2007年VOA标准英语-African Women's Education Programs Benefit Fami

By Rosanne Skirble
Washington, D.C.
08 March 2007

watch African Women Ed report

Universal primary education by 2015 is among the so-called Millennium¹ Development Goals set seven years ago by the United Nations. While significant gains have been made toward reaching that goal, much more needs to be done, especially in Africa.

 
Teacher Catherine Korrompoi says the rescued girls are agents of change for women in the Maasai culture
High school dropouts like Faty Seye face an uncertain future, complicated by poverty, disease and malnutrition². The 24-year old woman from Senegal is working to beat the odds³. Doing odd jobs at a garage outside the capital city, Dakar, she learned she could get automotive skills in a program run by a local private organization. "They would teach me to be an automobile⁴ mechanic. It was free, and I enrolled⁵."

The program, run by "Case de Jeunes Femmes" or "Young Women's Shelter" offers both classroom studies and hands-on experience with mechanics at the garage. Taking an engine apart for the first time, Seye seems unfazed by the fact that women rarely do this kind of work. "As long as you love your job, you will do it well, and that is what matters."

"Young Women's Shelter" works with dropouts and single mothers and helps get homeless girls and prostitutes off the streets.

UNESCO finds that in Sub-Saharan Africa girls make up more than half the 38 million out-of-school children. The girls (unlike their brothers) are usually kept home to do chores and to care for siblings⁶ and sick parents.

 
Keeping girls in school has economic benefits 
Carolyn Bartholomew heads the Basic Education Coalition⁷, a Washington-based consortium of international development groups. She says keeping girls in school pays off in a multitude of ways. "You get economic development returns. You get healthier children, lower infant mortality, HIV prevention, and stronger families." She adds that education puts aspirations⁸ into action. "Educated mothers are far more likely to educate their own children so you get a cycle that moves things positively⁹ into the future."

In east Africa, girls growing up among the semi-nomadic Maasai tribes of Kenya face cultural obstacles to an education. Traditional values force many to accept early-arranged marriages. Many girls are also forced to submit to female circumcision, a controversial procedure critics call female genital mutilation, which aims to reduce their sexual responsiveness.

 
The AFI Primary School is a safe place for girls rescued from early marriages or female circumcision
A few girls, such as 14-year-old Evelyne Meitiaki, make their way to the AIC Primary School, a boarding school with more than 600 girls located near a small town south of Nairobi.

Against her father's wishes, Evelyne came to this school when she was five, brought by her two older sisters, both of whom had been circumcised. "My father was annoyed [with] us. He was not even talking to us. He was saying that he was going to curse us. But after we came here, people advised us."

The school 'rescue center' accommodates 75 girls, who live and take classes through high school supported by a Kenya-based NGO. Evelyn says she hopes to become a lawyer and to fight against early marriages and female genital mutilation. "I'll make sure that it is ended, and I promise my girls will not be circumcised."

The Maasai view these 'rescued girls' as rebels and a threat to their traditional way of life. Teacher Catherine Korrompoi, a Maasai herself, says Maasai culture must evolve to survive. "We are the ones to be agents of change in this society and if these girls change positively, then it means they will change the whole community."

And that change, according to Basic Education Coalition director Carolyn Bartholomew, will depend on access to a quality education, resources and a commitment from all sectors¹⁰ of society. "From the father who decides that his girls should be educated, to the national and international leaders who have the funds to assist those programs."

Bartholomew says educated citizens are central to Africa's future. They promote democracy and stability. With so much at stake, she says, no society can afford to leave half its population behind. "Investing in education in women is the best investment we can make."

1 millennium   

n.一千年，千禧年；太平盛世

参考例句：

• The whole world was counting down to the new millennium.全世界都在倒计时迎接新千年的到来。
• We waited as the clock ticked away the last few seconds of the old millennium.我们静候着时钟滴答走过千年的最后几秒钟。

2 malnutrition   

n.营养不良

参考例句：

• In Africa, there are a lot of children suffering from severe malnutrition.在非洲有大批严重营养不良的孩子。
• It is a classic case of malnutrition. 这是营养不良的典型病例。

3 odds   

n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别

参考例句：

• The odds are 5 to 1 that she will win.她获胜的机会是五比一。
• Do you know the odds of winning the lottery once?你知道赢得一次彩票的几率多大吗？

4 automobile   

n.汽车，机动车

参考例句：

• He is repairing the brake lever of an automobile.他正在修理汽车的刹车杆。
• The automobile slowed down to go around the curves in the road.汽车在路上转弯时放慢了速度。

5 enrolled   

adj.入学登记了的v.[亦作enrol]( enroll的过去式和过去分词 )；登记，招收，使入伍（或入会、入学等），参加，成为成员；记入名册；卷起，包起

参考例句：

• They have been studying hard from the moment they enrolled. 从入学时起，他们就一直努力学习。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He enrolled with an employment agency for a teaching position. 他在职业介绍所登了记以谋求一个教师的职位。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 siblings   

n.兄弟，姐妹( sibling的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• A triplet sleeps amongst its two siblings. 一个三胞胎睡在其两个同胞之间。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She has no way of tracking the donor or her half-siblings down. 她没办法找到那个捐精者或她的兄弟姐妹。 来自时文部分

7 coalition   

n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合

参考例句：

• The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
• Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。

8 aspirations   

强烈的愿望( aspiration的名词复数 )； 志向； 发送气音； 发 h 音

参考例句：

• I didn't realize you had political aspirations. 我没有意识到你有政治上的抱负。
• The new treaty embodies the aspirations of most nonaligned countries. 新条约体现了大多数不结盟国家的愿望。

9 positively   

adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实

参考例句：

• She was positively glowing with happiness.她满脸幸福。
• The weather was positively poisonous.这天气着实讨厌。

10 sectors   

n.部门( sector的名词复数 )；领域；防御地区；扇形

参考例句：

• Berlin was divided into four sectors after the war. 战后柏林分成了4 个区。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Industry and agriculture are the two important sectors of the national economy. 工业和农业是国民经济的两个重要部门。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》