I returned from Kabul last Monday, pleased with what I was able to accomplish on this last trip but ever so glad to get out of the heat and the dust. My next trip will be in the fall. I find the white hot sun totally draining (although I must say summer evenings in Kabul are often cool and breezy….)

Early in June I held a small fund-raiser in San Francisco to raise money for our new Family Guidance Center. My goal was to decorate a room at the center to be a warm comfortable place where women could sit and relax while waiting for their counselors. This would also be a playroom for the children. I raised $4500, much more than needed, and was off to Kabul on June 20 to play interior decorator. (The rest of the money will g o to the Afghan Women’s Fund and to buy materials and furniture for the rest of the FGC.

I ended up spending more time than I like in the car, driving around Kabul shopping for fabric, carpet, paint and furniture. That’s when you really feel the heat (WAW doesn’t have air-conditioned vehicles, but the AC in the cars they sell here is pretty ineffective anyway). One must carry lots of bottled water- it is easy to become dehydrated and not realize it. The streets are jam-packed with cars, bikes, and pedestrian shoppers. While suicide bombers are an unpleasant reality in Kabul, that reality doesn’t seem to interfere with daily commerce and activities. The threatened Taliban summer offensive on Kabul hasn’t materialized, thank goodness.

I am learning how to bargain and really enjoyed my interactions with shopkeepers, all of whom were pleasant and friendly. It is really wise to have an Afghan colleague along for a reality check, because I don’t know prices here and the shopkeepers assume all foreigners are rich and ignorant. The housekeeper at Family Guidance Center, who is also a seamstress, and the cab driver whom WAW retained for the month as driver for me and Anne Brodsky, cheerfully trekked along as I looked for just the right fabric and carpet design.

We painted the playroom a beautiful blue and the carpet is forest green with a blue floral pattern. We found some lovely rose-colored fabric with a floral pattern for the tochuks (floor cushions). I came across this great low table in a second-hand shop that is perfect for the children to use for drawing and table games- it has interesting wooden legs and a Formica top. We bought a painted metal trunk for a toy box. The curtains, yet to be made, will be a nice cream-colored lace- very traditionally Afghan. The overall affect is rosy and welcoming- I am pleased with the results.

Since, in addition to being an attorney, I am an early childhood educator by profession, I am a bit rigid about quality educational toys for young children. Most of the toys available in Afghanistan are cheap junk form China and India- bosomy fake Barbies, war vehicles and motorcycles that break immediately, etc. So I bought some toys in USA-wooden table toys, foam blocks, well-made plastic cars, trucks and planes, and little toy people and animals for dramatic play.

I also brought some simple board books with pictures of shapes, animals, vehicles, and babies, culturally neutral, pictures of things that interest all children. I know how to write Farsi and my friend Mirwais helped me translate the text. Here in Kabul I found some wonderful fabric dolls made by an Afghan women’s NGO. The dolls are both male and females in traditional Afghan dress. And hooray, you can now buy wax crayons in Kabul!!!!

The staff has grown since my last visit. Manizha hired a young woman who obtained her legal education in Pakistan. She will be the legal advisor and do assessments of each case, coordinating with clients’ lawyers. We are working with the newly formed Legal Assistance Organization of Afghanistan (the first legal aid society here) in finding counsel when clients need representation.

This delightful young woman is so enthusiastic. A woman professor of family law on the Kabul U. faculty is mentoring her. In addition, she is working diligently -on her own initiative- to find the few available resources for learning Afghan law. (Kabul University is supposedly doing the final editing of some legal books it has written on the application of new constitution and its relationship to existing codes. Meanwhile, The Asia Foundation has worked with other NGO’s who in turn worked with Afghan lawyers and judges to put together some updated materials.)

Anne Brodsky, who teaches women’s studies at the U of Maryland, was there at the same time I was. She presented classes on basic psychology and counseling techniques. The staff became very engaged, asking lots of questions and doing some wonderful role playing. My friend Mirwais, a young man who used to work with me at Catholic Relief Services, served as her translator.

