, he was an awesome speaker!  I listened to Nicholas Kristof, New York Times columnist, talk about girls in China, female trafficking in Cambodia, goats changing lives, and fistulas ruining lives.  It was awesome!!!  It was about his book, Half the Sky.  A little bird told me he's a great speaker - and sure is she right!  It was a very moving talk with some detailed accounts of people and events he's encountered centered around women inequality issues.

He started off talking about how the 19th century was about slavery, then was totalitarianism, and now, it's women oppression.  The first experience he described was his trip to China (forgot where) where he met this brilliant girl who could no longer attend school because she didn't have any money.  He told a story of how a many donated $10k, which was used to allow all girls to attend school in this tiny rural province in China.  However, he found out there was a wiring issue and the man only donated $100.  Unfortunately, he had already told the school principal and the students about the $10k, so he had to obtain that money, which he was fortunate enough to be able to do via another donor.  (I was a little out of it during this talk, so I might not have the facts straight).

He then continued to talk about female trafficking in Cambodia.  He showed various pictures of brothels with girls around the age of 15 with a few ironically smiling.  He discussed about how he unorthodoxically bought two girls.  He had heard about one teenage girl who had been sold by her step-father and another one sold by a neighbor.  The mother of one of the girls had been desperately searching for her daughter, and instinctively found her in the red-light district.  There was a great reunion, but the daughter didn't go home with the mom.  When asked why not, the daughter explained that the brothel owner had paid a large sum for her, and her mom didn't have the money to buy her back.  As a result, Kristof had bought one girl for about $400 and the other for $250.  Compared to the worth of black slaves in the 19th century, they were worth dirt.

There was also a story of a goat.  Kristof showed a picture of an African girl holding water above her head and a baby sister on her back.  He then told the story of how she couldn't go to school, but another organization via the Heffer Organization bought goats and used the money from the milk to get her through school.  She excelled, became first in her class, and the next picture was a picture of her graduating from Cornell.  She said "I am the luckiest girl alive, all because of a goat."  How cool is that?

I felt great injustice during the fistula story, but it also left me in awe at the strength of some women.  Kristof showed a picture of another African women sitting peacefully.  Unbeknownst to anyone, she had married young, became pregnant when she was 14, and had labor in the depth of a forest.  Due to her underdeveloped pelvis, she was left with a dead fetus, incontinence, and nerve damage that left her unable to walk.  Her village thought she was possessed, and left her to the mercy of hyenas at the edge of the village.  She fended off the hyenas with a stick, and despite her inability to walk, she attempted to crawl to the nearest help she could find - some missionaries 30 miles away.  The first night she had to crawl up some tree to keep away from the hyenas, and the next days he continued on.  She did eventually reach the missionaries, which took her to a fistula hospital that fixed her up for free.  And now she works as a nurse at the hospital.

He was talking about how many times people don't want to be involved in international work, or of the sorts because it makes them feel depressed/hopeless, but he talks about seeing some of the best people in these situations.  He talks of a warlord dessimating people and lives, but out of it all, was a nun who helped all the orphans she could find and kept the warlords at bay.

When asked about whether he had concerns or how he dealt with security, he told another story about him in the Congos.  He traveled there in a plane, and soon after he got off the plane, it was destroyed.  He decided to travel away from the area via a road that the rebels had built, but soon ran into a warlord who was massacring people.  Kristof, in an almost lighthearted manner, talked about how the warlord asked who he was, and he just lied and said he was sent by the warlord's commander.  Somehow, he was allowed to leave, but the warlord soon got in contact with the commander, who said there was no such guy as Kristof, which then ensued a long chase of armies after him.  All the while, he told the story as if it was just another day in his life.  Crazy.