I was rushing to get the pharmacy to get some relief meds from the chicken pox for my daughter. I had already spoken to the pharmacist so I knew they were closing at 6 and she knew I was on my way. But there was traffic light out and I realised that I might be there shortly after – between 2 and 5 minutes later. So I called again to say I am almost there if she could wait for me. She said no. They close at 6.
So plan B.
With meds secured and daughter asleep in my arms, my thought drifted to our humanity in these situations. At first, I felt the pharmacist lacked humanity – 5 minutes, for meds. It should be a no brainer. But maybe she needed to rush off to get her child from child care, or that the transport she uses, or .… Perhaps circumstances or the system kept her from her humanity.
I thought about all the medicine women and men in the in pre-colonialism/pre-capitalist societies. They didn’t keep opening hours, or restricted their medicine or knowledge to those who could pay. The system allowed them to express their humanity.
This system keeps us from out humanity.
Mother | Wife | Unschooler | Education Freedom Advocate | Child Rights Advocate | Learning Reimagined Conference Convenor | She/Her
For the last 25 years, Zakiyya has been experimenting with living and learning in freedom, also known as unschooling. She is an advocate for freedom in education. Her three children have never been to school, living instead as if the idea of schooling doesn’t exist. She has been supporting and has been consistently sharing her reflections on the intersections of unschooling with decolonisation, social change and unschooling’s foundational role in social justice. She convened the Learning Reimagined Conferences of 2017 and 2018, both groundbreaking in their own rights with the 2018 conference being the first conference globally to focus on the socio-political dimensions of Unschooling, Decolonisation and Social Change.