The news is...

Thanks to major funding from ITVS, "The Promise of Freedom" is coming to PBS! Sean and I had a phenomenal time in San Fransisco last week for ITVS Orientation - thanks Cheryl, Richard x2, Matt, Annelise, Jorge and the rest of the ITVS family! We also had the pleasure of eating the best dessert ever: cheese-based sorbet with olive oil and sea salt. Phenomenal. Now we just have to make a movie!

The Rumors are True...

We do have BIG news to share... soon.

Hell of a Day

(Pictured: Beth Murphy and Sean Flynn at the TDF pitch table. Photo courtesy of Christian Pena.)

Our project, The Promise of Freedom, was the first and only one at TDF to receive on-the-spot funding (for both production and outreach) at the pitch table.** Thank you Judith Helfand, Julia Parker Benello and Wendy Ettinger! (Read my blog entry on Chicken & Egg Pictures site, too.) We also received a commitment for distribution and support for making a pre-sale. It is phenomenally exciting, and I'm looking very forward to our follow up meetings tomorrow with some commissioning editors.

There was really only one way to celebrate: meal seven of sushi. And the Ryan Harrington fan that I am, I couldn't miss the International Premiere of P-Star Rising. I didn't want it to end.



P-Star and her Dad showed up after the film, and, surrounded on the sidewalk under a full moon, P-Star entertained us with one of her new hip-hop songs. We all agreed that this 14-year-old girl is more mature than we could probably ever hope to be.

**There were thirty films pitched here (25 as part of TDF, and 5--including ours--as part of TDF's Good Pitch). The four other films that were part of the Good Pitch were - Sean & Andrea Fine’s Resilient (signs of hope in women’s stories); Mona Nicoara’s Our School (Roma children in Transylvania); Nic Dunlop’s Burma Soldier (a Burmese soldier who becomes a pro-democracy activist); and Marco Williams’ Untitled Immigration Project (a community torn apart by immigration issues).

Lucrative, Easy and Meaningful

Producing documentaries is not easy. In large part because it is not inexpensive. We mused over drinks that it would be nice if every once in a while a film could fit this description: "lucrative, easy and meaningful."

I was celebrating the world premiere of "21 Below" at the Toronto Hyatt with the film's creators and supporters. In the film Sharon, the oldest and most stable of three sisters, returns to her dysfunctional family to help her 21-year-old sister, Karen, who is pregnant with her third child. The baby's father is an older black man who sells drugs and teaches Karen's older son (fathered by another man) that Jay-Z has 4000guns. The diapproval from Sharon and Karen's Jewish mother creates the tension and drama that drive this intensely personal film. Karen also has a 15-month-old daughter who is dying of a rare degenerative disorder. I nearly found myself hyperventilating during sections of the film. It was remarkable after the film to meet the Mom and see her satisfaction with it. It cannot be easy to have a packed theater watch your most intimate family drama on display.

I finally saw "Sergio" today. What can I say? Only that I have one wish: that I had never seen it so that I could walk back into the theater this second to watch it for the first time. And Director Greg Barker may have a through-the-roof resume, but there's no ego accompanying it. Here's the trailer:

Toronto Tales

Judith Helfand and Robert West, co-founders of Working Films, continue to prove why they're the best at what they do! As they listened to and helped tweak each of the five pitches (inluding ours) that will be given on Thursday in front of hundreds of people, good pitches evolved into great ones. Their mission to link non-fiction film to cutting edge activism is gaining even more momentum now that they're partnering with Channel 4 BRITDOC Foundation and the Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program to have the "Good Pitch" here in Toronto.

Most of the day was spent in this three hour workshop and an invite-only Doc Mogul lunch honoring Sheila (as Nick Fraser points out, HBO's Sheila Nevins is a one name wonder in the docu world).

The films I saw today were as heart-wrenching as yesterday's. Children of God tells the story of a 12-year-old Nepalese boy and his two siblings who eke out an existence by finding gold, coins and food used for cremations along the banks of the sacred Bagmati River. And Rough Aunties focuses on an amazing group of women in South Africa who care for abused children. Together the films left me emotionally exhausted.