While I was there, we had a slow but steady stream of clients coming in for assistance. I am truly heartened by the number of men who accompany their wives or come in for counseling themselves. WAW is on its way to building a strong program that will bring practical tools and hope to Afghan families who have no place to turn.

I returned to Kabul in mid-April 2007, along with WAW board member Esther Hyneman, to work with Director Manizha Naderi at our new Family Guidance Center.

Spring weather in Kabul is wonderful, cool evenings and moderate temperatures in the 70’s and 80’s in the daytime. (But already the dust is up and many people, myself included, are jokingly referring to their “Kabul cough.”) What is most impressive is how green Kabul is now. There seem to be trees in foliage everywhere, on the streets, in the parks, on Kabul U. campus and in backyards. The first time I came to Kabul, spring 2003, Kabul was almost barren. The trees and shrubs just looked dead – the long years of drought and bombing had taken their toll. Now the trees are back and Kabulis are gardening again. Geraniums blooming in clay pots in every compound courtyard you visit.

The Family Guidance Center opened in March. I last saw it in November when Manizha, Esther and I looked at a large house for rent. Then it was cold and dreary but the rent was right and Manizha negotiated with the landlord to make needed repairs. This house is in Shar-e-now district in central Kabul near the ministries and key NGO’s. So we took the plunge and rented the house. Now, upon my return, it is a different place, new carpet on the floor, fresh paint everywhere, and a cheerful kitchen with a new stove. There are some roses blooming out back and we need to be true Kabulis and plant some geraniums.

Manizha has hired four counselors; she plans to hire one or two more and a legal officer. The Ministry of Women’s Affairs has been referring clients to us and the counseling has begun. The staff is receiving ongoing in-service training and will have some intensive training on psychology and family counseling next month from Dr. Anne Brodsky. Anne is the head of Women’s Studies at the University of Maryland for Baltimore County and has worked extensively with Afghan women in Afghanistan and Pakistan. I first met her when I was working with Catholic Relief Services in 2004. Anne did some training for the teachers of CRS schools in Kapisa and Panjshir Valley and her presentation is culturally sensitive and energizing. We are very excited that she is helping us out at the Family Guidance Center.

Our counselors are working with women clients and their husbands. The Center is unique here in Afghanistan in that we work with men as well as women, reaching out to the entire family. To give an example, in one case a young man who went into debt to pay for his brother’s wedding is being hounded by creditors. He is angry at the brother and has been hitting younger siblings. Now he is seeking our help to change his behavior and improve the relationship with his family.

It was just August 2006 when Manizha came alone to Kabul with a small seed grant and a dream. Just before we left, WAW received funding from Open Society Institute (the George Soros philanthropic organization). While we were here, we learned that WAW’s funding proposal to Counterparts International was accepted. So here we are now, with a beautiful center open and reaching out to families, and funding to build and sustain the program.

Afghan Women’s Fund projects: Board member Fahima Vorgetts arrived in Kabul shortly after we did. Esther and I traveled with Fahima to visit some of the wonderful projects she has started. First we visited a home in Kabul where one of the beneficiaries of Afghan Women’s Fund has started a small business selling knitted goods. The Fund helped her get started with a small loan. Now she holds knitting classes in her home and well as providing an outlet where the women can sell their knitted good. A small literacy class meets here too. We met some of the young women who learned to read and now go to regular government school.

But the highlight of traveling with Fahima was the trip to Herat. We went to a village outside Herat where, thanks to Fahima’s fund-raising, the villagers were able to build two schools for girls, one on each side of the river. The schools just recently opened. When we arrived, we were surrounded by a flock of cheering, chattering little girls. They showered us with rose petals, took our hands and proudly took us from room to room. Never have I seen such joy in children’s eyes caused by the ability to go to school. It was heartening and sobering at the same time.

