Lessons from Afghan women

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 08/03/2003 (8358 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

‘WOULD the girls who went to school this week stand up! If you lived in Afghanistan you’d probably be in jail!”

Author Deborah Ellis caught our attention with that introduction when she spoke to a group of loyal readers at the Louis Riel Library in Winnipeg recently. Next she asked all the women who were in attendance without a written note of permission from their husbands to stand up. Ellis said most of us would be in jail as well.

That information surprised me. Didn’t a new government in Afghanistan guarantee women more freedom? Ellis says this is the case only in the capital city of Kabul. A recent United Nations report states most rural women are still experiencing harassment and continue to live with the same restrictions the Taliban enforced.

Ellis, a Toronto author, has written three books: The Breadwinner, Parvana’s Journey, and Mud City, which chronicle the adolescence of a girl in war-torn Afghanistan. Parvana, the main character, is the daughter of a professor and a writer. She must find a way to support her family after her father is arrested and her older brother is killed by a landmine. Parvana cuts off her hair and goes into the streets of Kabul disguised as a boy, because women are not allowed outdoors unescorted. She works as a vendor and charges a fee for her services as a writer and reader. When times get more desperate, she joins a group of gravediggers who scavenge for human bones to sell.

The characters and plots of Ellis’ novels are based on information she gleaned while interviewing Afghan women in Pakistan’s refugee camps. Since the events of September 11, 2001, Ellis’ books have become bestsellers. Parents and teachers looking for reading materials to help them explain the situation in Afghanistan to young people have been drawn to her work.

To her credit, Ellis did not depict the Taliban merely as evil enemies when she spoke to her Winnipeg audience. Quite to the contrary, she helped those present to understand why the young men who make up the radical group are such violent bullies. Many are orphans who have received no education other than memorizing selected parts of the Koran and being taught how to fight. They are illiterate. Since they cannot read, they have no exposure to the outside world or new ideas. They cannot even study the Koran themselves. Most did not grow up with any female influence in their lives and so consequently they do not trust women. In her first novel, The Breadwinner, Ellis gives the Taliban a human face by having Parvana read a letter aloud for an illiterate soldier. Tears well up in his eyes as he listens to the educated young woman read news about family members he hasn’t seen for a long time. For a moment, he seems almost vulnerable. Ellis’ description of an Afghan girl assisting a Taliban soldier reminded me of Jesus’ directive in Luke 6 to extend a helping hand to our enemies.

While in no way negating or even downplaying the evil the Taliban have inflicted, Ellis wants us to understand how a lack of nurture and education have played a role in turning these men into such militant extremists.

Ellis is absolutely convinced that education would make a difference, not only for the boys brainwashed by the Taliban, but for the young women of Afghanistan as well. She says Afghan families are encouraged to sell their daughters as brides when they are as young as nine or 10. However, if the girl has even a year or two of education, her family sees her completely differently and is not nearly as likely to arrange an early marriage for her.

According to the wisdom found in Proverbs 24:5, those who have knowledge are mightier than those who have mere physical strength. Ellis is no less passionate than the Biblical writer about the importance of an education. She is donating the royalties from her books to a foundation that is working to provide schools and teachers for girls in Afghanistan.

I attended the Ellis speaking engagement here in Winnipeg with my 11-year-old niece, Amanda, who has read the Parvana books and highly recommends them. Many other young people were in the audience. Ellis addressed them in a way that showed a real respect for their intelligence. She told them that everyday, they have opportunities to make conscious choices for good or evil.

“In the future it is you kids who will have the power to decide what our world will be like,” she said. “Ask questions. Don’t just accept what people tell you. Find out for yourself.”

Good advice for us all.

MaryLou Driedger studied theology at Canadian Mennonite Bible College and religion at the University of Manitoba. An elementary school teacher and freelance writer, she lives in Steinbach. Her e-mail address is: dadried@mb.sympatico.ca