Mother: Caring for 7 Billion Page #5

how she's overcome so many

as just a young woman.

So I asked if we could go and

visit her and her family...

in the village.

Looking at her family and meeting

her mother and her father,

the first thing that

struck me was

how much older the dad

was than the mother

and then I later learned that...

she was 12 years old

when she married him and

he was 45.

Zinet's father had another

family before this one

where he had 13 children

with another wife

and this is a typical

scenario in Ethiopia.

They were stuck in these

societal roles

that had been handed

down to them.

I couldn't help but see

the parallels

between my family and

Zinet's family,

both of our mothers experienced

religious and cultural influences

that made them feel like either

they couldn't or shouldn't

be the ones deciding

how many children

their bodies would have.

Christendom has been so

powerful because

the industrial revolution,

the scientific

revolution grew up in Christendom.

Europeans colonized the

rest of the world.

"Be fruitful and multiply

and fill the earth and

subdue it,

It's time for us to recognize that

that's the one Biblical

commandment

where you can say, "Check!

We've done that!"

"What else should we do?"

I don't see how we can look

at the devastation

that's happening to the planet

and the poor quality of life

that many of those people have

and still say that

basic levels of birth control

and family planning are

inappropriate.

I find that a morally very

confusing stance.

The Vatican actually has

permanent observer status

in the United Nations.

The Roman Catholic Church

is the only major religion,

the only religion in fact,

that has this kind of status.

The permanent observer status

is the same as what

Switzerland has,

for example.

The Vatican has tried

or the Holy See

has tried very hard in

the United Nations

to play down contraceptives

and as a matter of fact

to make it more difficult

for women

to get contraception.

They have made accusations

as they did at Cairo

that these conferences and

the plans of action

were efforts to undermine the family,

destroy Christian civilization.

They use very inflammatory rhetoric.

The Catholic Church

has a wonderful tradition

of social justice,

whether it's supporting

health care or

hunger programs or disaster relief.

For Catholic people living

out in the world,

family planning is more than just

an intellectual exercise.

It really affects people's lives

very deeply.

We aught not be moving forward,

any one on any side of

the debate saying

you should have fewer children,

you should have more children,

you can't do this,

you can't do that.

You must start with the people

whose lives

are most directly affected by this

and these are the people

you want to talk to

about reproductive health.

Some extreme groups

want to interpret

the Bible

as being even more patriarchal

than it really is.

And use, just as some branches

of Islam do

and probably some Hindus do,

theological texts to sort of reinforce

their deeply felt desire and drive

to control women's

reproduction and

that's what I think we've

got to fight against.

Kids and other women from

around here

come and ask her how

she's changed.

How she is this strong

and she gives advice to everybody.

That's a great story.

She also is like a surrogate

mother for her niece.

Six years ago,

Zinet's younger sister died of AIDS

when this little niece was

only three months old.

So now the niece has AIDS as well

and is living with it.

Wassilla,

we wanted to ask you

a question.

What do you think

about Zinet and

what do you want to be

when you grow up?

What do you want to do

when you grow up?

A doctor! Fantastic!

That's great.

This is just one child who's...

symptomatic of a larger problem

that we have all throughout

Ethiopia

and throughout Africa.

Zinet goes to school on

the weekends

in the university that's

near her town

and then during the day

she works

all day supporting the family

at a family planning clinic.

And then when she comes

home at night,

she helps with the family,

she helps with the chores,

and then she has to study

at night.

"My life was so hard... "

"You give me strength... "

"I named my daughter after... "

That often leads to the decision

for the woman or the man

to seek family planning.

Often, women think their

husbands are opposed,

when they're not,

but they've never asked them.

Meeting Zinet,

getting to go to

her home...

and... kind of got to know each other

even thought it was quick...

I feel like she's my new hero.

She has overcome enormous

obstacles

and has met challenges face on.

She's taken cultural traditions in

her village

that have been... lasting

over millennium

and has said

"No!"

I want better for myself

and for my siblings

and for all the women

in my community.

It doesn't stop just with her,

she... works so much

within her community

to get other women to be listening

to the radio dramas

so that they too can get that...

role modeling,

so that they can feel that...

courage and that power

within themselves.

I'm going to think of her

when I need...

more strength to think...

one person can make a difference.

Everyone should have

the right to reproduce.

It's a fundamental,

basic human right.

The course of population stability

is going to come from

millions of women just like Zinet

making these same choices.

They need an education.

They need some outside

agent that's going

to help them empower themselves...

and they need a voice.

The poor girl doesn't have options...

unless there is some

kind of intervention.

And what BRAC tries to do

with girls... is...

invest in them.

Invest in giving them options

and opportunities and

education,

because a girl who is educated...

will marry later,

will have fewer children,

her children will survive and

be healthier

and they'll all have a better life.

In fact, that's what we call

The Girl Effect.

The majority of the whole

banking system

is catering to men.

Less than 1% of loans from

our formal financial

institutions

would actually flow to women.

So what happened...

is people discovered that

women are better fighters

of poverty.

That 100% of what a poor

woman will earn...

gets put right back into the

mouths of her kids,

into improved healthcare,

into a better roof over the family,

invests into getting those

kids into school.

Microfinance...

it's a strategy

that has

poor women's fingerprints

all over it.

Women who never touched

money before

suddenly... have new forms of power

and status in their household.

That enables them to negotiate

the relationship

they have with their husbands,

with their fathers,

with their sons,

with their community members.

It's brought hope to millions

of women

and they're not only improving

their own lives and those of

their family,

but they're contributing to society.

It's only natural...

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