The Unheard Voices of Afghanistan

February 2011

The Unheard voices of Afghanistan

My view of Afghanistan from the inside

Surprises!!

1. Treatment of women, and the societal acceptance of their subservience

2. Pop culture on telly replicating western telly crazes

3. Voices of young people who hold out unwavering hope for their country

Interview with ‘Salma’ 8.2.11 Mazaar-E-Sharif

Translater Zahara Qadir

Salma was born 35 years ago in a village close to the Iranian border into a liberal, educated family, she remembers being happy when she was a child, because Afghanistan (Afg) was peaceful, she sees her happiness as dipping along-side the political stability of the country.

She remembers being free in her parents’ house. Salma was the oldest daughter of 9, she recounts that her whole family were refugees in Iran during the Soviet times, and one of her brothers was killed as they crossed the border at age 14, being the eldest daughter, Salma was married to a local boy at 14. She says that she didn’t want to get married, she wanted to continue studying, she was top of her class when she stopped going to school and became a wife and mother. She is illiterate but she possesses a natural eloquence in her speech, she likens herself to an apple tree that hasn’t had enough water, the water in this case being education.

She remembers there being no opportunities in Afg in 2005- no fuel, no transport, no employment , but the situation is getting better.

She says that she dreams of studying and being in control of her life, and she wanted to be an activist who would fight for freedom and women’s rights. She explains that freedom is happiness and culture ‘All humans should be free’; ‘there should be a difference between humans and animals’.

Life became hard when she got married, she came from an educated liberal family, but her husband was from the land, she says she ‘felt like a fish who was left out of water, and was suffocating’ She lived in despair.

She said when she started to have children, she worried about their futures ‘theres no point in having children if you can’t offer them anything’. She kept getting pregnant, she didn’t want to have more children but had no means of controlling her fertility.

She has 8 children, 7 boys and 1 girl, they are all progressing in their lives, and they have enough food. She reflects that she worked really hard to ensure that they had enough food. Her daughter goes to school and was given an opportunity to go to Italy over her brothers. ‘ Now my dream is to watch them to be educated’. She says she is happy that she has not got pregnant again for 7 years, she is using a coil, and acknowledges that despite her husband’s different background he is open to learning, and is supportive with her using contraception

Salma says she ‘loves people who understand humanity, who understand the value of respecting others’ lives’. She feels respected by her family and those around her.

Dreams;

For self and family-That her children will be educated, free thinking, open-minded and learn to respect humanity; she says she wants her sons to travel, and invite interesting people (like us) to Afghanistan.

For Afghanistan- Tailban out, women educated, peace and freedom for all

What does she think about women in Afg?

· Womens’ problems are related to political problems

· Whats limiting women is the insecurity in Afg

· If there was peace women would be able to progress

Today Salma says that her life is good, she asks me what I think of her life, what to say? I think she is gifted and feel frustrated at how restricted her life is, but don’t feel it is helpful to say that, so I say that I cannot judge her life as I am on the outside, but I like her children.

I thank her for sharing her story with me, and she responds by thanking me and saying

‘my heart feels lighter for telling my story’

“Khosh bakt Salma” I whisper to her as she kisses my hands, the ultimate sign of respect in Afg culture.

Salma is lucky, she has a brother who is very supportive of her quest to become literate, and she will one day be able to attend adult education classes.

She is right girls’ education correlates with a nations’ development, SAGE (Strategic Alliances for Girls’ Education) list multiple reasons why the education of girls is important;

· A reduction in infant and maternal mortality rates

· Contributes to social development

· Women will have smaller families and support the education of their children

· Increases economic productivity and stability by increasing the income of the poor

· Promotes civil and international peace, as well as cultural tolerance

· Social equity

“With education girls can reach higher goals”

(SAGE)

Dubai or is it the aplocalypse?!!

Crikey 2 nights in Dubai over my trip were certainly enough. we were entertained by the lovely Ramin there who showed us round, and hosted with a generosity of spirit that can be relied upon.
It is a city that was built for the car not the community.
The false economy and materialistic and impersonal society leans heavily on throngs of people from Sri lanka, Pakistan and Southern India who work really hard doing menial tasks, whist the bankers lord it up with over indulgence on food, drink, consumerism and cleanliness.
Everyone we spoke to said they hated Dubai and next year they were going home, watch and see how Dubai crashes when this mass migration takes place!!
Man-made environment that feels like a film set, I felt surprised to see birds flying around, when they don't conform to the plastic feeling environment!!
" I saw a $12 million diamond table football- only in Dubai!!"- Ramin

