Book Review: The powerful stories of Afghan women

All the women featured in the book are fighting for economic empowerment.
Updated 04 October 2017
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Book Review: The powerful stories of Afghan women

The Taliban insurgency has entered its 16th year in Afghanistan, but their chances of controlling the country remain weak due to the lack of a broad national support for their cause. Staunch sympathizers comprise less than 10 percent of the Afghan population and 93 percent see the Taliban as the biggest threat to their safety and lives, according to the book “We Are Afghan Women: Voices of Hope.” In recent years, ordinary Afghans have taken up arms and driven them out of their localities in different part of the country.
Since 2001, the country’s legal framework has improved to better protect women against violence and harassment. Millions of Afghan girls go to school, women have access to health care services and even have some level of political representation. These stories form an inspiring book, published by the George W. Bush Institute, which showcases the lives of women from different age groups and professions.
All have become leaders in their communities or their professions. Each woman is her own success story and each has her own remarkable tale to tell, explains Laura Bush in the introduction. All the women are committed to their homeland and they express themselves with sincerity. I laughed and cried more than once and, most of all, I marveled at their extraordinary courage and their staunch resolve.
The first story is one of the most beautiful in this book. Zainularab Miri tells us how she and six other women agreed to help girls who were not allowed to go to school. Families of these girls would provide rooms and even sleeping spaces inside their homes. They would teach for one day, or sometimes for a few days, in these hidden rooms. “Each person in those rooms, each person in those houses was risking their lives. If the Taliban found out, we would have surely faced death,” Miri said in the book. She also tells of how she dreamt of being a bee keeper, a traditionally male job in the country. “But that only made me more passionate to learn the business… I started by buying two hives. Once I had my two hives, I wanted to expand. I was paid as much money for my nectar and honey as the male beekeepers were,” Miri said.
For Miri, women living under the Taliban were like queen bees — trapped in a hive with no escape. The bees build their honeycomb in the darkness just as women survived by working in darkness, behind curtains or under the cover of cloth.
“Each season, watching my bees leave and fly off and then return laden with sweet nectar for honey fired in me a passion to be able to move about freely. But not just for me, for as many women as I could find. I believe that in order to change a country, first you must work on the women,” Miri said.
Today, Miri is the head of the Ghazni Province Foundation of Women Beekeepers. She is also the secretary for the Afghan Beekeepers Society, making her a member of the beekeepers’ council of elders.
Mindsets are changing and a better future is possible because Afghan women know they deserve better and are willing to fight for a brighter future. Belquis Gavagan showed her courage and patriotic feelings at an early age. She turned seven-years-old the day the Russians entered Kabul. She soon discovered that she could no longer climb to her favorite spot at the top of a hill to enjoy one of the best views of Kabul. The Russians took over the hill and established a military base. The next day, on her way to school, Belquis took a rock and threw it at a tank. A soldier leaped out of the tank and chased her but she escaped and managed to hide in a shop.
Gavagan highlights the importance of education and economic empowerment. Up to 87 percent of Afghan women have been subjected to some form of abuse. However, after vocational training, women are respected more because they earn an income, according to the book.
She also makes two pertinent remarks. First, she believes that you cannot separate men from women and talk about improving the plight of women. A long-lasting change to women’s lives in Afghanistan can only take place if the men are involved too.
Second, Gavagan questions the necessity of providing Afghans with college scholarships in different countries, especially in the US, because they do not always have the desired effect.
“So, everyone has to think in advance about what are the potential consequences. If you want to educate people from Kandahar and Helmand, yes, do that. I’m all for it. But send them to Kabul first. Then have them go to India or Malaysia, rather than bringing someone from those places directly to the US. I have worked with mullahs who have gone to Italy and European countries and they came back to Afghanistan more conservative than they were before,” Gavagan said.
Mina Sherzoy, the daughter of a diplomat, founded several non-profit organizations since she returned to Afghanistan in 2002. One of the most successful programs is the Artemis Project, PEACE THROUGH BUSINESS, which was established by the Thunderbird School of Global Management in Arizona, US.
Mina shared the amazing success story of an illiterate woman who learned how to read, write, tailor and sew in six months. She also learned the basics of business and finance. She started sewing and bought a sewing machine through microfinance. Soon after that, she started another business. She purchased a tandoor, a round oven on which you bake flatbread. She put it in her house and told the ladies in her neighborhood not to buy from the bakery for she would charge them less.
“The most important thing, for men and for women, is economic empowerment. My passion from day one has been economic empowerment. When people are economically empowered, they can live a normal life. For example, they can pay for a doctor… They can send their children to the best schools,” Sherzoy said.
Sherzoy recognizes that the international community, thanks to their funding and assistance, has played a major role in Afghanistan. “There is no doubt in my mind that women wouldn’t be where they are today if it weren’t for the international community. But there are flaws in what’s been done and those flaws need to be fixed. If you really want your investment to pay off, you want to make sure that person is going to benefit. You don’t just bring in 30 people to a seminar, take a picture and write a report.”
It is impossible to recount all the stories included in the book, but a program called “Turquoise Mountain” deserves special mention. It was established in 2006, with the support of Prince Charles and a generous grant from USAID, to help save Afghanistan’s centuries-old culture of art. This organization is working to train a new generation of artists in calligraphy and miniature painting, woodwork, jewelry-making and ceramics as well as architecture.
The uneven pace of change in areas affected by violence and conflict is a serious threat and a cause for alarm. However, all the women in the book are fighting for economic empowerment and more dignified lives amid the ongoing strife.