They both also brought back a flood of memories. I visited Pashupatinath in Kathmandu in 1999, and was as struck then as I was today by the seamlessness between life and death there. I remember watching family members carry the deceased to the edge of the river, bathe the body in the river's holy waters(nevermind that it is 90%sewage today), build a funeral pyre (a ghat) stuffed with ghee (butter) balls to help it burn, and then sweep the ashes into the river. That's when the kids come in - diving into the water to recover anything of value, and pulling magnets along the river bottom to snatch any coins. It really is a bit like the edge of heaven here because Hindus believe that once the ashes reach the water, the soul leaves the body to be with God.

On the lighter side...

I'm loving the fact that every other storefront in Toronto seems to be a sushi restaurant. This is fitting in nicely with my plan to eat nothing but edamame and rainbow dragon rolls all week! I was hoping to start each morning with some laps, but the pool here (sorry Sutton Place Hotel) stinks. It's small and square, and my circular swim this morning left me so unsatisfied that I grabbed my running shoes and hit the streets. It is perfect running weather here, and I'm looking forward to heading down to the waterfront in about 7 hours.

Dismal Illumination & Empathy

In my next life, I want to come back as Nicholas Kristof. His writing for the NYT is done with such humanity and insight, and I loved watching him in action tonight at the International Premiere of Reporter. The film follows Kristof on a mission of (as the director calls it) "dismal illumination" to the Congo.

As Kristof searches for the one person who will illuminate the massive suffering of millions caused by war in the Congo (5.4 million killed in the past decade), filmmaker Eric Daniel Metzgar distastefully comments that hunting down the saddest stories "doesn't feel very good." (There were moments when I couldn't help but think of the book, Anyone Here Been Raped and Speak English?) But, Metzgar admits, the worst stories will exist whether Kristof finds them or not.

When Kristof meets Yohanita, a woman so thin from starvation she is mistaken for a bundle of rags, his next column begins to take shape. His methodology is similar to my own (just without world leaders paying close attention!): tell personal stories that highlight larger political, historical and ethical issues. What I wasn't aware of is the "psychology of compassion" that informs Kristof's method.

One scientific study mentioned in the film is really fascinating: Subjects were shown three pictures... one of a starving 7-year-old girl, one of a starving 7-year-old boy, and one with both the boy and girl. People looking at the photos felt the same level of compassion for both the girl and boy in their individual photos. But when the two were pictured together, psychic numbing began to take hold, and viewers didn't feel as compassionate. And that's just two people suffering! How will the human mind comprehend 5.4 million??

In the end, Krisof says emotions are too unreliable to allow people to care about those suffering in our world. We need laws. But years of international inaction in Darfur prove that laws aren't enough either. That's why Kristof makes galvanizing public opinion and inspiring public outcry one of his primary missions--and his ability to achieve it is unparalleled in the field of journalism.



EMPATHY

"I know I'm different than my mother," says the main character in the wrenching film, About Face: The Story of Gwendellin Bradshaw, "because I feel empathy." Gwen's mother, a drug-using schizophrenic, threw her into a campfire when she was 9-months-old, leaving her with even more internal scars than external ones. The film follows Gwen through much of her 20s as she searches for her mother and battles her own mental and substance abuse demons. Tracking her mother takes Gwen to homeless shelters and psychiatric facilities across the United States, and when her search ends on a bench outside a bus station in New Hampshire, her mother insists on seeing her ID--as if the burns that have disfigured her face and hands aren't proof enough. Instead of finding the love and family she has craved her entire life, Gwen discovers a selfish, angry, mentally unstable woman who seems to believe that she is the victim who needs to be rescued. Fortunately, Gwen does find a real sense of family with her half sister, and as the film closes, the two of them create a photo album together--the first photo album Gwen has ever had in her entire life. (I must mention - the original score was beautiful - great job Joel Goodman!)

