AnotherAfghanistan A photographic journey through the Afghan spring
Ginna Fleming
AnotherAfghanistan A photographic journey through the Afghan spring
Ginna Fleming
Copyright Š 2008 Ginna Fleming. ISBN # (no LOC number) Printed in the United States
For additional copies www.anotherafghanistan.com
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War is not new to Afghanistan. The country’s geography and location has determined its destiny as a center of trade and a battleground between east and west. Memories of Alexander the Great and Genghis Khan still resonate in the rugged landscape, while Britain’s more recent Afghan Wars have also left their mark. Afghanistan’s history in recent decades is tragic. In a country with little arable land and few natural resources, modernization has come slowly. Yet despite significant barriers to development, the country’s strategic importance to its neighbors has continued. The Russians invaded Afghanistan in l979, and after a decade of war, they were pushed back across the border with the significant aid of Western arms. After then being abandoned by international interests, Afghanistan suffered more years of destruction as competing warlords further destroyed Kabul and Herat. In the midst of anarchy, Taliban forces moved in with help from Pakistan, taking control of most of the country. This period of enforced peace and a ruthless imposition of fundamentalist doctrine lasted through the l990’s, but brought little in the way of humanitarian or economic progress.
Afghanistan suddenly recaptured the attention of the international community after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. The hunt for Osama bin Laden prompted the deployment of American and European troops to the country. A fragile peace followed the departure of the Taliban, who regrouped in the mountains on the border of Pakistan. Under an international accord, a new constitutional process followed, a new President was elected, and the first democratically elected legislature in thirty years took office. Despite these changes, international aid to rebuild institutions and infrastructure remains slow and cumbersome. Economic development is halting. Jobs are scarce. In the far southern and eastern parts of the country, fundamentalists defy western and Afghan troops as they reclaim territory. Attacks reaching ever closer to the nation’s capital, Kabul, destabilize the central government. War is not new to Afghanistan, and its constant threat remains a fact of daily life. Roadside attacks, suicide bombers and the opium trade now dominate local and international headlines.
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Preface Against the backdrop of these headlines, I traveled to Afghanistan in the Spring of 2008 primarily to photograph the work of a remarkable science teacher from my hometown of Mill Valley, California. Camilla Barry has been conducting science teacher trainings in Afghanistan since 2003, and her enthusiastic teaching style has captivated Afghan teachers eager to learn her innovative “hands-on” teaching methods that fascinate young Afghan girls and boys. Throughout the course of my stay in Afghanistan, I became immersed in the work of many other agencies bringing education, health care, and humanitarian services to families who have survived three intense decades of war and devastation. What I found and my camera captured in the midst of all of this wartorn devastation was a very different, more hopeful story. The photographs in this book are a testament to the fact that behind the grim headlines lives “another Afghanistan:” a country rich in history, culture, hospitality and hope. These images reveal a country where brave men and women are struggling to survive against tremendous odds, and are slowly rebuilding education, health care and housing. It is a place where children increasingly go to school, skip rope, and blow bubble gum. This progress is fragile, and at great risk. But it deserves to be celebrated and protected. Ginna Fleming Mill Valley, California
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Daily Life in Kabul T
he buildings and streets of Kabul, the nation’s capitol,
are slowly being reconstructed. Daily life is consumed by the struggle for basic necessities: housing, water, a way to make a living. Small neighborhood storefront vendors continue to support most families. In the central bazaar, merchants offer grains and other food, hardware
and clothing. New small enterprises are beginning to create jobs in textiles and other crafts.
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Many homes in Kabul have no running water. Collecting clean water requires hours of heavy work.
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In the old city bazaar, traditional readers help those who cannot read. A skilled craftsman incises verses from poetry and the Koran on pendants.
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Finding employment for the large number of widows is especially important.
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A new market is emerging for textiles and fashion. Hassina Sherjan, whose family went to America in exile, returned to Kabul after 2001 to found some of the remedial schools so needed by girls and women in the post-Taliban years. She has now also established the Boumi factory specializing in table linens. Mina Sherjoy’s AWWSOM makes and sells high fashion clothing.
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Rory Stewart’s Turquoise Mountain Foundation has created a Center for Traditional Afghan Arts and Architecture, where master teachers train students in woodworking, ceramics and calligraphy. These students are using their newly mastered skills to renovate a community in the old city: Murat Khane
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The Future of Afghanistan’s Children P
erhaps the most important challenge facing the people
of Afghanistan is the care and education of children. About half of Afghanistan’s population of 30 million is under 18 years old. Two million of them are orphans. Only about half of the boys of eligible age are in school, but less than a third of eligible girls are enrolled. Drop out rates are high for both boys and girls. Because of the Taliban prohibition on girl’s education, a whole generation of teachers has been lost. In the face of all these obstacles, nonprofit agencies are gradually putting new institutions and schools in place.
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Thousands of children live in large government sponsored orphanages in Kabul. Some lucky ones are in smaller private houses like those here in the House of Flowers, where a child made a camera from legos to photograph the photographer.
