This I Believe

Journalist Edward R. Murrow started "This I Believe" 60 years ago. His opening remarks remain relevant today. You can read them here.

I wrote a "This I Believe New England" essay in honor of Women’s History Month for my local radio station, The Public’s Radio, about how we started Women’s Education Initiative.

Here’s the link to the audio broadcast. And I’ve posted the essay below.

In 2003, I had a visa for Kuwait, and I planned to cover the Iraq War. As an international journalist, I’d been covering conflict and its aftermath since 1990—in Liberia, Iraq, Somalia, Eritrea, Mozambique, Afghanistan.

I had, in retrospect, what I’ll call an emotional breakdown. I bailed on the Iraq War and went to the Philippines to earn my scuba instructor rating. 

I dodged the war, but I nearly killed myself in an ATV accident in the jungles on a small island in the Philippines. I shattered my wrist and required immediate surgery.

I believe that bad breaks often lead to good things.

I arrived alone at St. Patrick’s Hospital on Easter weekend.

“Where’s your companion?”

The nurses, doctors, everyone who entered my room asked the same question. Filipinos always stay with family or friends in the hospital. They would never leave a loved one alone. They could not fathom my situation.

The owner of the dive shop where I’d trained sent one of the waitresses from his resort to be my companion. 
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I learned that Leah had abandoned her dreams of becoming a teacher when her father died.  She abandoned her schooling, left her tiny village and traveled to Mindoro to find work. She sent her wages home; and, with her tips alone, she paid for the construction of the single room cinderblock home where her family lived.

Leah was with me when I settled my hospital bill for $2,500. “How will you ever pay it, Cheryl,” she asked, with tears welling. 

I learned from the doctor who treated my post-op wounds that an equivalent sum would pay for a college education. I asked Leah if she’d like to go to college. She said yes. I paid.

Leah’s story and accomplishments inspired people in her country and mine; so I created a nonprofit to continue the good work we’d all done together. Women's Education Initiative. To date, we’ve supported women scholars in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Rwanda, Malaysia

The idea for Women's Education Initiative began by accident, literally. With a couple bad breaks.

As I write this essay, I am recovering from ankle surgery. During this pandemic, I’ve been thinking about brokenness. How my mental break in 2001 led to my broken wrist in the Philippines—which eventually led to funding Leah’s education, which led to her dream career as a third-grade teacher.

Breaking requires time to heal. For me, who’s always buzzing/moving/flitting in mind and body, a break in my mind, a broken bone, a shattered wrist, my shredded ankle, all have forced me at crucial moments in my life to stop, be still, ask for help and trust that I need time to heal. And wait for the next good thing to reveal itself.

Copyright 2021 Cheryl Hatch/ALL RIGHTS RESERVED