Anticipation

I have several "must see" films on my HOT DOCS schedule, but topping the list is Sergio, based on Samantha Power's Pulitzer-winning biography, Chasing the Flame: Sergio Vierira de Mello and the Fight to Save the World. A career diplomat whose calm, suave style and good looks earned him a reputation as equal parts James Bond and Bobby Kennedy, Sergio answered the call to duty one final time in Iraq. You can watch the Sergio trailer here.

No time to read Power's book? Her New Yorker article (The Envoy: The United Nations' doomed mission to Iraq)is an excellent read.

Pakistan's Islamic Schools - Hotbeds of Militancy

See article in today's NYT.

I've just started reading Ahmed Rashid's new book, "Descent Into Chaos." It is an incredible analysis of why Pakistan, unstable and armed with nuclear weapons, is terrorism's ground zero. In the book, Rashid questions how NATO can survive as the West's leading military alliance if the Taliban is not defeated and bin Laden remains uncaptured. He goes on to say:

What is at stake in Pakistan is even greater. A nuclear-armed military and an intelligence service that have sponsored Islamic extremism as an instrinsic part of their foreign policy for nearly four decades have found it extremely difficult to give up their self-destructive and double-dealing policies after 9/11, even under the watchful eye of the CIA...

President Bush's embrace of (Pakistan President) Musharraf and the military, rather than of the Pakistani people and the development of state institutions and a democratic process, has created immense hatred for the U.S. Army and America, hatred that penetrates all classes of society. Ninety percent of the $10 billion in aid that the United States has provided Pakistan with since 9/11 has gone to the military rather than development... When the Bush administration continued to back Musharraf in late 2007...Pakistan's middle class was overtaken by feelings of anti-Americanism, making it impossible to persuade Pakistanis to resist the extremists.

...the U.S. attack on Iraq was critical to convincing Musharraf that the United States was not serious about stabilizing the region, and that it was safer for Pakistan to preserve its own national interest by clandestinely giving the Taliban refuge.

On the Road Again

It is a beautiful sunny day here in Boston as I make the final preparations for our trip to Hot Docs. My biggest concern the last few days has been making sure Beth and I have all the materials we need to pitch The Promise of Freedom both in the Good Pitch forum and at the many informal networking events offered by the festival. On the packing list right now are 50 DVDs of The Promise of Freedom trailer and sample scene, 30 DVDs of our previously completed work Beyond Belief , 3 copies of the 4-minute screener we'll be using during our pitch, and a whole armload of proposals and budgets. Our schedule for the week is packed with film screenings, Rendezvous meetings, panel discussions and of course the big pitch on Thursday, May 7. I'll try to report back with notes from as many of these events as possible.

Alright, time to hit the road!

Heading to Toronto for HOT DOCS

It has been a busy week in the office preparing for HOT DOCS, North America’s biggest documentary festival.  Sean has been burning DVDs like a maniac, and we’re getting very excited about the opportunity to pitch THE PROMISE OF FREEDOM.  The film was one of five selected to participate in the Good Pitch, a pitching session that features human-rights focused documentary film projects in front of high profile film funds, organizations and NGOs.   This is the first time the Good Pitch has been done on this side of the Atlantic.  Can’t wait to see all our friends from Fledgling Fund and Chicken & Egg Pictures!  We’ll be blogging and tweeting from the road, so please check back.

Afghanistan News and Analysis

CNN special reports about the resurgent Taliban, new threats to troops, public opinion, opium production increase, and historical analysis.

A(nother) Blow to Women's Rights in Afghanistan

"It's the Taliban all over again," an Afghan woman said to me as I was loading my luggage in the car to head to Kabul International Airport. "It's just unbelievable."
The disbelief and outrage is over a new law--just signed by President Karzai last week--that legalizes rape in marriage by forbidding women from refusing sex; bans a woman from leaving the home, working, or seeing a doctor without her husband's permission; and grants child custody only to fathers and grandfathers in cases of divorce. Women must also wear makeup if their husbands demand it.