What We Are Reading Today: Henry V by Dan Jones

Updated 14 November 2024
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What We Are Reading Today: Henry V by Dan Jones

Dan Jones’ “Henry V” examines the life and leadership of England’s greatest medieval king.
In 1413, when Henry V ascended to the English throne, his kingdom was hopelessly torn apart by political faction but in less than ten years, he turns it all around. By common consensus in his day, and for hundreds of years afterward, Henry was the greatest medieval king that ever lived.
A historical titan, Henry V transcends the Middle Ages which produced him, and his life story has much to teach us today.

What We Are Reading Today: ‘Following the Bend’ by Ellen Wohl

Updated 13 November 2024
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What We Are Reading Today: ‘Following the Bend’ by Ellen Wohl

When we look at a river, either up close or while flying over a river valley, what are we really seeing?

“Following the Bend” takes readers on a majestic journey by water to find answers, along the way shedding light on the key concepts of modern river science, from hydrology and water chemistry to stream and wetland ecology.

In this accessible and uniquely personal book, Ellen Wohl explains how to “read” a river, blending the latest science with her own personal experiences as a geologist and naturalist who has worked on rivers for more than three decades. 


UK writer Samantha Harvey wins 2024 Booker with space novel

Updated 13 November 2024
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UK writer Samantha Harvey wins 2024 Booker with space novel

  • The prize is seen as a talent spotter of names not necessarily widely known to the general public

LONDON: British writer Samantha Harvey on Tuesday won the 2024 Booker Prize, a prestigious English-language literary award, for her novel tracking six astronauts in space for 24 hours.
Harvey’s “Orbital” follows two men and four women from Japan, Russia, the United States, Britain and Italy aboard the International Space Station and touches on mourning, desire and the climate crisis.
The 49-year-old Harvey previously made the longlist for the Booker Prize in 2009 with her debut novel “The Wilderness.”
Harvey dedicated the prize to “all the people who speak for and not against the earth and work for and not against peace.”
Chair of the judges, Edmund de Waal, said “everyone and no one is the subject” of the novel, “as six astronauts in the International Space Station circle the earth observing the passages of weather across the fragility of borders and time zones.”
“With her language of lyricism and acuity Harvey makes our world strange and new for us.”
A record five women were in the running for the £50,000 ($64,500) prize which was announced at a glitzy ceremony in London.
Previous winners include Salman Rushdie and Margaret Atwood.
The prize is seen as a talent spotter of names not necessarily widely known to the general public.
The Booker is open to works of fiction by writers of any nationality, written in English and published in the UK or Ireland between October 1, 2023 and September 30, 2024.


What We Are Reading Today: ‘Dragonflies and Damselflies of the World’ by Klass-Douwe B. Dijkstra

Updated 12 November 2024
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What We Are Reading Today: ‘Dragonflies and Damselflies of the World’ by Klass-Douwe B. Dijkstra

Airily dancing over rivers and ponds, the thousands of colorful dragonfly and damselfly species that cohabit our planet may seem of little importance.

