Appreciating the Value of Education

Education has shaped my life, being the motive behind my parents’ emigration from Argentina to Spain. “Education is the only heritage we can give you” they said, and made sure my sister and I had the best one they could afford to “give us a better future.”

Bienvenidos! Namaste. My name is Sofía Trivelli and I am pursuing a Master’s Degree on International Development with a focus on Human Security at the University of Pittsburgh. You would not be reading this had my parents not have the courage to pack everything and move to Spain in search of prosperity and success. I was born in Madrid but raised in San Sebastian/Donostia in a mixture of Argentinian, Italian and Basque traditions. With such distinct countries in terms of development and difficulties but so close in my everyday life, I became aware of the great differences and contradictions that still exist at a very young age. I have been fortunate enough to get a Bachelor’s degree in Humanities at the University of Navarre, move to the United States to continue my studies and fulfill my dream of interning at the United Nations.

Looking back two generations, my grandmother –one out of thirteen siblings- barely had the minimum six years of education. She has been a housewife her entire life, and although she never had further ambitions, she constantly reminds my sister and I how proud she is of how far we are reaching. With the tenderness and innocence of a grandma’s love for her granddaughter she predicts I will be the president of “some country” one day.

It was at the University of Pittsburgh when I first heard about the Rukmini Foundation from the founders of the organization. Facts such as, a woman in Nepal dying every 4 hours due to complications in birth and the mean years of schooling in Nepal being about 3.2 years (due to girls missing out on education), are not easy to digest, yet they tell a vivid truth: education is still not a right but a privilege.

Let’s stop and think: How would our lives have been without education? In such a highly developed and technologized world it is nearly impossible to imagine life without access to Internet and the news media, without health insurance or even without daily economic transactions. However, that is the reality for millions of children, especially girls all over the world.

An estimated 31 million (!) girls of primary school age and 34 million girls of lower secondary school age around the world were not enrolled in school in 2011 (UNICEF). As a “privileged” educated woman, I decided to join the Rukmini Foundation out of moral duty and obligation. I am eager to put all my knowledge and enthusiasm into practice and not only keep raising awareness but keep increasing the number of girls that will get to enjoy the human right of a quality education.

Sofia