"When a husband dies, women can only inherit movable property--no houses or land," this woman told me as she quickly transferred a damning UNIFEM report onto a USB drive. This would keep me busy on my overnight layover in Istanbul.

It is obvious that in an attempt to win support in the upcoming August elections, President Karzai (who is wildly unpopular) is trying to appease Islamic fundamentalists. What's not so obvious to me as I wave goodbye is where the hell the West was when this bill was drafted a year ago. In situations like this, I want to count on Hillary Clinton to spring from a phone booth, her human rights cape whirling. Isn't this a violation of international law and Afghanistan's own constitution, which mandates equal rights for men women?

I believe women are a bellwether in society--and what happens with them is an indication of where the society is heading. Women may be the first to lose their rights, but they are usually not the last. Therefore, it should come as no solace that this law affects Afghanistan's Shiite community(that's about 15 percent of the population who are allowed under the constitution to have their own family law).

Even as President Karzai simultaneously defends the bill and says it will be reviewed due to global uproar, another family law--this one for the Sunni majority--is in the works.

"This is a disaster for women," is one of the last things I heard as I left Afghanistan. And those words are still ringing in my head.


Other Reading:

Washinton Post Article
New York Times Article
Al Jazeera Report

OTHER HAPPENINGS…











Budding Documentarians…. We’ve been training students to use small HDV video cameras that we will leave behind when we head back to the States. We’ve never done something like this before – but we’re hoping that they’ll provide us with some intimate family and village life material that we would not otherwise be able to capture. There is some trepidation about handing over expensive electronics.
Nadia, a third-grader who took the camera home last night, beamed as she showed us her footage this morning. But then we saw her in many of the shots. Wait a minute! Who’s filming? Her father had taken charge of the camera, she told us. Ultimately, we like the idea that the whole family buying into this project. There are three girls we’ve trained: Khodija (the orphan whose 12-year-old sister is engaged), Nadia (first in her class and one of 12 children thanks to her father’s marriage to two women—both of whom I was able to interview), and Raila (the 18-year-old fifth grader who wants to be a police officer some day).

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Love Marriage… since the majority of marriages here are arranged, it’s rare to hear about two people who fall in love and live happily ever after. When it happens, though, it’s called a “love marriage.” But trying for a “love marriage” when your parents want an arranged marriage is illegal. I learned today about a boy and girl who ran off together the day before her arranged marriage. They were hoping to escape to Tajikistan. But her parents called the cops and the lovebirds were arrested and thrown in jail. It’s common for people to sit behind bars for years for this “crime.” I’m working on setting up an interview with them when we return to Kabul in a few months.

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The vote is in… and the winner is… corruption. You’re supposed to be 18 to register to vote, but we know a 15-year-old who has a voting card. “They’re so easy to get,” his sister told us. “You’re supposed to show your identification card to get one, but a lot of people here don’t have any ID, and they give them to you anyway. They’re desperate for people to vote.” Is she planning to vote? “I don’t know – there aren’t any candidates worth voting for, that’s how a lot of us feel.” And if you’re finding it hard to get a voting card for some reason, don’t worry – you can buy one.

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A new Iranian complex—replete with mosque, madrassa and TV station—is working hard to spread anti-Americanism in Afghanistan. Since the TV station hit the airwaves, the religion-politics Molotov cocktail has been stirring up resentment among locals about the invading infidels.

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It’s official – we moved! And we love our new pad. I have 10 light bulbs in my room!! We’re near American University and the former Russian Cultural Center (now a drug den). The house has some tin sloping on the roof, so we can hear the pitter patter of the rain. We’ve already taken to calling it PPK (Principle Pictures Kabul). Many summers ago I taught a course at American University Paris—and had promised myself I’d look into other AU opportunities around the world. Never did… until now.

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It’s going to be hard saying goodbye to everyone, but I’m thrilled with what we’ve filmed and the relationships we've built. This is officially my last blog from Kabul--but I will keep writing! (If you're interested, over the past few days I've been able to add pictures to past blog entries. Success!)

