The Women of Bamyan: A Progress Report

October 5, 2011 by Zareen Taj ·

Last Wednesday I reached Bamyan province in Afghanistan. It was a sunny, windy day, and Bamyan looked beautiful and clean. When our small, nine-person plane got close to landing, I saw a group of girls on the road going to school. I saw police with professional and neat uniforms, without beards. I saw so many new buildings and many foreigners–none of which I saw the last time I was here in 2004. I felt so relieved and joyful to see progress in Bamyan.
Bamyan province, with a population of nearly 400,000, is located in the center of Afghanistan. A place that has six months of winter, it used to be the poorest province, with mainly potatoes growing there. It’s most famous for being the site of two remarkable 6th century sculptures of the Buddha built into a rocky hillside, which were destroyed by the Taliban in 2001.
In 2004, the situation there shocked my soul. I saw only destruction–of the Buddhas, houses, the bazaar. I heard so much misery about the Taliban’s cruelty in the province. I was crying as I looked around, feeling helpless and hopeless. And I met so many women whose lives were shattered. Time had collapsed for them–the past was so painful to remember, the future too uncertain to talk about. They were just struggling in the present.
But Wednesday felt like the happiest day of my life. I saw development. I saw hope in the faces of people, and hope about the administration of the governor–a woman! This time, I hear more stories of success than misery. Women talk about the future because they can see a future for themselves! Last time, I had only tears to share with the women of Bamyan; this time we share smiles.
I am eager to visit more places in Bamyan and meet more women. I have come here on a fact-finding research trip, just as I did in 2004 when I traveled around and made a video. I’m focusing on Bamyan primarily because it is the center of the Hazarajat–the Hazara ethnic group, to which I belong. I will visit the University of Bamyan, the orphanage run by Dr. Sima Samar, the women’s ministry, the women’s shura (community council), a women’s shelter, a women’s prison and two girls schools. I will find out more about the life of the people here; I am sure they are still facing challenges and obstacles, but overall Bamyan is moving in positive direction.
Right now, Bamyan has many success stories to tell to the world. The governor’s adviser says that their message to the international community, especially the American people is that “your money is not wasted in Bamyan.” She says they have carefully spent international assistance on improvement of the province. Right now Bamyan has 320 schools, with nearly 80,000 students in elementary (up to grade 5) and nearly 35,000 in middle- and high school. The province also maintains a strong literacy program for adults. I can see a revolutionary change in education in Bamyan: It now has no barriers because of age, gender, location or economic status. People have full confidence that they are able to keep learning at any age; there are many literacy courses for the elderly. The Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission and the Shuhada Organization have so many programs in Bamyan, many to bring awareness about domestic violence and human rights violations.
I also visited Mazar-e-Sharif and could see huge differences from Bamyan. The Balkh province, where Mazar-e-Sharif is, has a male governor and receives more government money. When I visited, the governor had 12 guests in the house and we were served all kinds of delicious food. The poorer province, Bamiyan, is run by the only female governor in Afghanistan, Habiba Sarabi, who was the minister of women’s affairs back in 2004. There are much less trappings of power and politics on display in her government, and government resources seem to be spent more on the people and the communities themselves.
Sarabi is in direct daily contact with the average citizen. She wears very simple dress; people love her. For dinner, she served her guests very simple food–okra cooked with Bamyani potatoes and homemade yogurt. I got to spend a few hours with her, watching her work. She is very friendly with people. The work hours are from 8 to 3:30 p.m., but she didn’t leave the office that day until 5:30; she said she never leaves until she has finished her work. When she left her office she went on a 30-minute walk and I went along. I was breathing so hard, but she was walking without any difficulty. There was only one police officer with us–something governors in other provinces could not do because of security fears. Bamyan, though, is now a peaceful place.
I saw the governor come out of a meeting with the United Nations World Food Program, which wants to distribute wheat to people who are affected so badly from poverty. The governor told them that they should give the wheat in exchange for those people promising to work cleaning snow off the streets and roads in winter time. Sarabi said she wants to teach Bamyan people to learn how to catch fish, not just how to eat fish. She said, “I want to teach the Bamyan people that nothing can come free. You have to work hard.”
Photo of Hazara girls in Bamyan by ISAF Headquarters Public Affairs Office from Kabul, Afghanistan under Creative Commons 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons

MS Magazine

Policy Matters with Naseem Zehra 15th October 2011 -3

Policy Matters with Naseem Zehra 15th October 2011 -2

Policy Matters with Naseem Zehra 15th October 2011 -1.

