More Current Events

I looked, earlier this morning, but couldn't find it.  It was a small booklet that might have fit in a business-size envelope.  I remember when I got it years ago, looking at it in fascination.  There were drawings of girls doing all the things Girl Scouts do - outdoor activities and cooking and first aid and child care - but the text was foreign and completely indecipherable.  It was in Arabic, with curved lines and dots that conveyed no meaning to me, but because of the pictures, I could tell what most of it was about.  What I don't remember is exactly how the girls were dressed.  Were they wearing something I would recognize as a Girl Scout or Girl Guide uniform, or traditional attire?  I'm not sure - I think the latter, but I don't remember.

I've been a Girl Scout leader since Caroline was in 1st grade.  There is a Girl Scout holiday called World Thinking Day, that is celebrated worldwide by Girl Scouts and Girl Guides on February 22 each year.  Sometimes Girl Scout troops get together with other troops and have a festival of some kind (that's what our Girl Scout troop has done in recent years), but back in 2002, we picked a single country to learn about.  In 2002, that country was Yemen.

So I invited a friend who was from Yemen, and she came and talked about her country with infectious warmth and enthusiasm.  I remember she said that coffee was from Yemen.  Sarah, who was in 1st grade at the time, remembers a pair of ornate beaded shoes.  I bought the flag of Yemen, and we hung it from the ceiling in the classroom at Haygood.

Later, a package came.  There were T-shirts, with the emblem of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts and more Arabic writing, and color copies of pages illustrating stamps from around the world that had been issued commemorating scouting, and the Girl Guide handbook.  It was a slim booklet, with small drawings of girls doing the things that Girl Scouts and Girl Guides around the world do.  

Fast forward to now.  We have been watching recent events in Yemen, where the president made the mistake of saying it was un-Islamic for women to join men in protesting against his rule.  Since then, even more women have taken to the streets.  The pictures on Al Jazeera are amazing.  A large group of women, marching in the center of the street, with a ring of men around them, at enough distance that it is clear they are there to help provide protection if they are needed.  Another picture, from a video story, of three women in doctor's white coats, with black veils nearly completely covering their faces. 

The world is a complicated and interconnected place, but what's going on in Yemen is breathtaking. Hoping for a transition to new and more responsive leadership without more bloodshed. And thinking about those women who have taken to the streets, with great courage. Wondering if, as children, they had a slender Girl Guide handbook, and promised to do their duty to God, and then to country.

I still have the flag.