W
WRITING FOR
e all have seen
numerous newscasts
of Afghan women
victimized, marginalized, violated,
and stoned. And yet, after fourteen
years of hearing these stories
about Afghan women, flattened
into one-dimensional, burqa-clad
victims of violence, how often
have we heard the voices of Afghan
women themselves? What do we
know of the complexities of their
hearts and minds? When have we
heard, first-hand, what they want?
CHANGE:
AFGHAN WOMEN PEN A NEW DESTINY
FOR AFGHANISTAN------------------------BY LORI NOACK, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, AFGHAN WOMEN’S WRITING PROJECT
I want to speak from my future.
I want to tell you how tired I used to be
of the hardened earth and darkened sky,
of watching a father sell his daughter for
money…
Let me talk, I said. Do not force my
silence…
I want to speak, speak and speak.
— Leeda
1
Leeda is one of more than 300 Afghan
writers who are encouraged to speak for
themselves through the global platform
of the Afghan Women’s Writing Project
(AWWP). Participants are girls and women
who grew up in villages across the country,
FALL 2015
many of them educated in “secret schools,” or
at home by their fathers during the Taliban
years. Some left Afghanistan to live as refugees during one of the extended wars with
Russia, the muhajadeen (guerilla fighters), or
with the U.S. in 2001, and later returned to
Afghanistan. AWWP writers are an eclectic
group from different economic levels and
tribal ethnicities who share one thing in common: They have come to believe in the power
of their voices and are committed to fighting
a revolution that starts from within, no matter the consequences. “We have threats. Yes,
we do,” one author said in a casual tone, when
asked about Taliban intimidation about their
writing. “And we will have more when the
foreigners leave. But myself is ready to fight
with any kind of challenges…even if my life
is under threat. I never give up.”
That “never-give-up” spirit is prevalent in
the writers’ poems and essays, even when
they write of their despair. AWWP provides
them a vehicle to develop and share their
voices, and they run with it, offering us their
inimitable model of perseverance, of finding
beauty in the most unlikely places, and candid conversation about surreal situations that
simply must be dealt with.
1
I woke up one morning–
with a happy feeling.
I woke up happy to go to school.
JOURNEY OF HOPE | 9