The “Big Read” Winner: Christina Holder

May 8th, 2009 12:17 PM UTC
By Emily Stivers

Christina Holder, a ONE member from Georgia, is the winner of our Big Read story contest. Christina’s drive for education in her own life contrasts poignantly with the lack of education she observes while researching human rights in Zambia, and she has used her education to fight for education for others through her involvement with ONE.

Christina’s story will be published in The Big Read, a storybook promoting literacy and education worldwide. ONE and the Global Campaign for Education will present this book to President Obama on June 16, the Day of the African Child. Please click here add your name to The Big Read to show your support for global education.

Here is Christina’s story:

Education for Social Transformation
By Christina Holder, GA

On a recent sun-filled afternoon, I walked through one of Lusaka, Zambia’s dusty, high-density neighborhoods to survey community awareness of human rights and the country’s development goals. I was accompanied by Mwambi, one of the local law students with whom I am collaboratively writing a human rights based assessment of the national development plan.

The purpose of our survey was to gauge whether the government is fulfilling its obligations to raise awareness of human rights among Lusaka’s low-income residents, and to engage them in the process of national development. As we went door-to-door, it became clear that few people knew about their human rights, even fewer had heard of the Millennium Development Goals, and no one had heard of Zambia’s Fifth National Development Plan.

Our findings were not surprising, as many of the individuals we interviewed had not completed primary school, and some — especially the girls and women — had never set foot in a classroom. Lacking a strong educational foundation, they were deprived of exercising their right to know about and participate in the economic and social development of their country.

Halfway through the afternoon, we approached a young man and asked him to complete our survey. He was reluctant at first. I explained that I am a human rights lawyer from the United States, Mwambi is a law student from the University of Zambia, and together we are studying local knowledge of human rights and development.

“So you are learning as you teach her,” he observed with approval. After he finished the survey, he reflected that while he had completed grade twelve, most people in his community could not afford to pay the hidden costs associated with Zambia’s supposedly “free” education system. He lamented that without a basic education, these people cannot hold the government accountable for ensuring that national development benefits them and the majority of other Zambians who live in extreme poverty.

The young man’s words lingered with me, as they clarified my own understanding of the meaning of education. First, basic education is the means through which people make sense of themselves and their world. Without access to primary and secondary education that is free, quality, and compulsory, children are deprived of the opportunity to develop skills necessary to live a dignified and productive life. This deprivation not only violates their human rights to education and self-actualization, but also prevents them from contributing to the sustainable development of their communities.

After living in Zambia for eight months, I am keenly aware of how fortunate I am to have received a solid elementary, middle and high school education through the public education system in Augusta, Georgia. My education developed me as a whole person. I studied core academic subjects as well as art, drama, foreign languages, and policy debate.

It was the last subject — policy debate — that I fell in love with. Guided by a devoted high-school English teacher who doubled as my debate coach, I researched and formulated policy solutions to solve everything from reforming the juvenile justice system to mitigating global warming. Weekend after weekend, I orally advocated for my policy proposals at debate tournaments, accompanied by a teacher who gave up his free time so his students could develop their minds and their passions.

After high school, I enrolled in an individualized study program at New York University, which allowed me to design my own curriculum. I put the law into dialogue with women’s studies, African studies, and globalization studies. I volunteered to teach debate at a Brooklyn high school, and taught debate at Rikers Island Penitentiary, helping my students think through solutions to problems ranging from nuclear weapons proliferation to violence in public schools.

By the end of college, I knew my professional calling was human rights law. After completing my legal education at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of law, I am living my dream by promoting human rights based approaches to development as a human rights law fellow in Zambia. Here, I am building the capacity of non-governmental organizations and regular citizens to use human rights law as a tool to hold the government accountable for achieving pro-poor development.

My education has allowed me to identify my interests, develop my talents, and achieve my personal goals. It also has given me the tools to understand and challenge social injustice. Through my education, I have learned how many international economic policies deepen the divide between rich and poor countries. I have learned how all countries have legal obligations to promote the basic human rights of individuals inside and outside their borders.

Since college, I have used my knowledge to fight poverty by promoting better American policies in the areas of foreign aid, debt relief, and international trade. Joining my voice with other ONE members, I have helped convince the American government to increase resources to reverse the HIV and AIDS pandemic, reduce the debt of impoverished countries, and resist reductions to foreign aid.

Education has allowed me to understand and to transform my world. Every individual deserves this opportunity. Solutions to global problems such as extreme poverty and sustainable development require the creative participation of each of the world’s citizens. Those of us who have received a basic education have the moral obligation to reciprocate by sharing our own knowledge with others, and by demanding that our governments take steps to ensure that every child — regardless of his or her country — is empowered with knowledge to change the world.

Thanks to Christina and everyone else who shared a story.

-Emily Stivers

TAGS: Big Read, Spotlight