Welcome!
Another
four weeks of compelling work from our writers. After last month's brave piece
about a forced marriage, our writers continued to document the practices that
can impel Afghan women to marry against their will. A few are highlighted
below, including Sana A.'s about the tradition of "baad," which uses a woman to
repay the victim of a crime. We've also had some stunning poetry, including
Roya's remembrances of being fifteen, and Freshta's poem inspired by a young
woman she met while visiting her grandfather in the hospital.
It has
gotten ever harder to pick out the pieces to bring to your special attention
each month because our Afghan writers are going deeper and ranging wider in
their work. Please use the pieces mentioned here as a starting point in
exploring the blog. Major thanks continue to go out to our teachers, who volunteer
with such generosity of spirit to mentor these writers.
Also
thanks to blogmaster and Creative Outreach Director Jeff Lyons and Australia-based
web designer Ben Fogarty of FlipIt Media, who have launched a new, more
interactive website for our blog, all pro-bono. Please note the URL has changed:
www.awwproject.org. Visit, and send others, and let these women know when you
read a piece you especially admire. As always, be in touch with any questions
or comments.
Thank you, Masha Hamilton
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Remembering Fifteen
I am fifteen and
the boy I cannot forget
waits on the street
to see me with my burqa
on the way to Lala's bakery
By Roya Click here to read the full poem.
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The Tradition of Baad 
Baad is
a practice aimed at resolving disputes between families, clans, and tribes by
giving women to the family of the perceived victim of a crime. Mahnaz was
forced to marry a 35-year-old man who was very cruel and treated her like a
slave. "I was usually beaten with cables and sticks. I got pregnant twice but
lost my babies because of severe living conditions."
By Sana
A.
Click here to read the full essay.
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The Crime of Falling in Love
A wee k
later, my dad accepted 400,000 Pakistani rupees (about $4,070 USD) to marry me
to Mr. Aziz-ullah on the 19th of February 2006 without asking me. ... One day I
decided to eat needles and nails.
By Yagana
Click here to read the full essay.
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My First Namaz
His head
was still on the rug when I stole a glance at him
He looked back, reminding me that I was not supposed to do that
Looking at the peace in his face, though,
Was probably worth the sin.
By Meena
Click here to read the full poem.
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A Mother's Inspiration
She
tried to claim her rights from her husband and that is why they always fought...
The moment I really suffered was when my mother and my father began to eat
their lunch and dinner apart. We children didn't know where we should go. My
mother always told us, "Go to your father's side. And respect your father.
Never talk back to him and do what he says because he is your father."
By
Shogofa
Click here to read the full essay.
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I Thought It Was A Dream
Everyone,
including the doctor, was silent.
All were looking down
As if they were stealing from me,
As if they were criminals
guilty of doing something bad to me.
By
Freshta
Click here to read the full poem.
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A Word From Our Teachers
Terese Svoboda is an award-winning novelist, poet, and memoirist, whose newest novel is forthcoming from Dzanc Press this Fall.
I've never been to Afghanistan but my friend Esther Hyneman flew there
as soon as she retired and hates to return. I have lived in Sudan and know how
material hardship can change one's role as a female into pure donkey. That
these women manage to steal away to a computer-always accompanied by a male-and
write so beautifully is astounding. Perhaps it is an advantage to have only a
very short time at the keyboard!
Susanne Scarfone
is a widely-published poet and a scholar of
English Romantic Poetry and Virginia Woolf, as well as Education Director and
writer-in-residence with InsideOut Literary Arts Project in Detroit.
To the Women of Writing 102:
It is a Sunday morning. My
AWWP rotation has ended. I sit and
feel bereft. I am momentarily silenced by the intrinsic power of the word. This
is not the word of the poet who craves accolades and fame. It is the pure word. It is the epiphanic word. The word that saves each of you from
the horrors of watching body parts float by in the street. It is the word that makes possible your
refusal to suffer the atrocities of an evil regime. It is the word that slowly permeates your souls until you
can write of the fragrance of pomegranates, the smell of a loved one's skin
when the burqa deprives him of the sense of sight, the comfort of sleeping with
a dead father's yellow shirt under a pillow. Yours is the word of hope and the
word of inexorable power.
In a poem about the pain of growing up under the Taliban's watch, one
of you wrote: "in the museum of memos/ still I paint
the birds/ with blue wings." I marvel at the desperate longing and
gritty realism that empower you to put lips upon words sweet enough to reveal
your souls, capture your landscapes, and reform your world. Grasping the true word, you find your voices. Surely,
because of you, the maiming, the hatred, the senseless abuse will be deprived
of its power over your voice and the voices of your mothers and daughters.
My first message from you read, "Welcome to
our world, a world of poems, pains and love." Yes, I was welcomed. I was loved. I was brought into your
world, as you were brought into mine.
Now, there are no geographic divisions between us. We are one. Out of the chaos comes the whole. This whole springs from the power of the pure word. From
this word our hopes will be realized.
Thank you for your words. Your subtle, yet piercing language has
transformed my heart into a more glorious space. Thank you.
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Contact AWWP:
For more information on the Afghan Women's Writing Project please contact:
The Afghan Women's Writing ProjectMasha Hamilton, Project Founder
686 Sterling Place Brooklyn, New York 11216
Phone: 917.821.6119 / Email: masha@mashahamilton.com
The Afghan Women's Writing Project was begun as a way to allow the voices of Afghan women - too often silenced - to enter the world directly, without any mediation. This project is possible only because of the outstanding American women authors and teachers who generously donate their time and energy. Additionally, the tireless contributions of webmaster extraordinaire Jeff Lyons, web designer Rose Daniels and our technical director Terry Dougherty have been crucial. Photography thanks and credit goes to Kathleen Rafiq and Heidi Levine. Our inspiring partners are SOLA and the Peter M. Goodrich Memorial Foundation; please visit their websites.
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Donations:
Online Donations for Afghan Women Writers:
Many of our
students and women writers, especially outside of Kabul, cannot get to an
Internet cafe due to security considerations. A laptop at home and a jump drive
would allow them to write their pieces, and then ask a male relative to send
the work at an Internet cafe. A $20 donation will buy a flash drive and $500 in
donations will buy a laptop for our women writers. No contribution is too
small. Thank you for considering it.
Your tax deductible credit card donation will be handled by The Goodrich
Foundation's secure Paypal payment.
Click This Link To Make A Donation!
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Sponsors & Friends:
Please visit our sponsors as a way to thank them for their wonderful support:
Friends of Afghanistan
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