Silent Warriors

Silent Warriors

The homeland’s silent warriors

Are jolted awake by the absence

Of hope.

They rise, twenty million strong

Out of the red barren earth

Whose cracks race through the village

Yet never reach a familiar face.

Their wet footsteps moisten the dust

And the rain begins to fall from the

women made of clay, hardened by the sun.

Down their frozen faces

A trickle meets a river

Flowing down the young trunks

of mother trees too young to stand on their own

pooling onto the ground.

Salt tears mingle with liquid shame

As they race out of the hole within her body

Dug by her family and husband

Too big to be filled with the silence,

Yet too small to bring her child into the world.

As the ocean tide rises

And sweeps away Africa’s silent warriors,

Do they really fall if no one

Was around to see it?

Amir in Afghanistan

Amir in Afghanistan

This image symbolizes how Amir’s position in his own country, Afghanistan, has changed after his lengthy departure. When war broke out in Afghanistan, many people (including Baba and Amir) fled to safer countries such as the United States instead of aiding the war effort. The once white home plate represents Afghanistan, however it is now covered in the dirt which represents the state of chaos created by the Taliban. Amir’s return to Afghanistan is represented by the beautiful flower which seems out of place within the ravaged country of Afghanistan (the home plate). After being sheltered from war in the safe neighborhood of Kabul and later in America, Amir discovers that he cannot thrive in the harsh conditions of his homeland, he states, “I feel like a tourist in my own country” (231). A flower cannot grow on the manufactured plastic, it can only wither and die. If Amir were to truly understand his country and expand his roots to include the mistakes of his past (represented by the dirt surrounding the home plate), he would not feel so out of place. However, instead Amir turned his back on both his country and his best friend Hassan when they needed his courage the most. Ultimately, Amir’s inability to adapt in the face of difficult decisions has lead to his history of cowardly decisions.

Tradition's Victims: Obstetric Fistula in Africa

Tradition’s Victims: Obstetric Fistula in Africa

For most people living in the United States, getting knocked up at thirteen is just a television show. However, for women in Africa, such as Wobete Falaga of Ethiopia, the producer of this unimaginable scenario are traditions, and there are no viewers rooting for them to triumph in the face of desolation. This is their life. Married at age eleven and pregnant at thirteen, Wobete Falaga is the result of her village’s traditional values of young marriage and early procreation. After struggling through five continuous days of physically and emotionally taxing labor, her baby was born; however it did not survive (Inbaraj). To top it all off, the brutally long labor rendered Wobete incontinent, or unable to control the function of her bladder. This all too common condition in Africa is called obstetric fistula. During prolonged labor, the baby’s head continuously pushes against the pelvic bone during contractions, eventually causing a hole between the vagina and the bladder or rectum. According to the Fistula Foundation, 2 million women are living with untreated obstetric fistula, the majority residing in Africa (Winsor).  

When the tribal traditions of home birth clash with the limited access to hospitals and the lack of doctors trained to perform emergency cesarean section surgeries, it is almost impossible to get professional help even if the family wanted it (Lafraniere). Unfortunately, as soon as the women develop obstetric fistula and become incontinent, they are ostracized from their community due to the popular belief that they are cursed or even witches (Winsor). Shunned by their own parents, they become like ghosts themselves and resort to spending their days indoors without human company. In a study conducted by the International Journal of Women’s Health, eight women living with obstetric fistula were asked what they believe to be the causes of their misfortune. The responses ranged from “being cursed”, “the will of God”, to “it is my fate” (Gebresilase). Illustrating the belief and dependence to which most women accredit their village traditions, these antiquated values have a defining effect on women’s health.