Life in Afghanistan

Traffic control- Traffic wardens exist here too..... and we had an encounter with one today.... we parked somewhere they did not like but the the 'ticket' was not so visible, and more dangerous!! We only discovered we had been 'done' by a tw because when we stopped for some snacks at the roadside the boy who served us pointed out that our front wheel was flat, so Khalid got it topped up, and he explained to me that this was something that traffic wardens did- they would unscrew the wheel valve and then put a stone inside and rescrewed it on! Yikes- if this was the practise here imagine the health and safety uproar!!
In Herat we got stopped by the police for having tinted windows- they actually were quite unpleasant- there is no GIZ training here, and you can notice a difference in the police- they didn't bargain for Khalid who is very well connected, and soon realised they had gone too far. However this incident made us think about how difficult things are here for the average person.
Herat lies near the Iranian border and lots of women wear the same cloak that is popular in Iran, but the majority are in Burquas, and women in neither get perved on by both men and women!! Life is very restricted for women in Afghanistan, Zahra says that she has met women who have never left their house. Certainly we see women in Burquas walking several paces behind their husbands.
I saw some kids running screaming out of shopping mall with armfuls of merchandise, the cause of their scream soon became clear when a I saw a guy coming behind them swinging a lead- I felt like I was watching a scene from Oliver Twist- grrrrrim
I observed that there is not the same hierachy between rich and poor or tribes/ castes as in Pakistan.
One of Zahara's employees came in one day with a black and white photocopy with Farsi writing and a photo in the corner, he told us that his cousin had been caught smuggling drugs over the border, and executed by the Iranian authorities who had sent the piece of paper with a note to say they would not return his body. This was the 8th member of his family that this had happened to, and he said he knew it was wrong, but people often don't have a choice, as they were poor and there are no jobs, he was worried about his brother's children in Iran, and anxious to get them back to Afghanistan as they had no one now.
Gems of Afghanistan;Kabul museum, Daral'aman ullah khan palace in Kabul, City of Bactria in Balkh, Minarets of Herat, Khwaja Abdullah Ansari's Shrine in Herat
The doorbell went one morning, and it was the local mosque demanding their payment; they demand a monthly tax from all the local houses, and if you don't pay your house will be 'marked' and they will make trouble for you as a non-Muslim!!

surrendering to the present

My Farsi is coming on thanks to our lovely co-hosts in Mazaar-e-Shariff, young teenage boys, altho Rosie is leaps ahead in terms of getting to grips with the language, being fluent in 2/3 languages opens pathways in ones' brain and thus makes it easier to pick up even more. I spoke to my Granny today and handed the phone over to my new friend Masood, so he chatted to her very competently and charmingly, she was impressed with his English, I think he was too!!
I have embarked on a wee creative project consisting of interviewing people I meet and asking them about their lives in Afghanistan and their hopes for the future, so I spent the morning here chatting to the families who live here, as I am not allowed out alone it is fortunate that lots of people live in my accommodation who are happy to talk to me. Very interesting material to work with, and as it is developed I will upload it and put the link onto this blog. I feel in a very powerful position to challenge some of the negative perceptions about Afghanistan.
Me and Rosie went and spent the evening in a state maternity hospital yesterday, it was sooooo interesting, I saw my 1st birth, a gorgeous wee boy who I called Ramin. The experience was interesting from many perspectives, there were not enough staff for a busy ward, but there were trained midwives and an anaethetist, and a gynacologist, facilities were minimal, but better than places Rosie had worked in Africa apparently. A women only space, so burquas came flying off- and we were pleased to see that beautiful faces were revealed beneath them, prior to this we wondered if the invisible faces were hard or sweet.
We have a flight booked to Herat but there have been no flights for the last couple of days, tomorrow we go apparently, we will see, the roads through the mountains are blocked with snow- on the news today there was a report showing many people stranded in metres of snow on the road to Kabul.
We will see, we are loving the act of surrendering to the experiences that are here......

Afghan Stars

Writing this from Mazar-e-Sharif- 'Tomb of the Saint', the largest city in the North. I understand now why Zahra says that Kabul is the most cosmopolitan city in Afg, probably 80% of women wear burqa's on the street here, there is a big Blue Mosque in the centre which is supposedly the shrine of Ali, son-in-law of mohammed. Its a lovely place, quite different from the blue mosque in Tabriz, but also we observed run like a business rather than a place of worship!!

Afghanistan is a complicated place riddled with contradictions-

there is some unexpected pop culture here, which possibly indicate a changing society, for example a programme alikened to 'Have I got news for you?' called 'Zange Khatar'- a political piss take of the Arabian political situation- apparently the most popular programme on Afghan tv- asks questions like 'Why don't other Islamic nations offer help?', in a jokey sarcy manner. Zahra says it has not been banned because it is the only country in this part of the world that supports freedom of speech (admittedly only in some things).