Fahima is organizing women’s shuras in many of the villages where she has started other projects. Traditionally, the shura is a council of the local men who make decisions about village governance. Since the ouster of the Taliban, the UN and NGO”s working on reconstruction have worked with the government to start women’s shuras. While these shuras have much less power than the men’s shuras, they do participate in decisions that affect what are considered the traditional women’s domain (e.g, operating sewing classes, taking care of the schools, lobbing for new wells, etc.) In short, it’s a start at including women in the development of a civil society.

In one village, Fahima delivered some computers to a girls’ school. When one of the male elders commented that he did not want a man teaching girls how to use computers, Fahima miraculously turned that comment into a discussion of why the women should have their own shura. She convinced the men and a week later, went back to the school and led an organizational meeting with the women.

I am home now in San Francisco, where I will be holding a fund-raiser for the Family Guidance Center and Afghan Women’s Fund. Armed with contributions, I’ll return in mid-June to decorate and furnish a playroom-sitting room at the Center, where clients can relax and their children can play.

There is much bad news from Kabul, as you must know if you read the New York Times or Washington Post, or watch CNN. But there are some rays of sunshine here, and WAW is one of them.

Mary Lu Christie

Kabul, May 8, 2007

This is a very sad time at the Ministry of Women’s Affairs in Afghanistan. Yesterday the provincial director of the Ministry of Women’s Affairs in Kandahar was assassinated by two men outside her home while she was on her way to work.

This slaying is a senseless and cowardly act, more proof that security in Afghanistan is deteriorating rapidly. The Taliban and Al-Qaeda are winning in the southern part of Afghanistan and women’s human rights are a prime target of their fanaticism.

Progress for women in Afghanistan has been frustratingly slow, but it has been happening. We call upon women throughout the world, those who are still fighting for their rights and those whose rights are honored and protected by their governments, to take every necessary step to prevent a reversal of this progress and a return to the time when Islam itself was falsely interpreted as sanctioning tyranny over women.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the family of Safia (Amma Jan).

It’s been a little over one month since I’ve arrived in Kabul. Last time I was in Kabul was in the summer of 2004. What changes I have noticed since then? Well let me just start by saying that the Afghan people aren’t as optimistic as they used to be.

I’ve spoken to many people since my arrival and every one of them says they have lost hope.  They say it has gotten really hard to live in Afghanistan-especially Kabul. Everything is more expensive. An average person can’t support his family anymore.

People say that in 2003 or 2004, anyone who wanted to work could find a job. People were able to make ends meet. They could afford to buy bread for their families. Now there is no work. And everything is more expensive. Take bread for instance. In 2004, bread cost 2 Afghanis.  Now it’s 6. The average rent in Kabul is about $200 per month—that’s 10,000 Afghanis; while the monthly salary of a civil servant is about 3500 Afghanis. How are people supposed to support themselves?

Afghans also feel that warlords are taking advantage of everything. Corruption is rampant. People resent that the rich are getting richer and the poor can’t even buy bread for their families. Warlords have benefited from all of the years of war. They benefited during the Soviet war, they benefited during the Mujahidin reign and they are benefiting now. People resent that the international community has closed their eyes and ears to the cries of the Afghan people. Afghans keep saying that these warlords have raped and looted our people in the past—why do they have influence over our government. How are people supposed to trust the government?

And the people don’t trust the police. They say it’s the police who are the thieves. They act like police during the day but at night they rob people’s houses and kidnap people’s children. And warlords who are influential in the government are seizing people’s lands illegally. The Afghan people are sick and tired of all of this.

Most people tell me that during the Taliban period they had better security. Yes, the Taliban were bad; they forced people to do things that they didn’t want to do, but people felt safe in their houses. In southern Afghanistan, people are welcoming the Taliban back. They feel that President Karzai is spineless, that he is trying to make everyone happy and that he is incapable of protecting Afghan citizens. He is trying to balance the wishes of the warlords (to keep them quiet and satisfied), but he forgets that he was elected by the people. Most people regret voting for him.

I will continue to update this blog to keep everyone informed as to the progress of our project.
Please check back at the end of the week.

Sending you regards from Kabul,

Manizha