SEEING AFGHANS

Wondering who will be next, I think about the Iraqis I met in 2002, six months before American boots landed on their ground. A stream of memories courses through my mind as I picture the Afghans I spent time with in 2005. The boys who survived the past eleven years of rampant violence are now young men "of military age," at risk of being targeted by U.S. drones or other weaponry. The women are subjected to the rule of warlords, oppressive regimes and the traditions of their country, regardless of what government is in charge.
I wanted to see beyond the burqas Western media loved to portray. I wanted to see for myself whether the women were completely cowed by their fathers, husbands, government, Imams, elders and warlords. So in 2005 I signed on to a women-focused trip to Afghanistan with Global Exchange. Some women did wear burqas, though few women covered their faces in Kabul, where most of our time was spent.

This photo was taken from my guest house window.
Another day "a woman walked toward the building with the short front panel of her burqa tossed back off her face...(usually when a woman wore a burqa only their hands were visible) I impulsively grabbed my camera and from behind the curtain pointed it toward the woman. I felt certain she couldn't see me. But she hurriedly pulled her burqa over her face again and I immediately felt ashamed at my intusion. As soon as she passed my window she flipped her burqa off her face again, then looked back over her shoulder with a big, devilish grin. As if to say "Gotcha!" She clearly wore the burqa exactly as she chose. Page 237. SfM

 On a very rare trip outside of Kabul we visited an area that had hundreds of land mines. We were fitted with protective garb and watched the workers, with slow, tedious labor, get rid of land mines one by one to make the area inhabitable.

These posters were hanging on the walls of some NGO offices. They reminded me of posters that were on the walls of the University YWCA in the '70s and '80s in Seattle, where Seattle Rape Relief started. Or in the Women's Institute where I started the Abused Women's Network.

This woman is a dynamic doctor whose clinic we were scheduled to visit. But it turned out to be too dangerous, so she came to us. She was raising funds to pay for a doctor's housing and office near the clinic because no one would work there unless living  expenses for their families were paid for.

Hossai Andar was a Parliamentary candidate I interviewed after the rest of the group left. I asked if she had a message for Americans. "I came one week ago from a training at Chico State University in California," she said. "It was very good for me because before I went there I thought the U.S government and the people's policies were the same. But after I met people in the U.S.A. I saw that they are different....When I came back I knew that Americans want a good life for all people and peace in Afghanistan."

 

This woman was distressed because she owned a beauty shop, and since NGOs had been overrunning Kabul, the rents had gone up. Her shop rent increased 400 percent, so she had to give it up.The beauty style is rather like Bollywood. She came to the home of Mitra for my interview.

Mitra had recently received a micro loan which enabled her to buy a second sewing machine and hire a second employee.
Many of the dresses they made were for special occasions such as weddings, where black is the appropriate color.

She hopes to buy a third machine and to hire another worker.

She loved showing of her work and

said her husband was happy that
she earned more money than he did.

Soroya works for an NGO that arranges micro loans. Our group interviewed her, but I wanted to talk to the women who actually received the loans, women like Mitra. I stayed two days after the group left.

Mitra is full of life and optimism.

She talks fast and with great emotion.

This is Mitra's new worker

 This is one of our guides. She is standing in front of the jail, which we had hoped to visit. Girls like the waifs above are often picked up by police for running away to escape a forced marriage. In jail many of them are never charged with any crime. Their families may not want them back, so they are incarcerated for long periods with no hope of relief.

The children are the hope of the future.

This was at the school owned by our guest house

hosts. We were told it was okay to photographs,
but obviously some young girls were shy when they
saw the camera. Usually children were happy to
be photographed. Many of the girls in other class rooms
did not wear scarfs.

Soroya Ebaddi is an administrator in the school
where the girls learn sewing, among other lessons.
She was a candidate for Parliament, but she lost. I asked her what she would like to see changed.
 "No wars, no discrimination, no problems for
anyone. Everyone will respect each other. Human
rights. No problems of guns and wars."
Page 242. SfM.