Friday, November 8, 2013

Why deal with research and social action that is so sad?

The other day, my colleague here in Kampala (Uganda) were chatting. We are research scientist who work in gender studies at the School of Women and Gender Studies (Makarere University). Someone empathetically asked him recently 'Why do you do research on such sad topics?' Our desks sit across from one another and even though this is a busy place, we occasionally catch the other nodding, grimacing, or viscerally reacting to some aspect of our work. So I then told my colleague about my experience the other day when I was checking my email. The Boston Red Sox had won the 2013 World Series (again!!) and, although I am not a baseball fan, we all love it when the homeboys/hometown wins. It's especially nice when you're away to hear good news about where your roots are. The hard won victory gave me a high. But immediately after, I opened an email from a listserve. It narrated two mortality stories in Yemen. The first, an 8-year old girl who bled to death on her wedding night having been married to a 40-year old man. The second, a young girl burned to death by her father for contacting her fiance before the wedding. Being emotionally snatched from ecstasy to despair in a split second took its toll and I collapsed on my laptop. A few days later, I happened on a blog by David Zarza at
http://www.davidzarza.com/sad-is-like-happy-for-deep-people

There is a great that can be said about the condition of the world. It is both disintegrating and being rebuilt simultaneously, on a new set of principles around which there is increasing consensus.
I do notice that on my Facebook page, when I post "sad stories", I get fewer likes or comments, except from 'the choir'-the strong of heart. People don't want to hear about this dark side of my work and I am not the only one who deals with tragedies of this magnitude.
My question is, who will speak for girls and boys, young people who cannot speak for themselves if we do not? Me personally, I am obligated by my religion-the Baha'i Faith-to "be a treasure to the poor..an answerer to the cry of the needy..a haven for the distressed, an upholder and defender of the victim of oppression." It is a deepening learning process that began years ago and I do feel (not think) that we are all in a cosmic or spiritual way placed in this world in positions in we can do the most good for human well being, positions for which we have been armed with unique skills and inner qualities. So we press onward, until gender inequality, one day, will become a distant nightmare of a perverted generation past.