Consider a world in which you have to sneak out of your home to read this blog post. A world where publicly expressing your thoughts -- or privately penning them in your own journal -- could mean risking your life.
Masha Hamilton, founder and creator of the Afghan Women's Writing Project (AWWP), is a person changing this reality and making a cultural conversation happen. AWWP came from an idea based on Masha's longtime interest in Afghanistan and the powerful women she regularly encountered during her trips there. AWWP strives to give women a voice without censorship -- an almost non-existent privilege for most women in a country where male relatives and media largely control women's freedom of expression. Volunteer teachers staff the project and instruct Afghan women via the Internet.
Since launching in 2009, participants and volunteers working with AWWP has grown considerably. A few months ago, I joined as a writing tutor and had the opportunity to hear powerful stories while working in partnership with program participants on new pieces.
In a short interview, Masha and I discussed her own story -- her thoughts about the project, its direction and how volunteers can make an immediate impact.
Laura Cococcia: Since launching AWWP, you and your team have achieved amazing progress -- not only with the project itself, but also with getting the word out. What have you found most rewarding about the project so far? The most challenging?
Masha Hamilton: The most rewarding aspects have certainly been reading the essays, watching the women writers delve deeper on a weekly basis, and the satisfaction of knowing we are creating an outlet for at least some voices.
It's also been satisfying to work with an amazing volunteer team of authors, teachers, web designers, etc. I'm also very excited about our latest effort, to raise funds to establish Afghanistan's first women's only Internet cafe.
The challenges? Simply keeping it all organized, and getting readers to the blog to comment on the work these women are doing, so that they feel their voices are being heard, and so that we can engage in a creative and intellectual exchange.
LC: Can you share any feedback you've received from the women in Afghanistan participating in the project?
MH: The women involved in the project are grateful to be part of it, and excited about sharing their work. At the same time, they often work under enormous challenges. They sometimes must keep their work secret from their family members. And of course, they are working in English, which is often their third or fourth language.
LC: What can we -- as a global, national and online community -- do to help with the Afghan Women's Writing Project?
MH: Helping is as simple as reading a blog entry and making a comment. You can also do exactly what you are doing here -- spread the word, so that these women writers become even more connected to writers and readers here.
Find out more about how you can get involved in the Afghan Women's Writing Project here.
Follow Laura Cococcia on Twitter: www.twitter.com/lauracococcia
George Heymont: Meanwhile, Back in Afghanistan...
So after we leave I will support their struggle
- until then this is just another puff-piece in support of the war - no sale.
But I certainly do suspect the motives of the US military in allowing them to work there and allowing embedded reports of their work to get freely to the US media.
And the sad fact is this - after we leave, whenever we leave, much of the results of this work will be embroiled in a civil war. The US presence not only delays that conflict but makes it likely to be extremely violent.
The fact remains that Hamilton can be there only because there's a colonial army of 150000 threatening any who might object to her presence.
Lasting social change has to come from within a culture, it can not be imposed by foreigners under threat of force.
I decided to return to this article to see what others had to say. Well, I replied to ewldest too. My theory is, if support groups can aid these women with the US military occupation, then so be it. Maybe something good can come of this whole mess!
It is possible, that the support groups themselves are taking advantage of the military presence. Sometimes, "you gotta do what you gotta do", by whatever means you can do it!
Hopefully, the writing project will empower Afghan women as well as their families. The first & most important skill for any education is language & writing. When Afghanistan becomes independent of outside forces, their education & multilingualism will be a power unto itself.
Will they be successful against groups like the Taliban, maybe, maybe not? However, it sure can’t hurt to have some tools to fight back. These, they don’t have to buy!
Don't start me on the injustice done to Native Americans, which continues to this day.
You don't "take advantage" of the military, it ALWAYS takes advantage of you. You think you are playing chess to their checkers - they are playing a computer game in which you are merely the "wingman" to their RPG shooter.
(Computer games are based on simulation technology developed by the military, BTW.)
Bad news - the big battle for liberation in Afghanistan will be against the foreign colonialists - US.
- have a nice day - and your grandchildren too, because they will also be fighting this insane war for corporate profits.