The match strikes. You hold your breath. A child is lighting the Advent candle, and the wick is stubborn. Flicker, flicker. Will it go out? You wait, heart beating.
At last it sets flame.
The bending, tentative light seems so small. Still, you begin to breathe again. It’s truly beautiful, a curve of expectancy.
This Christmas, I’ve been thinking about bringing gifts of light to a particular kind of darkness, though I feel as inadequate as a little child, sputtering match in hand.
Sixty to one hundred million women are “missing” from the world’s population; among the living many are oppressed. I will never forget a picture I once saw in the New York Times magazine, of girls in a window display. Each girl had a number pinned to her clothing.
They were so young, and despite that they would be “otherwise engaged” throughout the day and night, they were sitting simply. One was combing the long black hair of another, like any young girl playing with friends.
Reading Forgotten Girls I was taken by the invitation to write a poem from an oppressed girl’s point of view. As I began to write, I remembered the girls in the window…
“Number 100 Million and One”
I am the girl in the window
combing her hair twined and black
smiling so no one will know
there’s a scar on my heart that grows
in the night, when I lie on my back
I am the girl in the window
crimsoned with memories of low
men and high, bright keepers who track,
smiling so no one will know
even the wind, when it whispers and blows
disperses my secrets beyond the black
I am the girl in the window
beseeching the stars to silently show
a hidden path past wall’s slim crack
smiling so no one will know
the shush of my soul as it ebbs and it flows
searches for red silken ribbon gone slack
I am the girl in the window,
smiling so no one will know.
The world is a pretty big place, needs all ’round. Maybe the need of our enslaved sisters speaks to your heart. If so, strike a match. We are holding our breath with you, waiting.
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“Resist the Darkness” in soft pastel, by L.L. Barkat. First published with the poem “Number 100 Million and One” at Love Notes to Yahweh. To learn more about our forgotten sisters, go to Stitchable Sisters, where you can listen in on a Conversation with Michele Rickett of Sisters in Service, which encourages us to Resist the Darkness.
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Thank you so much! For sharing your heart and art to make a difference for unreached and exploited little girls.
Stitchable Sisters is abundant with information, inspiration, and an invitation to become a part of the Hope and Healing that God is threading among women and girls worldwide – including through Sisters In Service:
http://stitchablesisters.wordpress.com/
Please check it out and share with others, thanks!
I’ve sent the link to my friend Suzette at Concepts4Peace.
Every time I read this poem a chill goes up my back.
The theme of rescue and redemption of the exploited and cast-away has resounded with me this Christmas. Thank you for sharing another example of the work that is to be done, and thank you for sharing it in the way that only you could.
I would love to hear more comments from people involved in this project. I would love to hear some stories about these forgotten sisters in these comments.
To those who are interested in more stories about these forgotten girls, you can check out the following posts on by blog, Stitchable Sisters:
Forgotten Girls: Stories of Hope and Courage – about a girl who was rescued after being buried in the ground as an infant: http://stitchablesisters.wordpress.com/2009/12/15/forgotten-girls-stories-of-hope-and-courage/
We Dream Now – about the incredible dreams of rejected women and girls coming to life with the help of sisters coming alongside them:
http://stitchablesisters.wordpress.com/2009/12/16/we-dream-now/
In Need of Help – about a daughter and mother abandoned to a community of “disposable mothers” stigmatized by the community as “those who cannot survive without help”: http://stitchablesisters.wordpress.com/2009/12/17/in-need-of-help/
Forgotten Girls Remembered – about the harsh circumstances of girls forgotten all over the world, and what we can do to help: http://stitchablesisters.wordpress.com/2009/12/22/forgotten-girls-remembered/
And there will be another going up tomorrow…please check it out and share with others, thanks!