CNN writes an encouraging and heartbreaking story about life in modern Afghanistan that made me want to share with this blog's readers some of the everyday, the crazy and the amazing that makes Afghanistan what it is today.
While many in the west might think of Afghanistan as a war-torn dusty country stuck in the Middle Ages, a country that oppresses women and destroys ancient Buddha statues, it turns out that Afghanistan has left the past behind and has been living right here in the 21st Century for a while now... and cares more about those statues than I thought!
The CNN article, appropriately called The Afghan Voice that won't be silenced, talks about Shabana Faryad, the first female contestant on The Voice of Afghanistan and features an interview with Aryana Sayeed, the first female judge. It highlights the lives of women in Afghanistan today and looks at the differences between life before, during and after Taliban rule. Right at the top of the page of the CNN article appears a slideshow of "then and now" photos of Afghanistan. It was these photos that made me want to write this blog post as they really show the changes the country is going through.
The first photograph shows women with uncovered hair, open-toed high heeled shoes, short sleeves and skirts around knee-level. The caption bleakly states, "It's hard to believe that this was Kabul in June 1978." It's nigh-impossible, actually, seeing the way women dress today. The second image is from October 2013. It shows a boy accompanying four women covered from head to toe in what seems, now, to be the symbol of Afghanistan - A blue burqa with a mesh screen covering the face. The visible differences: One of the burqas is darker blue than the others and the women all wear loose pants in different colours, sticking out from underneath the blue burqas.
Photo three shows male and female students studying together under a female teacher at the Computing Center of the Polytechnical Institute in Kabul in 1981. Men and women together, women with hair uncovered, both parties seen as equal when it comes to computers. Photo four shows the present - burqa-clad women attending a math class in a tent in September 2012. At first sight, the 'then' photo shows the better world, yet that view changes when one reads the caption that accompanies this photo: "Under Taliban rule, between 1994 and 2001 women were banned from education and work, even from leaving their homes unaccompanied." Yet this photo shows a class full of women learning mathematics far beyond what I ever learnt or understood, judging from the text on the blackboard. The photo was taken at Nangarhar University in Jalalabad.
So much has changed when one looks at 'then' and 'now' yet when one stops to think about what happened in between then and now, 'now' suddenly looks so much better than when only compared to 'then'. Sayeed talks about how women's lives have changed.
While many in the west might think of Afghanistan as a war-torn dusty country stuck in the Middle Ages, a country that oppresses women and destroys ancient Buddha statues, it turns out that Afghanistan has left the past behind and has been living right here in the 21st Century for a while now... and cares more about those statues than I thought!
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| Burqa-clad women | Shutterstock |
The CNN article, appropriately called The Afghan Voice that won't be silenced, talks about Shabana Faryad, the first female contestant on The Voice of Afghanistan and features an interview with Aryana Sayeed, the first female judge. It highlights the lives of women in Afghanistan today and looks at the differences between life before, during and after Taliban rule. Right at the top of the page of the CNN article appears a slideshow of "then and now" photos of Afghanistan. It was these photos that made me want to write this blog post as they really show the changes the country is going through.
The first photograph shows women with uncovered hair, open-toed high heeled shoes, short sleeves and skirts around knee-level. The caption bleakly states, "It's hard to believe that this was Kabul in June 1978." It's nigh-impossible, actually, seeing the way women dress today. The second image is from October 2013. It shows a boy accompanying four women covered from head to toe in what seems, now, to be the symbol of Afghanistan - A blue burqa with a mesh screen covering the face. The visible differences: One of the burqas is darker blue than the others and the women all wear loose pants in different colours, sticking out from underneath the blue burqas.
Photo three shows male and female students studying together under a female teacher at the Computing Center of the Polytechnical Institute in Kabul in 1981. Men and women together, women with hair uncovered, both parties seen as equal when it comes to computers. Photo four shows the present - burqa-clad women attending a math class in a tent in September 2012. At first sight, the 'then' photo shows the better world, yet that view changes when one reads the caption that accompanies this photo: "Under Taliban rule, between 1994 and 2001 women were banned from education and work, even from leaving their homes unaccompanied." Yet this photo shows a class full of women learning mathematics far beyond what I ever learnt or understood, judging from the text on the blackboard. The photo was taken at Nangarhar University in Jalalabad.
So much has changed when one looks at 'then' and 'now' yet when one stops to think about what happened in between then and now, 'now' suddenly looks so much better than when only compared to 'then'. Sayeed talks about how women's lives have changed.
"My mum was somebody who had chosen to wear a scarf, whereas my auntie would wear short skirts," recalls Sayeed. "They were free to do whatever they wanted... My aunt is now having to cover up. She even has to cover up the new generation, her children, even more than her. It's unbelievable."
Yet while women may still be required to cover up, things seem to be improving for women as well. The article explains that under Taliban rule, it was forbidden for women to appear on TV. Women weren't allowed to vote either, that too has changed since this right was reinstated in 2001 after the Taliban regime fell. Sayeed explains how it feels to be allowed to vote again.
"To other people it's just an election, but it's such an emotional time for me," says Sayeed, "looking at these women voting with ink on their fingers and so much passion and hope. They have a choice to choose a leader now, before it was never the case."And those Buddha statues? It turns out that while the Taliban regime may have wanted to destroy the statues, those without such hard-line views do recognise the Bamiyan Valley's amazing historical and cultural status. The Bamiyan Valley in which the Bamiyan Buddhas are/were located has been a UNESCO World Heritage site since 2003.
The cultural landscape and archaeological remains of the Bamiyan Valley represent the artistic and religious developments which from the 1st to the 13th centuries characterized ancient Bakhtria, integrating various cultural influences into the Gandhara school of Buddhist art. The area contains numerous Buddhist monastic ensembles and sanctuaries, as well as fortified edifices from the Islamic period. The site is also testimony to the tragic destruction by the Taliban of the two standing Buddha statues, which shook the world in March 2001.
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| Bamiyan Buddha | National Geographic |