We have a friend who is a young college student in Ecuador. She has a dilemma: she may only date if she is chaperoned by an aunt. The problem is, her mother has no sisters.
She must carefully evaluate a young man she meets. She won't ask herself whether she likes him or if she might like to date him. She must consider whether he is worth the expense to her parents of hiring a doula.
I have 4 sisters, but we live too far apart to supervise our nieces' dating (for which, I am sure, they are very thankful). It almost seems a shame not to have the opportunity to more fully develop the relationship and roles of sister to something beyond being the children of the same parents.
Three years ago, I met a group of women in Atacucho, Ecuador. They struggle to feed, clothe and educate their children. They had no electricity or clean, potable water in their homes. Their babies often died of preventable illnesses before their first birthdays.
The members of my all-women's medical mission team pooled some money to help these women, and purchased beads for their necklace-making cottage industry. They requested we come up with a name for their project and we suggested: "Hermana a Hermana," Sister-to-Sister. We bought a few of their necklaces and helped them sell more.
Today, this women's co-op makes enough money to send their children to school. They have purchased 3 treadle sewing machines to makes clothing and purses to sell. They petitioned the local government and obtained electricity for their homes. They hold parenting classes and Bible studies in the church they helped to build. Because of their sisters, from another culture and land, they have hope for a better future for their children.
How do you define sisterhood? Is it a relationship of sharing yourself in serving others because you share the same Father? To borrow a phrase from Fred Rogers, "Won't you be my sister?"
