RELIGIOUS GARBAGE

Women in sub Saharan Africa are not mostly allowed to express themselves due to culture and in some instances the religion they practice. Islam does not permit women to have an opinion especially in traditional Islamic settings, women are relegated to the background by men.

This year's eid-el-fitr, I decided to go visit a friend with his family. After meeting him somewhere, we drove a 7mins drive to his home. Upon entering his home, his little daughter came to greet her dad, my friend and me. One thing that stroke me is that my friend's wife was in the room but she could not come out because she was not wearing a veil. She was asking her husband to pass her the veil on the cushion as she can not come out to see me without a veil. I was shocked and surprise because why would someone in their home not be free?

Anyways, after sometime she came out to say hello without the veil and I was bothered as to why she did not came out earlier on without the veil and now she is going about without the veil while am still around. I felt bad because I thought maybe she had a premonition that I was a sexual pervert who will lust after her by seeing her without a veil.

For a society to grow to her full potential, those living in that society most question the things that has been handed down to them by the parents. But the parents or the older generation hold the younger generation by giving them the room to raise fundamental questions as to their ways of life. A society that does not raise questions will be stagnated for generations to come.

How different will it be if my friend's wife had asked why she is not permitted to see a man without a veil? Religion has never helped sustained the growth of any nation but men who raised questions have immensely helped in building any nation of the world. Africa needs to move ahead and drop some cultural and religious garbage for her to catch up with the rest of the world.