Amy Thompson Avishi

Of Amy Thompson Avishi's "Within These Walls: Educating Girls in Rural Morocco" series, this photograph is always the one that sticks out the most for me.  The moment captured here says a multitude about this section of Morocco.  As Amy stated in her presentation, in this part of Morocco, people still don't have running electricity in their homes and are only just hearing that it might come to their town soon.  As compared to the way we in the United States live, this is completely unheard of.  Every single day, we rely on electricity to power so many different aspects of our life and we have lived with having electricity for our entire lives.  If we think about how much electricity gives us, not even in the way of light, but in the way of technology, it plays a major factor as to how we function as a society.  Most all of us use our computers as a resource for education and as a way to learn and obtain information.  Using a computer is how we stay connected to the world and keep up with pressing issues in society and learn how the world is evolving.  Our society has become so broad and complex and comparing my life to the life of the girl photographed proves to be very disparate.  My life is very complex and technologically driven and comparing my life to this strikingly simple image of the life of a girl around my age in another country is startling.  These rural parts of Morocco are so far from being a highly developed society.  Also, my entire life I have taken my education for granted and have often complained about having to go to class or do assignments.  Not until I was older did I realize what a privilege having an education is and how many people would kill to have the opportunities that I have had.  Every person in our country regardless of gender is required to go to school.  In other parts of the globe, boys are sent to school over girls leaving many women uneducated.  Hearing the story of the girl pictured here and how her family encouraged her to go to school was very inspiring.  We can only hope that other families in Morocco follow the same example and encourage all their children to attend school, not only the males.
        Amy Thompson Avishi has captured such a personal moment here and the expression on the girls face is very pensive.  To me, this picture represents hope for the future generations of women, not only in terms of education, but also in terms of having a better life in general.  This one single light in the frame represents the small advancements that have been made across the world to better the lives of women.  This light, though small right now, grows daily and shows even more hope and promise everyday for a better future.