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This village pre-school in Paghman, outside of Kabul, meets in the morning in the teacher’s home. Several of these schools are supported by Parsa-Afghanistan, an organization that has been working for many decades with widows, orphans and the disabled.
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Many children can now go to kindergarten in Kabul, at the Afghan Institute for Learning. Founded in the l990’s by Sakeena Yakoobi to serve families in the Afghan refugee camps of Pakistan, it now runs many education and women’s leadership programs in and around Kabul.
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The shortage of teachers is acute. Now women with little education themselves are stepping in the meet this need, and young girls are beginning to take teacher-training classes. Camilla Barry, a science teacher from California, gives teacher training lessons in partnership with Parsa-Afghanistan. Simple materials, easily available in local markets, provided lessons in electricity, pressure, density and magnetism. The most important lesson, however, was about experimenting and scientific inquiry, still new to the Afghan curriculum.
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Provincial Life I
n the beautiful Bamiyan Valley, between the high peaks
of the Hindu Kush Mountains, fields are gradually being freed of land mines. Mulberry and cherry trees are in bloom. Spring crops are beginning to reappear. Over the Shibar Pass, the snow is melting.
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In the aftermath of war, life goes on in traditional ways, in bazaars and tea houses.
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Rural Development T
he needs of the people in rural areas are even greater than in
the city. Government services are scarcer. Fewer children go to school. Among the grave consequences of war, and of repression of women, is the lack of a public health system. One woman in six dies during pregnancy. One of four children dies before reaching the age of five. Non-profit agencies struggle to open new schools and health programs.
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Save the Children supports two village schools in the Shomali plain north of Kabul, at Bostum and Farza. Opening day ceremonies mark the beginning of the school year in March, when the snow has melted and high roads are once again passable. Village elders, persuaded by the determined efforts of strong women, have just given permission for a new girl’s school in the area.
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One of the fathers, the head of the parent organization and himself illiterate, gives an impassioned plea for expanding education.
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Parents and local officials at the school opening day ceremonies.
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A Bamiyan orphanage, run by the Shuhada organization, is basic but clean and well run. New Zealand NATO military units are building them a new kitchen and guardhouse, and the soldiers take time to befriend the children.
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Mirbachakot Health Clinic, supported by the Afghan Institute for Learning, is a busy center of medical care and education.
A young woman pharmacist fills prescriptions and delivers them through the window hatch of her pharmacy.
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The central mission of the clinic is maternal and child health care, including pediatric and pregnancy care from doctors, as well as education and nutrition classes.
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A dental clinic keeps infections at bay, although they work without the luxury of anesthesia.
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The laboratory technician is a vital member of the medical staff, although he works without electricity.
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In the Shuhada schools of Bamiyan, young girls still attending high school in the morning are teaching elementary school in the afternoon. Male teachers are students at the local technical college. Their curiosity and enthusiasm about Camilla Barry’s “hands on” science lessons are infectious. They experiment with light, energy, density and electricity, and put the lessons to use in their classes the next day.
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The Jawzjareen Valley stretches south from Bamiyan, a remote mountainous potato growing area where snowstorms pass through even as spring crops are planted. It is the home of the Hazara people, a traditionally persecuted minority.
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Few people in this valley have had any opportunity for schooling.
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This year Parsa-Afghanistan is working with a group of small villages, integrating adult literacy classes, economic development, kitchen gardens and schooling for young children.
For these women and others like them, spring brings hope and possibility.
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Acknowledgements The initial inspiration for this journey came from a skilled and dedicated science teacher from my home town of Mill Valley, California. Camilla Barry has been traveling to Afghanistan since 2003, to share her “hands on� teaching skills with Afghan students and teachers. It was a pleasure and an education to join her journey this year.
I greatly benefited from the extended hospitality
and insights of an old friend, Sir Sherard CooperCowles, the extraordinary British Ambassador to Afghanistan, and a new friend, Marni Gustavson, the warm and capable director of Parsa-Afghanistan.
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I am especially grateful to have met‌
Jamila Alokozie
Dr. Adiba Babak
Aziza Parwani
Yasin Farid
It was a privilege and an inspiration to witness their work, and that of many other brave and committed people and programs. 97
How to contact the organizations pictured in this book
Afghan Institute of Learning Improving access for women and children to education and health services www.creatinghope.org
Classrooms Across Cultures, Camilla Barry Bringing hands on science teaching methods and teacher training to Afghan schools www.classroomsacrosscultures.wikidot.com
Parsa (Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation Services for Afghanistan) Education and development programs for widows, orphans and the disabled www.afghanistan-parsa.org
Save the Children Creating opportunities for children to lead safe, healthy lives www.savethechildren.org
Shuhada Reconstruction and development, especially empowerment of women www.shuhada.org
Turquoise Mountain Foundation Center for Traditional Arts and Architecture, teaching traditional crafts, restoring historic center of Kabul www.turquoisemountain.org
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About the Author
G
inna Fleming is retired from a career in public
and nonprofit agencies in Washington, D. C. She now lives in Mill Valley, California and travels the world as a freelance photographer.
Her work can be seen at www.ginnafleming.com
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