Tuesday, September 20th, 2011
Forbidden Lessons tells the story of an extraordinarily brave Afghan-American woman who began raising money and delivering aid during the Afghan Civil War and continued during the Taliban and afterwards. Her first-hand account of her struggles to deliver aid during those times is compelling and enlightening.
A few parts of this book really spoke to me. One was the story of how Suraya was accompanying a load of 10,000 blankets being hauled in three Bedford trucks to Hesar Shahee, an internally displaced persons (IDP) camp outside of Kabul during the civil war. During their trip they were shaken down by gunmen at five different roadblocks and their supply of blankets was dwindling. At the sixth, Suraya was so incensed that she challenged the armed teenaged leader, telling him that if he were a “real man” he would escort her to the camp and help give out the blankets. And he did. In the process, he was converted from a gang leader into a person who would spend the rest of his life helping others. (or so he said when they parted.)
There were other confrontations as well through the years of her bringing aid. She stood up to Taliban as well as the stoned helicopter pilot who wanted to bring extra relatives on their aid delivery trip which would have seriously overloaded the aircraft.
It was interesting that had she been a man, she would have been killed in any of these situations. And while the men she argued with grumbled and spat with anger, in the end she won their respect and often friendship.
Her description of what it was like to be in Kabul during the random bombings of the rival warlords gave me a very vivid context for the stories I’d heard during my own interviews of women going to school or just trying to survive during that time.
Her story also illustrates the error of painting the Taliban with a broad brush. Suraya talked about the shock of seeing the trees from which were hanging the severed limbs and hands of those whom the Taliban had punished. On the other hand, she was also helped by the Taliban Foreign Minister in setting up a clinic in Logar province.
After 9/11 the scope of her organization, Help the Afghan Children (HTAC) grew even more as they established more schools around the country. HTAC has also developed a peace curriculum that facilitates the development of attitudes and behaviors to help people live in harmony. The Ministry of Education is incorporating these courses into the government schools.
Sadeed, Suraya with Damien Lewis. Forbidden Lessons in a Kabul Guesthouse: The True Story of a Woman Who Risked Everything to Bring Hope to Afghanistan. NY: Hyperion Books 2011.
For an annotated bibliography of other books on Afghanistan see my website: http://www.kelseys.net/bibliography/
And my own book continues along….
Posted in Afghanistan, book review, Taliban, women | Comments Off on Book review: Forbidden Lessons in a Kabul Guesthouse
Sunday, August 8th, 2010
Often glossed over in the story of Aisha, the beautiful 18-year-old woman who was disfigured as retribution for running away from her inhuman marriage, was that although it was a Taliban commander who ordered her horrific punishment, it was her husband (also a Taliban commander) who held her down.
This sort of human rights abuse has been going on since pre-history in the form of “blood debt”, a sacrificial attempt at holding the fabric of society together. To redress an offense, the family of the perpetrator gives a child in marriage to the wronged family. In Aisha’s case, she was married off to atone for her uncle having killed of one of her husband’s relatives. These unfortunate women are generally treated as slaves and subject to all kinds of abuse from their husbands, mothers-in-law and other family members.
The perpetrators of this crime against human rights were Taliban, but it didn’t happen because they were Taliban. As with honor killings, the custom of murdering women for destroying the perceived honor of their family, whether proven or only suspected, the blood debt is a means of restoring honor to the family and stability to the society at large. The father and/or brothers who carry it out are following the age-old customs of their culture. Even completely eradicating the Taliban wouldn’t put an end to the brutality of these practices.
Rather, the way to improve human rights in the long run is through rural education in areas such as the village Aisha came from. It’s great that a large number of foreign NGOs are currently working in Afghanistan, some even in remote provinces, to promote education and build schools. As crucial as it is to educate girls, transforming society through human rights education is also important for boys who will grow up to be the ones in control.
However, the best, most sustainable way for this to happen is via Afghan NGOs. Not only are they mostly more cost effective, but they are more likely to be accepted by local people and to weather the changes coming forth in the next few years. We can participate in this by supporting such organizations as The Afghan Institute of Learning (AIL), an NGO founded by Sakina Yacoobi steming from her work in the Afghan refugee camps in Pakistan. AIL’s curriculum, based on the Koran, teaches about women’s and human rights in addition to academics. They spread their work exponentially by training teachers in modern teaching methods and by focusing on opening schools in the rural areas where they are invited. (They have more requests than they can handle and more contributions can help them reach farther.) You can contribute to their work via their American partner, Creating Hope International.
Posted in Afghan Women's Project, Aisha, AWP 2010, education, political, Taliban, women | Comments Off on Commentary on the Aisha NY Times Article
Friday, March 12th, 2010
3-11-10
My purpose in this blog is to be your eyes and ears on the ground, to report what I see and hear. My agenda is to seek out things that are going right, that are working, that can give one cause to hope that in a few years or decades, life for Afghans will be improved. This must also be balanced with other things I see that go in the opposite direction. Afghanistan is a perfect example of the story of the elephant and the blind men who, each feeling a part of the elephant and suppose it to represent the entire animal. I will share the bits and pieces that I discover and leave it to you to draw conclusions, knowing that even this is but a small window into the entire scene.
We met with Professor Akhram of the National Independence Peace and Reconcilliation Commission whose plan for peace is to integrate Afghan Taliban into society. First, he divides Taliban into the (bad) Pakistani Taliban and the (mostly good) Afghan Taliban. Five years ago he (and his cohorts) began meeting with 23 thousand tribal elders all over the country. These elders know how to talk with the villagers to persuade them not to send their kids to join the Taliban and to persuade the Talibs from their villages to give up fighting and join the peace movement. Of the nine thousand who turned in their weapons, 25 of them were high-level Taliban. Those who join get a paper stating their new status which they can present to US soldiers in order to avoid trouble with them. He claims that 85% of the Afghan Taliban are reconcilable, that they agree to schools for girls (as mandated by Islam) and for women to work outside the home. This last is a moot point in the villages.
The downside is the 6,000 Pakistani Taliban (out of 30,000) who are interfering with this peace process and who are funded and controlled by the Pakistani ISI (intelligence service). The Taliban in Marja are of this sort.
We got to meet with Professor Ramani, an ex-Talib, third or fourth from the top, who is now a senator in the parliament. He believes in women’s rights to school and says that as long as the religious conditions are met, women should be allowed to work. He himself has no problem working with women. He said that many of the Taliban excesses were from “wrong thinking because of war times”.
I got to meet with Prof. Akhram a second time and when I mentioned Prof. Ramani to him, he said that he didn’t trust him because he has property in Islamabad, Pakistan, and a whole network of Pakistanis.
When I asked the house guard here at the guest house, he told me that most of even the Afghan Taliban are “bad guys”. Others say that unless they are integrated into society and given jobs, there will be no peace.
I will be asking about this throughout my other interviews.
Posted in Afghan Women's Project, AWP 2010, Other, political, Taliban | 2 Comments »