Films

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Filmed by the first ever team of women video journalists trained in Afghanistan, this rare and uncompromising film explores the effects of the Taliban�s repressive rule and recent U.S.-sponsored bombing campaign on Afghani women. None of the fourteen journalist trainees had ever traveled outside Kabul. Except for one, none had been able to study or pursue careers while the Taliban controlled their country.

Motherland Afghanistan is a graphic account of the health conditions for most Afghan women. Filmed by the daughter of two Afghan doctors who emigrated to the US, Motherland Afghanistan takes the viewer inside the heartbreak that is life for too many Afghan women. Please use some forethought before viewing as it is very difficult to watch. However, we encourage you to watch it ~ as a justice response ~ as a way to stand in solidarity as a compassionate witness with Afghan women and their children.

Directed by Meena Nanji
Official Website

2001 saw an unprecedented level of international interest in the lives of Afghan women living under the Taliban. With the Talibans fall later that year, the U.S. proclaimed the dawn of a new era in Afghanistan that promised peace, democracy and liberation for women. Years after this new era was declared, Afghanistan in once again in the news, not because of successful reconstruction, but because of increasing violence and a resurgence of the Taliban. And what about the women? Since 2001, the media spotlight on Afghan women had fallen, and with it, public knowledge of the current situation they face. What are their lives like now? Have they really improved since a new government took power? Have they gained any real rights or do they still live in fear and repression?

From Meena Nanji about HWH:

The situation for the majority of Afghan women is dire. Contrary to popular perception, their situation has not improved since the fall of the Taliban in 2001: indeed, it is equally as bad, or in some areas, even worse than it was back then. Under a 2009 law passed by the Karzai government, women are effectively the property of their husbands or male relatives, who can dictate whether women can work, socialize, go out of the house, get an education. Any woman who tries to forge a path towards independence can be severely punished by beating or even death.

A few facts:

• Every 30 minutes, an Afghan woman dies during childbirth
• 87 percent of Afghan women are illiterate
• 1 in every 3 Afghan women experience physical, psychological or sexual violence
• 44 years is the average life expectancy rate for women in Afghanistan
• 70 to 80 percent of women face forced marriages in Afghanistan
• 30 percent of girls have access to education in Afghanistan

While the 2005 Constitution of Afghanistan does give girls the right to an education, in effect, girls remain largely without schooling. This is due to the lack of safety for many girls: with violence in Afghanistan at its worst levels since the overthrow of the Taliban, girls may be kidnapped or raped on the way to school or in school. Teachers, both male and female, who teach at girls’ schools are routinely killed, and hundreds of girls schools have closed their doors as a result. Additionally, because many under-age girls are married off by their families (in violation of the Constitution which delineates 16 as the earliest age of marriage), and married females are not allowed in school, many girls miss out on education.

By encouraging and actively supporting the education of Afghan women, Help Women Heal is performing a vital task in helping better the lives and condition of Afghan women.

Raising awareness is in itself essential; raising scholarship funds for Afghan women to attend medical school is exemplary in that it can actually transform women’s lives and livelihood, turning many dreams into reality. There are countless Afghan women who desperately yearn to change their lives and live out their hopes, dreams and potential. Help Women Heal brings them steps closer to fulfilling these ambitions, not only for them personally, but for their community and indeed society as a whole.

In addition, Help Women Heal is helping train a fresh generation of U.S students in engaging with social justice issues, and offering them an opportunity in hands-on experience working with a non-profit organization. Help Women Heal is also facilitating forums for discussion and exchange about U.S involvement in Afghanistan, thereby contributing to a more informed citizenry. All this is essential in encouraging citizens in the U.S to remain active and participant in issues that affect our lives.

Please support this endeavor in any way you can.