Unlearned and Learned

“Search your heart and see. The way to do is to be.” Lao Tzu

“Staci, it is the difference between the unlearned and learned” he said when I asked what he thought about the group of women at Eastleigh. He was associating the unlearned with the uneducated and the learned with folks who have had formal education. Although, I do not agree with his assessment or the usage of his words, I think we could both agree that education is something to be valued.

I have never thought of myself as exceptional, nor particularly bright. I am not trying to be self-deprecating, nor humble because I not good at those either. Despite my many deficits, I am counted as the “learned” population. The group of Somali women of Eastleigh, by all accounts is considered the “unlearned” population by the very fact that most didn’t have access to quality education when they were girls. According to UNICEF (2017), “Somalia has one of the world’s lowest enrolment rates for primary school-aged children – only 30 per cent of children are in school and only 40 per cent of these are girls. Further, only 18 per cent of children in rural households are in school” (para. 1). In other words, access to education is limited, particularly when these women were young girls. Recently, the UNESCO’s Education for All is creating stronger policies, mandates, and expanding funding to support the girl-child in education. It is still not enough.

Despite all this, I would argue that these women that surrounded me this morning were just or more educated compared to me when it came to understanding the complexity of hope, the world around us, and how to survive. I don’t claim to know much about the conflict in Somalia, nor do I have the brain power to understand the many layers of a war-torn country like Somalia, what I do know is that sitting with the group of women and offering a physical place for them to be, just be, was an unintended gift. Here, I had this thinking I wanted to co-create a program that brings action and solutions, but the more I do these workshops the more I am thinking that this space is not necessarily hope, but a place for people to come together and just be.

I have had three moments that I felt that being was okay, all the other times in my life I am catching up with being me. One was under tree with eight wonderful South African children. The other was sharing a meal with a Muslim family in Southern Lebanon during Ramadan with machine guns firing celebratory shots. The last was in Kakuma, where a hand of a young Somali girl would not let go of my hand.

Eastleigh is what I thought it would be, another a thriving community with hopeful, dynamic, and innovative persons living in it. Yes, there are some areas that are high risk and I chose not to venture in. I did get to accompany a home visit and I learned and relearned about what it means to be a refugee and the complexity of hope.

The Somali women of Eastleigh have asked me to return. I will be back next week. They want to be a part of the conversation and a part of the solution. Whatever your thoughts are on who is unlearned and learned, I believe that no matter how much of a formal education you have recieved, you are “unlearned” if you think less of someone.

In our busy lives, I wonder if it is possible to push pause and sit and wonder. Wonder. Wonder about the world and all it’s beautiful possibilities. Perhaps then together, we can solve the world’s challenges.