Wedding Present for Nilab

Eighteen-year-old Nilab asked for one present from her husband when they were married: his permission to let her teach. “This is the only gift I wanted,” says Nilab—two years later—standing before her fourth grade class. “And he agreed.”

Nilab’s first teaching job is here at the Zabuli School. “I plan everything so carefully, and decide each night how I will start class the next morning and precisely what I will say.”

As she’s talking, I can tell she’s nervous. She pulls me aside and asks, “When you filmed me yesterday, could you hear my voice?” Yes, I tell her. “Oh, I’m so ashamed,” she said, her eyes widening. “I made some mistakes when I was speaking Pashtu. You have to delete it.” You’re trilingual, I tell her, you’re entitled. “No,” she insists, “you have to get rid of it.”

For school director Zia Haidai taking care of the eight teachers here is as important as caring for students. “All of our teachers come from Kabul,” he says—meaning they’re city girls who aren’t used to village life, and, perhaps more important, village life isn’t used to them.

“We are not allowed to go outside the gate,” Farzana, the school’s 3rd Grade teacher says, pointing to the red metal entrance. “The villagers are very conservative, and they don’t approve of us.”

Jeans. Makeup. Visible eyes, nose and mouth. There’s a lot to disapprove of. Zia had to lay down some ground rules. No tight clothing. As little makeup as possible. Head scarves a must all day. No walking on the streets outside the school. Long skirts past the ankles are always preferable to pants.

The teachers, Zia says, are one of the major reasons why he works so hard to keep village elders and religious clerics happy. “I don’t want them to make a rule that our teachers have to wear a burqa like all the other women in the village,” Zia says. He knows that if given a choice between a burqa or a job, they’d all put on their Levis and walk.

But it’s a delicate balance, school founder Razia Jan admits. Keeping everyone happy can be time-consuming and expensive, and it’s already a struggle to keep her own school running.

And as much as I think keeping the villagers happy is a slippery slope, the security concerns demand it. That means delivering freshly slaughtered sheep meat—as they will do this Friday—is as important to their safety plan as the security guards who sit near the gate around the clock.

You don’t have to go far to find girls’ schools under attack. Last year—just 30 minutes down the road—a girls’ school was burned down by terrorists.

“When I hear a report like that on the news,” Zia says, “I call the guards to alert them.” And since phone service is often down in Afghanistan, Zia reminds the guards that they have ten different numbers to call in case of an emergency. Then he spends a sleepless night. “I'm so anxious, and only feel better when I arrive at the school the next day and see for myself that everything is alright.”

Finding Sahera

Sahera holds a copy of Beyond Belief. Her picture became the movie poster and DVD cover for the film.

Three years ago, I had one of the most powerful filming experiences of my career. Susan Retik and Patti Quigley, the two September 11th widows featured in my film Beyond Belief met Sahera Naznia, an Afghan war widow. On the surface, they had absolutely nothing in common--Susan and Patti lived in Boston's wealthy suburbs and enjoy women's rights to their fullest. Sahera was struggling to feed her children and was not permitted to leave the house without wearing a burqa.

But the women connected--as widows, as mothers, as women.

When Susan found out I was heading back to Afghanistan she asked me if I would deliver a video message. The idea of reconnecting with Sahera was almost too good to be true. Despite the fact that she's illiterate (90% of the 500,000 widows in Kabul are), Sahera was one of the most eloquent and poetic women I have ever interviewed.

But would we be able to find her? The search was on.

Thanks to the incredible efforts of so many CARE International staff (Monte, Jasveen, Amy and Zora), we found Sahera! We decided to meet at a CARE Poultry Center in Kabul's District 5, an area that has been hit with three suicide bombings in the past month.

From a second story window, I watched Sahera arrive with her sister-in-law and was surprised she wasn't wearing a burqa. Three years ago she told me that although the burqa blinded her and made her dizzy, she was forced to wear it by her in-laws who told her that a widow--especially a young and beautiful one like herself--could not be seen in public.

