Page 12-THE NEWS-September, 1984
Project Renewal — Part II
Teen-Age Mothers and Drop-Out Fathers
By Marvin Bienstock
The Effect Of The Life Pattern
Of Adolescent Girls
The pressure for early mar
riage is extreme and comes
from both peers and parents.
The latter include parents of
the girls and parents of eligi
ble husbands. Believing their
parents to be acting in their
best interests, the girls accept
the arranged marriages and
move in with their husband’s
parents. If they have an inten
tion of continuing their school
ing, it is typically discouraged
or vetoed by the mother-in-law
whose word is law.
Education is compulsory in
Israel only through grade 10
(age 15). The Gurzini go to
school in their neighborhood
through grade 6 then must
continue at a school in another
location. This move out of the
neighborhood is threatening
to the protective parents of
Gruzini girls, so, married or
not, they are typically forced
to quit school after grade 10.
If they become pregnant,
before completing grade 10,
the school itself expells them.
Under this pattern, a Gruzini
girl becomes a woman at age
13-14. It is almost a logical
outcome that, among those
girls who do not marry, there
will be some who will see
themselves as adults sexually
and who will drift into
prostitution.
For the married girls, life
becomes a routine of child
bearing, child care and taking
care of the home of their in
laws. Their husbands are often
of age for the required 3 years
of notary service and may be
absent from the house. The
social life and contacts of
these quasi-women are careful
ly controlled by the mother-in-
law and they can only look for
ward to the time when they
will be of age to go to work in
one of the two factories.
One of the programs we
visit^ (Tehila) is an education
program for a group of these
girls (15-22) who have found
the courage to break the pat
terns and to try and continue
their education.
Dressed in “high fashion”
because it is their weekly
highlight, some 15-20 of them
gather three times a week at
the community center to
study basic skills in reading
and writing along with
secretarial skills as a resource
for future employment. When
asked what else they would
like to study, the universal
answer was “English". The in
structor is attempting to in
troduce new courses including
hairstyling, but must obtain
permission from the educa
tional system, and this can
take considerable time.
These women are swimming
against the current of their
community. They represent
the first of their group willing
to risk rejection in order to
change life patterns. It will
take them years of part-time
study to complete high school.
Of course, because they are
married and parents, they will
not be able to go into the army
which serves as an education
resource for so many young
people. For those who do not
marry, they must remain at
home, isolated by their
parents and separated from
their married peers. Some of
them participate in the pro
gram we visited. They, along
with the married girls, all
openly state they would not
compel their children to marry
early. However, they add, they
would not oppose a child who
wished to marry young.
The Effect Of The Life Pattern
Of Adolescent Boys
Boys, ages 13-18, who come
from Gruzini homes become
an isolated and self-dependent
peer group. This occurs just at
the time of adolescent rebel
lion and could not constitute a
worse condition. From about
the 8th grade on, adolescent
girls are removed from their
lives. When they have to at
tend schools in another
neighborhood they not only
feel their cultural difference
but they feel a lack of paren
tal encouragement for learning
and a strong mandate from
their parents to return im
mediately back to their own
neighborhood after school.
For these youth, the years
from 13-18 constitute a khid of
HAPPy NEW
BEST WISHES FOR A
Manischewttz
Brand
• Matzos
• Soup Mixes
• Borscht
• Soups
• Matzo Ball Mix
^ Bakit
• Matzo Ball soup
• Matzo Ball Broth
• cefllte Fish
• Whiteflsh & Pike
• Potato Kugel Mix
• Matzo Meal
FIMJIifLT
aEABL
Empire Frozen
Kosher Food
• Pie Crust
• Potato Latkes
• Natural Cut Potatoes
• Challah Dough
• Chall-ettes
• Rye Bread
• Chopped Liver spread
• Chicken
• Breaded Mushrooms
• Pot Pies
• Pizza
• Bagels
• English Muffin Mix
• Frozen Bllntzes
• Bagel Pizza
• Garlic Bread
limbo between compulsory
schooling and compulsory
military education. All the
adolescent socialization skills
between the sexes are denied
to them because the girls have
been withdrawn from their
society. They are essentially
rootless and without purpose.
Under these circumstances a
drift into anti-social behavior
and casual drug use is to be ex
pected. It might be taken as a
sign of the strength of the
Gruzini society that more
severe behavior patterns are
not seen. Just as we saw a pro
gram designed for the young
women, so we observed one for
this age group. The par
ticipants are not volunteers.
They are adjudicated delin
quents along with others
recruited by professional
social workers who work with
the street groups. This small
program of some 12 young
men provides work on a com
pensated basis. The pay is
almost as good as in the
factories.
One project consisted of fix
ing up an apartment to be us
ed as a senior adult center.
Upon completion, the seniors,
as a sign of gratitude, bought
the boys tickets to a pop con
cert at the main center in an
adjacent neighborhod. The
boys scalped the tickets.
There are, of course, excep
tions in every population. One
8th grader approached us to
ask that we fight for a tutorial
program in the neighborhood.
He attends the school in the
other neighborhood and is
unable to remain after school
for tutoring. He and his fami
ly have had to pay for a tutor
out of their pocket and the
resources are very limited. By
his description, there are other
Gruzini boys in the same
situation. Their level of school
work is neither so high or so
poor as to attract special help
and they are in danger of drop
ping out for lack of assistance.
The Effect Of the Life Pattern
On The Children
of Early Marriage
One of the most heartwarm-
ing yet heartbreaking pro
grams we viewed in NI was
the Home Environment
Shelter. Some 20 boys and
g^ls, ages 5-12, gather each
and every day from after
school till 8 p.m. They play,
study, do homework, eat,
bathe, etc. In fact, they do
everything short of going to
sleep. For that they return
home for the briefest of
moments before bedtime. The
program is supervised by a
man and a woman who repre
sent parents in the most
positive sense of the word.
These are the children of
abuse, mostly from Gruzini
homes, and we were told that
the 20 represent one third of
those who should be in such
settings. Were these children
(Continued on Page 17)
pOT/n’C LATKES
Mrs.Ts
KSTfSs:;
OoMon
Kineret Kosher
Frozen Food
• onion Rings
• Puff Pastry Dough
• Ready to Bake aiaiiah
• Bllntzes
• Potato Latkes
Others
• Noodles bv Goodman, Greenfield
and Mrs. Weiss
• Soups by Carmel, croyden House,
Goodman and Telma
• Mother's schav
• Mothers am whiteflsh
• Rokeach Old Vienna Fish
• Rokeach Tomato & Mushroom sauce
• Wolff Groats/Kasha
• Joyva Halvah candy
• Kedem Grape Juice
• Rokeach Pareve coffee creamer
• swee-Touch-Nee Tea Bags
• Pannl Shredded Potato Pancake Mix
• Panni Bavarian Potato Pancake Mix
• Mrs. T's Plerogies
• Athens Filio
500
Tyvola Road.
Charlotte
101
Eastway Drive
Charlotte
3501
Freedom Drive
Charlotte
6320
Albemarle Road
Charlotte
1133
wendover Road
Charlotte
2226
Park Road
Charlotte
11446 E.
independence Blvd
Matthews
2118 W.
Roosevelt Blvd.
Monroe
715
E. innes street
Salisbury
2651
E. Franklin Blvd.
^ Gastonia
2375
Cherry Road
Rock Hill
Hwy. 51
at Park Rd. Ext.
Pineville