Thankful

On my way back to Shanghai, I finished reading A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. I realize that I’m late in the game in reading this book, but the timing was right for me.

I read the part about rockets destroying homes and lives just before walking home from Huai’an from the train station during the CNY. On either side of the street people were lighting fireworks. That night people lit fireworks outside of my window from 7 until past midnight. Most of the time I couldn't see the flashes of light, but the sound was intense. I kept wondering if it was a similar type sound that the characters would have heard. (On a side note, I recently learned that fireworks are only allowed in China during the Spring Festival. After that period, fireworks are illegal.)

I realize that the story itself is fiction, but it is based on some truth. For those of you unfamiliar with the book, in the story women are beaten and tortured at one point, and the book described some of the gender-based abuse. At one point dancing, laughing, and singing were not allowed, and women couldn’t leave the house without a male family member. And here I am, a woman, studying abroad in another part of the world. I have sung Karaoke, I have traveled to countries on my own, and I have laughed quite a bit. It reinforced how lucky I am to have these experiences.

It also reminded me of Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson, a true story about a man who builds schools for women in Pakistan and Afghanistan. It just so happened that around the time I was reading A Thousand Splendid Suns, Laura got an email from IU language department about a program where people can spend a couple hours a week teaching English to women in Afghanistan over Skype. It sounds so simple, and yet the impact it can have is so great!