While the surgery required to fix obstetric fistula is relatively inexpensive, costing only three hundred dollars, this is an exorbitant fee that will largely go unpaid due to the widespread poverty within rural African villages (Lafraniere). Even if the women opt to receive the surgical procedure, after returning to their village completely healed they will continue to follow the cycle of young marriage and unsafe pregnancies. Dr. Catherine Hamlin, the leading surgeon and obstetrician at the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital, aims to combat this by providing literacy training for her patients, hopefully changing their mindset of poor self worth. Additionally, the hospital has partnered with the Ethiopian Women Lawyers Association which works to inform the patients on their rights as women to have the opportunity of becoming more than just a baby making machine at the demand of their husbands (Inbaraj).

While the lack of hospitals and poverty within Africa can eventually be addressed with time, the village traditions which contribute to the widespread development of obstetric fistula will most likely remain the same. As these traditions continue to block women’s desire for education and their rights to receive medical attention, this situation becomes more dangerous. Within tribal based Africa, a grand societal change to aid tradition’s million victims is largely overdue. Without any steps taken to break the vicious cycle leading to obstetric fistula, the reality of the women in Africa will soon become too painful to watch.

Works Cited

Gebresilase, Yenenesh Tadesse. "A Qualitative Study of the Experience of Obstetric Fistula Survivors in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia." International Journal of Women's Health. Dove Medical Press, 8 Dec. 2014. Web. 07 Mar. 2016.

Inbaraj, Sonny. "Married as Children, Women With Obstetric Fistulas Have No Future." Public Reference Bureau. Web. 07 Mar. 2016.

Lafraniere, Sharon. "Nightmare for African Women: Birthing Injury and Little Help - The New York Times." New York Times. New York Times, 28 Sept. 2005. Web. 4 Mar. 2016.

Winsor, Morgan. "A Fate Worse than Death for Scores of African Women." CNN. Cable News Network, 23 May 2013. Web. 04 Mar. 2016.

Into the Depths of the Stomach

Into the Depths of the Stomach

“A band of plaited straw that served as his belt began to undulate too. Every now and then it disappeared into a roll of skin, but just as it seemed lost forever in the tidal flow it re-emerged, dignified and pristine. A magical waistband” (73).

In this passage, the belt can be interpreted as hope. Just like the belt, which disappears in the folds of the stomach, hope often leaves but eventually comes back. Even in the countryside, where hope is not to be found, Four-Eyes, Luo and the narrator find some in the form of the Old Miller. Four-Eyes hopes to use the miller’s songs to get him out of the countryside, and Luo and the narrator hope to use the miller’s songs to get to Four-Eye’s suitcase of books.

“‘Let’s drink to your incredible stomach,’ Luo proposed. Waving his beaker, our singer invited us to lay our hands on his abdomen. He began taking deep breaths, without singing, just for the fun of setting off the spectacular ripples across his stomach” (74).

Luo and the narrator’s emotional journey throughout their brief experience with re-education is resounding. The waves of the Old Miller’s stomach can also illustrate teenagers’ up and down stages during adolescence and the theme of coming of age. When Luo and the narrator first arrived in the countryside, Luo quickly became depressed and the two struggled to find hope in their three in a thousand chance of leaving. However, their perspectives change and they now can find happiness and joy in the smallest of things, like an undulating stomach. Even in the darkest of times, hope can be found. Life isn't always straightforward, and it has its bumps. These bumps represent problems you're facing.

Thesis: Sijie uses the symbol of the stomach and the belt to illustrate how even in the darkest of times, you can still find hope in the smallest of things. The emotional journey of the narrator and Luo shows that by Coming of Age their perspectives are changing, and thus their attitudes towards life has changed as well.

Hope:     Waves:

Underneath the Surface

The great waterfall of the universe

flows throughout the land.

Nourishing the sprouts and seedlings,

unchanging in its path.

The course of the water is undetermined.

Some days it surges forward,

others days it pulls back.

Traveling without a destination,

yet always going somewhere.

Individual droplets unite

creating a powerful swell.

Churning and tumultuous

yet underneath the surface,

there is tranquility and stillness.

Only within the darkness of its depths

can you find the light.

Streams of Subconsciousness