Please explain to me how I have cursed women? Should I encourage women to get an education? Should anyone encourage women to have a lot of children and cannot provide for them? Should I encourage women to lean on a poor man? Pastor, I am surprised at your response to me.

I have talked to relatives very often on the phone and they tell me that a loaf of bread is about $100. There are so many relatives who are stressing me out and constantly asking for things. I had to stop communicating with them. I am a single woman who is taxed a whole lot because I don't have a dependant. Everything in this country you have to pay tax on. I am college educated and still it is not easy. You pay tax on food, clothes, shoes, service on your car, tax on phone bill, electric bill, etc. Do I need to go on?

So tell me what should I be saying to these women?

H.R., U.S.A.

Dear H.R.,

I am sure that you mean well, but you cannot blame other women for the pressures your relatives are putting on you. In the letter you wrote, you expressed anger and disgust at women in Third-World countries. You did not empathise with them at all. You gave the impression that those who are struggling to meet their needs are in that state because they are careless and worthless. That is not necessarily true.

You need to give thanks to God for what you have been able to accomplish. And at the same time, you need to learn how to empathise with women who are not doing well. Yes, you have encouraged many of them to go back to school. But while you are doing so, you are condemning them.

Pastor