Few life-forms, however, convey the condition of the most limiting resource on land and life’s most bountiful environment as well as they can: While the adults are exceptional aerial hunters, their nymphs are all confined to freshwater.

“Dragonflies and Damselflies of the World” showcases their beauty and diversity while shedding light on how they evolved into the vital symbols of planetary health we celebrate today.


Emirates Airline Festival of Literature announces 2025 lineup

Updated 13 November 2024
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Emirates Airline Festival of Literature announces 2025 lineup

DUBAI: The Emirates Literature Foundation has revealed the speaker lineup and programme details for the upcoming Emirates Airline Festival of Literature 2025, officially marking the countdown to the 17th edition of the event. Set to take place from Jan. 29 to Feb. 3, 2025 at the newly renovated InterContinental Dubai Festival City, the LitFest will offer attendees over 150 incomparable experiences, including fan-favourites: Desert Stanzas, LitFest After Hours, Discovery Talks, and the LitFest Families programme.

Leading the list of authors is US-Indian writer and Stanford University professor Abraham Verghese, author of “The Covenant of Water,” which rose to fame when it was chosen for Oprah Winfrey’s book club.

Other anticipated names include Emmy Award-winning journalist Hala Gorani, the best-selling author and illustrator of the wildly popular “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” series Jeff Kinney, multi-talented author and screenwriter Daniel Handler (also known as Lemony Snicket, creator of “A Series of Unfortunate Events”), Booker Prize-nominated author Chigozie Obioma, best-selling travel writer and author Dr Mohamed Mansi Qandil, scholar and researcher Abdel Illah Benarafa, Cultural Personality of the Year Waciny Laredj, poet and author Khalid Albudoor, and celebrated Palestinian chef and cookbook author Fadi Kattan.

Closer to home, Saudi author Faisal J. Abbas will talk about his new book, “Anecdotes of an Arab Anglophile,” a witty and thoughtful take on what it is like being an Arab in London.

“As we navigate a world of uncertainty and change, the Emirates LitFest serves as a vital platform for dialogue, understanding, and reflection,” said Ahlam Bolooki, CEO of Emirates Literature Foundation, Director of Emirates Airline Festival of Literature, and Managing Director of ELF Publishing.

“Global conversations around identity and culture have never been more crucial, and we are honoured to welcome literary icons from across the globe whose works speak to the heart of these issues. Through our Festival’s dynamic programme, sessions that are set to inspire future generations and events that celebrate our shared experiences, we are building a community based on empathy and understanding. Now, more than ever, we need stories that connect us to our shared humanity, and the Emirates LitFest is where those stories happen” she added.

Dubai Culture is sponsoring this year’s Emirati Strand, which celebrates the culture of the UAE and provides an opportunity for Emirati and international authors to grace the Emirates LitFest stage together. The Emirati Strand features a diverse range of experiences and a distinguished line-up of Emirati writers including poet Adel Khozam, Dr Noura Alkarbi, artist Asmaa Al-Remithi, poet Ali Al-Shaali, author and scholar Salha Ghabish, author and trainer Hamdan Bin Shfayan Alameri, author Nadia Al Najjar, filmmaker Nahla Al Fahad, and many more.

“With everything going on in the world, now more than ever, we need stories. We need human connection. We need to come together in the ‘sanctuary of dreams’ … which the festival offers,” Tamreez Inam, head of programming, told Arab News.

“The festival welcomes people who want to dream and imagine a world that celebrates our shared humanity and offers a place where people can tell their own stories, find themselves in other stories and connect at that very human level. And I think that’s why the 2025 festival is so important; it’s needed more than ever now,” she added.

Dania Droubi, the festival’s chief operating officer, revealed that the event will also host an international youth program.

“We have 150 university students from around the world coming to participate in our program, and they are going to be here in Dubai,” she said.

“They’re all students who speak Arabic and who study Arabic. They are going to be here to meet with another 150 from the UAE-based universities, and they’re here to attend and see the authors and the speakers … and just participate in these discussions, because the youth are the future.”

For information on the full programme and tickets, visit https://emirateslitfest.com.