I am loving the break from homogenisation that exists in the west, westernisation hasn't reached here, people don't ask us about David Beckham et al, and no Tescos!! Altho there is an enthusiasm for Bollywood here, no US/ UK materialistic culture.

However another popular Afghan tv show- Afghan Star- a stan version of Britain's got talent- with a featuring an awesome female role model Mozda Jama-Lzada- she is a Canadian Afghan, and like Zahra came back here as an adult, she wears a headscarf on tv but in a very casual way!!

We are being shown an interesting and historical side of Afghanistan, as tourists and guests of a really interesting couple. We visited an orphanage, run by Khalid's sister, Ziba (beautiful), lovely kids, who are in very vulnerable positions with no family, but lucky enough to be resident of this progressive orphanage, there are 11 and they all support education of both girls and boys.

Zahra and Khalid have some interesting projects, one they support is a police training academy, in collaboration with the German police, they have training academies for police teaching them about human rights, communication etc....Where women are employed and given equal pay, and rights, part of an attempt to address the negative attitude towards women in Afg. Certainly everywhere we go we are looked after by the police, and Z+K say this is reflects the changing attitudes towards women.

A true gem we visited in Balkh province- an ancient city called Bactria, ruined walls encircling a expanse of dusty land sprinkled with ancient relics that maybe more than 6000 years old- it has never been excavated, and if the relics on the surface are anyhting to go by, there will be many more treasures to uncover! It will hopefully one day be dug out properly and by folk who are honest and will hand over any of the country's treasures to someone who will enable it to be appreciated by generations of Afghans to come.....

We went to a Boz Kashi match today, female goat pulling, friday is a holiday, and people flocked into Mazar with their horses to participate in what seemed to be a crazy mash up. The aim of the game was for the riders to drag a headless calf from one end of the pitch to another.... It was certainly impressive, with massive healthy horses, and colourful riders.

Postcards will come, but they might take 8 months to arrive!!!!

Chush mite margh bullah (Your eyes are beautiful.....)

My first post in Kabul, Afghanistan- WOWee just about sums it up. I am very lucky to be being hosted by the very generous and loving Zahra and Khalid in their home in Kabul.
The title refers to a response in Farsi to compliments, and people say the above to indicate that they see beauty because they are beauty. Nice, its a beautiful language- and we are slowly picking bits up, for example' Khoob asti?', a question which works from the default setting of being/ feeling good.
We arrived late this morning from Dubai to be welcomed by the passport control and told that the world thinks that Afghanistan is a dangerous place, but we will see that it is not...' translated by the gorgeous Zahra of course who doesn't leave our sides. It is minus degrees here but it doesn't feel it, as it is a dry cold, which reminds me of Ladakh, similarly the high altitude affects the sensory experience of the climate. The sun shines strongly in the day though, and we were surprised to see that the temperature was only five degrees when it seemed warm.
Beautiful moments are in abundance, in particular when ones' expectations do not correspond. The police in Kabul are very friendly, and happily let us through a check point to take photographs of a frozen lake, and of them beneath a sign for the only golf course in the whole of Afg which proudly denotes 'Kabul Golf Course'. Apparently the polce are less friendly outside of Kabul, but here they seem jolly and friendly. A nice surprise indeed.
Zahra has a naughty Alsation puppy 'Abrash' who keeps us entertained, and a lovely team of folk who live and work in her house.
I have an Afghan sim now, but not sure of the number, so if you want to contact me send me a email.
Feeling very tired, its been a busy few days, from London to Dubai, to Kabul......All in three days.
I will write about my Dubai exp later.
Feeling fine here in Afg, please be reassured that I am in safe hands, and in a fantastic position to see a mysterious country from the inside.

Paradise beach

I am with both new and old friends living a dream on a golden sandy beach, where dolphins swim into the bay and play every sunrise and sunset. I had one encounter swimming with them but the water was too murky to see but there was a moment when I was surrounded by air bubbles so I think that they were checking me out. Everytime I see them my heart flips, they are such awesome creatures and seem to interpret and illustrate time in such a engeniously unique fashion.
I have finished a 5 day fast , water only for 3 days then fruit juice for 2 days. I feel good, I have found a great yoga teacher here from the UK who is inspiring me to ease my way back into yoga , and 'touch the stillness' once more after being distracted by my journey into meditation for the previous months.
I am staying in a hut on a beach shaped like an OM, in the centre, I live with some beautiful folk and we are like a family in our living habits, I have met a friend who I did vipassana with in McCloud Ganj back in October, and my dear travel companion Ani. Our place is a place where babies are born, cows guard their newborns with fierce protectiveness and dogs share their pups with glee.....