Welcome!It’s a month to be thankful, for both an outpouring of compelling work from our Afghan women writers, and the inspiring support we’ve received from blog readers. The Afghan women, writing in three online workshops, continue to produce stunning pieces. A few are highlighted below, including a poem about a burqa and one about Kandahar schooldays, the first part of a series of essays from a former refugee, and an essay about a meeting with President Karzai. In the coming days, the women will be writing their impressions of their country’s mood following the cancelled runoff elections, and we’ll be posting those in a timely fashion, so keep an eye on the blog.
On this side of the world, one-of-a-kind storyteller and author Janis Owens
turned a book-signing into a fundraiser for AWWP and provided for the purchase of a laptop in concert with best-selling author Cassandra King. International journalist, author and teacher Barbara Fischkintook one of our writers, visiting the U.S., into her home and exposed her to a bit of Long Island. It feels like a community in creation. See Janis’s report below and click here for Barbara’s report.
How can you help? First, by reading the pieces on the blog and commenting about any you like. Secondly, by circulating this newsletter to anyone you think might be interested in any of these three “w”s: women, writing or our world. Finally, if you’re able, tax-deductible financial donations of any size go directly toward helping each of these women get a laptop so they can work from home – our goal due to security concerns.
The principal arrived holding Malia by the arm, and
accompanied by four Talib police. Her face was white and she was crying silently. Her clothes were bloody.
“No one will never ever leave their motherland and chose another country. It is like replacing your mother with another. No one will prefer another mother, even if this mother is kinder, nicer and richer than your own mom. Believe me, sir, we are not here because your country is nice, modern and rich. I love my destroyed country more than Europe.”
She looked at me, smiling, and answered with three words: “By his smell.” I started laughing out loud. Then she explained and I listened as if she were telling me a fairytale.
Susan Breen’s award-winning first novel was published in 2008. Her short stories have been published widely, most recently by the anthology 2009 Best American Non-Required Reading. She teaches fiction writing for Gotham Writers’ Workshop.
Their stories pop into my email at all hours. I open them and they begin: “Hello dear Susan” and immediately I’m smiling. Although many of the essays are about dark topics-loss of loved ones, hunger, fear-the women writing these stories are bright and amazingly joyful. They’re also angry and courageous, but what touches me is how open they are to sharing their work. I expected these Afghan women to have more of a protective shell, but instead they’re willing to be vulnerable and write down their honest thoughts.
In the first exercise I posted, I asked the women to write about their hopes. To help them shape their writing I posted a lovely paragraph from Amy Tan’s novel, The Joy Luck Club. In that, a woman recalls her mother’s dreams about the city of Kweilin. The response to the exercise was beautiful, and one of my favorite essays was by a woman who described a peaceful scene of Afghanistan in the snow. At the end of her essay she imagined a “Snow Partridge sitting on the dry branches of olive tree covered with pure white snow singing sola, sola and sola (peace, peace and peace.)” This has been a very inspiring experience.
Kris Ohlson is the author of the award-winning memoir, Stalking the Divine, and she co-authored Kabul Beauty School. She is also a freelance journalist and essay writer whose work has been published in New York Times newspaper and magazine, Salon, Ms, Oprah, More
The news coming from Afghanistan is so dark these days. I think it’s hard for many Americans to figure out the best macro approach-the military, financial, political and so on formulas that will make this terrible “situation” better. That’s one of the reasons that I enjoyed working with these writers from Afghanistan; I’m sure it’s one of the pleasures for readers, too. Here are the voices of real women with a gift for language and story, and they personalize a country and a people that most Americans just associate with the “situation.” Their voices delight, inspire, and put a human heart on the headlines.
Janis Owens is the author of three acclaimed novels set in West Florida and, most recently, a much-loved cookbook memoir, The Cracker Kitchen:
I spring from a long line of hardy women warriors-Southern church women who were never slow in the face of need, and quick to champion a worthy cause. They spent their lives baking pound cakes for missionaries, finding coats for the homeless, and ladling out love to neighborhood children. My dear friend Cassandra King is of the same ilk, and when we heard the details of the Afghan Women’s Writing Project, our Southern hearts leapt in our chests. Here was a golden opportunity to reach across culture and half a globe to help give an Afghan sister a voice in this world; an authentic, woman’s voice, from a culture where women’s voices are not so often heard. I happened to have a signing at a dear friend’s house in the tiny town of Newberry, Florida, and turned it into a fundraiser for AWWP. The same friends who’d raised their children in village with mine-nurses, teachers, and a farmer’s wife-bought my books in support of this laptop. We laughed while we did it-there was a great sense of joy and destiny. We all have daughters ourselves, and in helping a woman find a voice, we help all ourdaughters find theirs. Cassandra and I went in on a “group gift” and send our blessing with it: that the recipient will be strong and prolific and brave; that her voice will sing across the broadband.
From Newsday: The Power of Journalism
“When I leave in the morning, I always make sure to say goodbye,” Seeta told other students in her Hofstra class earlier Monday evening. “I don’t know if I will be coming back.”
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.
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Swinging right and left, the burqa remained wondering whose face would it hide? Whose identity would it take?