Newly trained midwives are saving lives in Afghanistan

A group of young midwives in Afghanistan's remote central mountains is fighting against the odds to make huge strides in maternal health

Afghanistan has the highest rate of maternal deaths in the world, but health practices and attitudes are changing thanks to a group of newly-trained midwives
In the mountains of central Afghanistan, blocked by snow for half the year, temperatures plummet to minus 37C. Nothing's easy in this part of the world – least of all childbirth.

Healthy newborns run the serious risk of hypothermia as some mothers simply don't understand the need to keep their baby warm. There is a host of hidden cultural challenges – for example, many women bleed to death before they can receive permission from their husband or mother-in-law to get medical help.

It's not surprising Afghanistan has the highest rate of maternal deaths in the world. When World Vision arrived in Ghor province in 2007, there wasn't a single skilled midwife in a province of 800,000 people.

Most deaths are preventable. It's down to lack of awareness about basic care, bad diets and women working physically too hard in the fields right up to giving birth. This is coupled with unskilled care and dangerous cultural practices such as cutting the umbilical cord with the edge of a shoe, from a well-meaning villager or mother-in-law.

Now there's hope, in the form of newly-trained midwives like 32-year-old Shukria. A close relative of hers bled to death during childbirth when a traditional birth attendant tried to remove the placenta with her hand, but mistakenly pulled out her womb. This horrific moment has inspired Shukria to help others.

When Shukria started work in Chagcharan, the mullawi (religious scholar) told her she was an "infidel" and wasn't welcome. It wasn't until she helped his wife, who became ill during pregnancy, and he was also satisfied with her answers to some religious questions, that she was allowed to stay.

Our midwives are only allowed to travel with a close male relative, and each now runs clinics to reach many more mothers and children.

I was based in remote Hazarajat in Afghanistan back in 2001 when the US-led invasion occurred. We were told to evacuate, but it took three days to reach the capital, Kabul, on dirt roads, and by the time we got there the airport had been bombed. We managed to get to Pakistan and a local colleague skilfully negotiated our way across the border.

Security is always a concern. A few months ago a small army base, five minutes drive from our team house, came under attack and we were evacuated. A colleague told me not to worry as "the explosions weren't close until the windows rattled".

When the security is poor I need to travel wearing a Herati burqa – a big patterned black sheet that covers you completely except for your face. I find it difficult to handle and often trip over the ends.

This is the fifth time I have worked in Afghanstan since 2001, and I have seen countless changes. The government now has a health system. It has set up many more health centres and trained health workers at all levels.

The story of these midwives, and the personal sacrifices they make, is inspiring. My team has grown from eight people to 38. In the past year, with the help of a local NGO, we have trained nearly 300 people to teach basic healthcare and carry out growth monitoring for more than 20,000 mothers and children each month. More than 90,000 mothers and fathers now attend these groups across five districts.

Working against the odds in such harsh surroundings, these women are changing health practices and attitudes which, in turn, is saving countless lives.

• Dr Sarah Pickworth is public health specialist for aid agency World Vision

The Guardian

President Zardari in a meeting with Hazara comunity. Oct 13, 2011

Ethnic cleansing of Hazara community

THE recent wave of terrorism against the peaceful Hazara community in Quetta is a clear failure on the part of the provincial and federal governments to protect ethnic and religious minorities.
From the Newspaper

The massacre of 40 ethnic Hazara community members in less than 10 days is a clear message for the Hazara community that terrorists are focused and determined in their operations.

More than 1,500 members of the Hazara community have lost their lives in less than a decade, and the provincial government, on the other hand, is incapable of anything except advising Hazara community members to inform the local police station before moving in the city which is by no means a practical solution. Interestingly, despite heavy deployment of security forces and the presence of other security agencies in the region such incidents raise many questions about the credibility and seriousness of the provincial government to protect the lives of the ethnic Hazara community.
Besides, the silence of the Supreme Court of Pakistan is another mystery.

Is not the genocide of an ethnic community enough to open the eyes of the Supreme Court?

SAAD JAAN
Karachi

DAWN