So what do you want to be when you grow up, Little Girl?

The medical clinic offered our daughters a great opportunity to learn more about different career options in the medical field. They worked closely with nurses, lab techs, pharmacists and doctors. They saw how PAs might work with doctors by observing the close working relationship between Dr. Bill and the Mexican paramedics. They translated symptoms, treatments and prescription instructions to help bridge the language gap between American healthcare professionals and Spanish-speaking Mexicans. So a natural question might follow this experience...

"So have these experiences created any new interest in careers in the medical field for you?" asks Mom.

The irony is that, in the midst of this micro-practicum experience, our daughters were surrounded by girls who will likely never be asked such a question. Just as it is assumed in our family that the girls will graduate from high school, go to college and pursue a career, it is assumed that these girls will not. It is assumed that they will marry and have as many babies as their bodies will permit. They may or may not go to primary and secondary school, even though there is free, compulsory education until 6th grade. "Free" is a relative term when uniforms and school supplies must be purchased. And "compulsory" is a relative term when there are no truant officers or enforcement officials. Very few will go to high school (or "prepatoria") since doing so requires living in a larger community away from their parents, paying tuition, buying uniforms, school supplies and textbooks, and arranging for room & board with family. For a girl to go to "university" is really quite rare and usually only considered by families who have had some exposure to American or European culture or those with professional parents.

On one hand, this seems so sad to me....for their fate to be decided for them so thoughtlessly. It seems like a wasted opportunity for girls and young women to discover their full capabilities and to honor God by using one's gifts to benefit a larger spectrum of the world.

On the other hand, their lives are blessed with simplicity that spares them the agonies so typically faced by young adults today. They never worry about whether their choice of high school courses will meet the approval of college admissions counselors. They never struggle to inch up their GPA by a few tenths of a point to improve their class rank. They never face the incredible anxiety of taking the SAT, GRE, LSAT or MCAT. They never have to choose a major. They don't have to worry about how they will pay back college loans, afford to strike out on their own, or survive without the comforts of being surrounded by family or friends. They aren't bombarded with credit card applications tempting them into thinking that they can afford a certain lifestyle. They never worry about whether they can make partner, get tenure or earn a merit raise.

They grow up surrounded by mentors - mothers, grandmothers, aunts and neighbors who teach them how to do all the things they will need to do over the course of their lives. They teach them by example and with patient instruction as well.

I know this because Holly was honored with a tortilla making lessons by the women of the village while we were in Tenango. They patiently showed her what to do, coached her, encouraged her and didn't criticize her first pitiful attempts. She learned how to pluck the hard field corn off the cob, how to wash it (with what had to be contaminated water), how to cook it, grind it into paste, how to form the tortillas and cook them on a large platter over an open fire.

We see girls as young as 5 or 6 years old carrying their younger siblings in the traditional sling and caring for them as if they were their own children. We see older girls caring for sibs, but they're also cooking and caring for the family home. Families live close together in little compounds - with each family having a separate dwelling for sleeping but communal cooking and gathering areas. These girls will grow up, get married, have lots of babies and follow in the same traditions as those before her. Their lives are poor, their exposure to the broader world virtually non-existent, and their work and lives demanding on their bodies. But they seem to be genuinely very happy. As they mature, they will be surrounded by a support system of family. They will likely never struggle through a personal crisis alone. They will know how to do the tasks of daily life so mindlessly that they will be able to talk and laugh throughout their day, and their lives will revolve around activities at their church.

Gee...makes the American way for girls seem pretty outrageous, huh?