Welcome! On March 8th, International Women’s Day, an extraordinary event took place in Beverly Hills that was the brainchild of our Creative Outreach Director, Jeff Lyons. Lyons paired Afghan Women’s Writing Project (AWWP) with most major Hollywood guilds to put on a dramatic reading at the Museum of Tolerance. Powerful actresses donated their time to read compelling work. The guilds came together to plan, produce, promote, and execute the evening. This collaborative undertaking, headed by Lyons, required thousands of combined donated hours.
The outcome was astounding and inspiring. I attended, along with incoming director Christina Asquith, a number of our teachers and one of our Afghan writers. Don’t miss checking out the video clips here. To get an idea of the scope of involvement and work the evening required, take a look at the credit page.
Reminder, for those in the DC area, that we have another dramatic presentation coming up May 24th at Theater J. More details here and forthcoming.
Word of AWWP has traveled to Australia, where Sharni Montgomery has decided to use her desire to get fit as an opportunity to raise money for AWWP. Want to improve fitness while helping AWWP? To find out how, contact her at sharni_montgomery@yahoo.com.au.
On to the work itself. Two essays from our women who witnessed suicide bombings, a poem about Afghanistan’s opium plant, an essay about adjectives and seeking self-knowledge: these are just some of the pieces highlighted below and produced this month by our Afghan writers under the mentorship of American authors. Make this your starting point for exploring our online magazine, just out with a brand new polished look thanks to the intensive work of Stefan Cooke.
Finally, to keep up with news and the work of the Afghan writers, please join our Facebook fan page, updated by Valerie Wallace, or follow us on Twitter, with tweets from Cooke at AWWProject.
Thank you for your support, and for giving us a piece of your time,
I moved with heavy legs, stepping on small pieces of glass which looked like a white sparkling carpet. I walked until the street turned brown and dusty again. Wailing, screaming, and shouting, and the sirens of the ambulances and police cars filled my ears. I found myself amidst a crowd of bystanders who looked at me with sorrow and incredulousness. I just continued walking.
After two minutes, we came out of the room and saw everything was messed up. The mirrors in all the rooms were all shattered. We were taken quickly to the safe rooms. There, some of my colleagues were injured and were being treated. Someone’s head was cut, or someone’s nose, hands or legs were injured. I heard that one of our clients waiting outside to get in to see us was killed and another injured.
AdjectivesI don’t know if I am brave, I don’t know if I am successful, I don’t know if I am fearful, I don’t if I am shy, I don’t know if I am beautiful, I don’t know if I am quiet, I don’t know if I am an optimist and I don’t know if I have the right to think for myself.
Kathy Ellisonis a Pulitzer-prize winning former foreign correspondent and author of four books. Her memoir, “Buzz: A Year of Paying Attention,” is due out from Hyperion Voice in October.
In my three weeks of working with the talented women in Writing 101, I read, among other things, a powerful poem about schools being burned, a brilliant essay about the emotional roller-coaster of living in Afghanistan when you care about women’s rights, and a thoroughly reported, important story on the new women members of a provincial council. The common thread of all of these pieces was passionate concern for Afghanistan, and this courageous commitment, combined with the intellectual capacity of the writers, gave me more hope for the future of the country than I’ve ever had before.
Neha Bawa is a poet and an educator at Tunxis Community College.
I was thrilled to begin working with the AWWP because I could combine two of my greatest loves-women’s rights and literacy. When I first approached Masha about volunteering as a teacher, I was really excited that I could help the organization and be a tiny, tiny part of the change that needs to happen with women’s lives in Afghanistan. And I’m very happy to say that I wasn’t disappointed in the least. Going into the rotation, I knew I was inheriting a class with low participation, but I’m glad I didn’t let that dissuade me. The two or three students who did make the effort to participate and send in their pieces were very eager for feedback, which made working with them very rewarding. I hope that I’ve been able to broaden their horizons when they consider writing about their lives. I’ve also exposed my current group of on-ground students to the AWWP writers and, based on the women’s writings, we’ve had quite a few in-depth conversations about women in Afghanistan and the Afghan culture as a whole. So, thank you very much for giving me the chance to help you however I could.
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For more information on the Afghan Women’s Writing Project please contact:
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 our Creative Outreach Director Jeff Lyons, webmaster designer StefanCooke, 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.
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.
The Afghan Women’s Writing Project is a non-profit with 501 (c) 3
status. Your tax deductible credit card donation will be handled by The Goodrich Foundation’s secure Paypal payment.
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