HW 33: Alive in Baghdad

I recently viewed the podcast that was titled, "Challenges at a Girl's School in Baghdad". It was from "Alive in Baghdad", and was published on 5/21/07, and can be viewed at http://aliveinbaghdad.org/2007/05/21/challenges-at-a-girls-school-in-baghdad/. This podcast gave a short account of the troubles in education in Iraqi schools. One specific school that the podcast focused on was Al-Safini Middle School, which is located in Adhamiya, but serves to educate young girls from all over Baghdad. The podcast speaks of the increasing amount of violence in Iraq which has impacted the struggle to move forward throughout the school year. Yet when the students and teachers were interviewed they spoke of their refusal to give up. There are 225 students who attend the school, who are presented with violence just on the way to school, when the streets are packed and white Americans are searching the area. The teachers come from a wide range of experience, all who are striving to give the children something they deserve. The problems of violence do not just pertain to Adhamiya, but arise all over the place in Iraq schools. One young girl spoke of how she has gotten used to the shootings and violence that surround her country, and is not fearful of this violence. Another girl spoke how she could not one day attend school while Americans were searching her district. The numbers of students have dropped in schools, and many students are being forced to quit schools by choice, through their parents, or through the violence. The students are in a classroom, all in school uniforms, and most wearing veils as well. At the beginning and end of the podcast there was a brief view of the streets right outside of the school, while the children were gathered around outside before school. A viewer may learn a lot about this podcast, I had, and was not aware of the streets being crowded and the amount of decreasing students attending school daily. One memorable thing that I found was how one student said that she was not scared of the violence that is surrounded throughout her community and society.