Traditions

Traditions, rituals, customs.

No don't show you're hair to any man he will be tempted. You know if he is tempted it is your fault right?

No don't walk anywhere without another male to protect you because you know if someone attacks you it'll be your fault right?

Oh and please if you get beat up while dating well how can someone feel bad for you, you weren't supposed to date in the first place.

old world customs do not make us prosper

Now I don't mean that we shouldn't maintain our traditions and culture because in fact that is an important facet to identifying and differentiating between vast amounts of cultures. However, do not accept all customs and rituals without asking yourself first is it holding me back or it is driving my progress further?

The South Asian culture has so many old folktales, and traditions that often are observed and practiced and go unquestioned. We hear about them sparingly, and sometimes we feel upset about whats going on but grab our newspaper and coffee and go on about our day.

One tradition I want to address today is marriage.

Marriage is perhaps one of the most desirable contracts to sign. Western world has raised marriage into a romantic, enchanted, affection filled concept and has created a multi-billion dollar industry of it. Yes marriage can be filled with those things but what else can it be filled with? Violence, torture, oppression, domesticate slavery, loss of self. These are the marriages that all too often exist in the South Asian culture.

Children are sold as child brides, daughters are married off before they become a burden or have chance to become "impure." Why, why must marriage be such an important goal to achieve? Why must marriage be a form of liberation for father and families who have daughters in their homes? Why don't we question those traditions that have stolen the happiness and childhood of so many girls all around the South Asian world?

Marriage should happen when a girl is ready to commit herself to such a commitment, when she finds a man (love or arrange) with whom she feels that she could spend the rest of her life with. Yes, nothing is ever guaranteed but should she not have a say with whom she plans to live with, procreate with, fall in love with, or even simply spend her whole life with? Yes, of course she should. If you agree with me then do something about that

Why are children and young girls being married off against their will? Because of financial oppression. If a father cannot even afford to clothe and feed his daughters and he knows another man is willing to do that then he will not see the problem in marrying his daughter off. We shouldn't necessarily judge families who do this to their children because we are not in their situation to even understand their turmoil. What we need to do is educate and liberate. Educating families in South Asian countries and helping them find resources that will help their daughters not only become independent and confident but as employed and educated women. We need to provide resources for these families, create policies in junction with the government and make them understand how economically and socially significant these girls can be in progressing their country.

Change never happens over night, nor does it happen when we are inanimate. We need to take charge, make progress and do whatever we can wherever we are. Go out and look for resources that help you make a contribution to those who are actively participating in providing girls with an education and job so they don't have to be forced to marry. Instead they become resourceful, happy, and make themselves and their families proud.

I always feel honored and blessed to be my father's daughter. The man who made me know and believe that I am the planter of my own garden and the captain of my own ship. I feel I have a civil duty to make other fathers be as proud, if not more, of their daughters.

Mission Statement

Hello everyone

My name is Farzana Rahman and I am currently a sophomore at the University of Michigan. I am a psychology and sociology major and have a profound interest in social justice issue and social justice reform. Before I go on and talk about why I am starting this blog I would like to take a moment to give a background on myself

I am 19 years old, born in Bangladesh and moved to the US with my family at the tender age of 11 months. I lived in NY for about 11 years (Queens :]) and then moved to Michigan and attended high school here. I have always been very involved in my school academically and socially, I have been vice president of my class student council, homecoming committe. All those things are great and I am proud of because it has given me a sense of leadership early on and the importance of organization. I am also a certified peer mediator an that training and that activity has helped me in solving conflicts within groups I have worked with

But now as I am getting older I want to do more, I want to be involved in things that involve change and this year I have taken steps forward to do that. I will be introducing my upcoming projects through this blog but not quite yet

I want this blog to address vast amounts of social issues and human rights violation that we face in our world today. It will not geared towards any one specific community but it will introduce many of the adversities our South Asian communities face because I think that is a community that has problem but very few to address it. I also want this blog to provide inspiration and resources to help those who want to help others. Every two weeks I will be focusing on an issue and taking suggestions on what issues to address. I will also be providing information as to how people coud contact organizations that are helping in those issues as well.


I hope this project and blog will be useful to those who visit it and will also help me bring change to my community and help me better my enviroment and myself

With great love

Farzana