Mountain Orchard

We visited friends in their village today and drove up into the mountains with them to their orchard and vineyard (L stayed down in the village with her friends to man the family's shop and play cards).

I had a tense conversation with the mum whose daughter has been friends with R for nearly 7 years now. She's a couple of years older but only year 8 at school. She thinks her daughter should get married soon and not finish school. And she has to marry a relative. I tried to encourage her to let her finish school but she wasn't going to agree with me. It's very sad, but at the same time, with their outlook on life I can see where they're coming from. If the education system taught girls to think, reason, problem solve it would be different. But rote learning boring information- maybe they've got a point (not that I agree with them). This is a new stage of life here I think.