"But when my mother-in-law died two years ago, I threw that thing away," she told me this morning. "She was the one who insisted. Now, I don't have to wear it any more. I was so happy to get rid of it," she giggled.

It was the same beautiful and animated Sahera.

(Kevin films as Sahera and her sister-in-law, Sadiqa, watch Susan's video message.)

Her eyes lit up even more when I played Susan's video message. "I am so happy that Beth is back in Afghanistan to share this with you," Susan's voice rose from my laptop. "I feel such a connection to you... I miss you, and I love you."

Susan shared news from her life--remarried now to Donald Ger, they welcomed baby Rebecca into the family last year. Sahera was visibly moved, "I'm so happy for her. I can see how happy she is," Sahera beamed.

Sahera is doing well, too. When I met her in May 2006, she was part of a poultry program supported by Susan's organization, Beyond the 11th, and she earned money by selling the eggs. It was just enough to support herself and her five children. But when chickens in the village started getting sick, Sahera sold her birds and focused on sewing.

"Selling the chickens gave me money to buy fabric, and now women in the village hire me to sew." It's enough, she says, so that all of her children can go to school. But they still struggle. When her oldest son was accepted at Nangharar College in Jalalabad earlier this year, he had to turn it down because she can't afford the dormitory fees.

"It's still my dream," Sahera says, "that my son will be the first person in the family to go to college."

In her video message, Susan acknowledged all that Sahera has been through in her life. "I hope that when your children get older they have the strength and dignity that you possess. They are so lucky to have you as a mother."

"The bond that we have is not typical," Sahera said of her feelings for Susan. "We are not just two people who have met. We are like sisters. I hope that we will meet again."

The Problem with American Men

We've visited one family at home since we've been here, and had no trouble filming because the two girls are orphans and the aunt they live with is a widow. So, that means there is no man in the family to tell them that they can't be filmed. Free to make up their own minds, they are excited to participate.

But today was different. We were invited into the home of Hameida, a first grader at the Zabuli Girls' School, who lives with seven women and two men (her father and grandfather). And there was no way these men were going to allow Kevin, a foreign man--and worse an American man--intimate access to their home where he would see their women's faces. Disappointed, he handed the camera over to me.

"This is what happens here," our translator said as Kevin graciously accepted a cup of coffee from the school administrator. "The men sit around and get served coffee, and the women go to do the work." No laughter from Kevin. Or from me, for that matter.

And even though I was being allowed to enter the family's home, no one wanted to draw attention to the filming or to give the neighbors any clue what was happening. I wrapped the camera in pretty floral fabric, rocked it in my arms like a baby and snuck right through the gate, unnoticed.

Tomorrow I'll be going it alone again - and just wish I had some pithy, lapidary comments to sum up my views on the gender problem.

Instead, I'm grateful we're getting footage of these families at all. And I'll choose to focus on the other fun things that are happening here -- today I hugged a sheep and flew a kite.

Afghanistan the new Vietnam?

A former North Vietnamese army officer thinks so. Read this GlobalPost dispatch. And don't miss the Reporter Notebook - great read.

First Day of School

When 18-year-old Raila Wafa took her seat in fifth grade class this morning, she officially became the oldest student at the Zabuli Girls' School.

"I'd like to put her in Grade 6," said school founder Razia Jan. "But we don't have a sixth grade yet because of funding." What will happen when fifth graders graduate? "We'll add one then," she says, just like they added a fifth grade class this year for all the fourth graders who graduated last year.

Raila was one of three students for whom today was the very first day of school here. For the other two students, today was their very first day of school--period.

(Majida at recess on her first day of school.)

Although eleven-year-old Majida and eight-year-old Baso had repeatedly asked to go to school, their father would never allow it. Instead, he insisted the girls stay home and work in the family's grape fields, harvesting grapes by hand when they're ripe in the summer, and removing dead leaves from the plants during the winter and spring.

But after meeting with Razia yesterday, their uncle--who is a village elder and teacher--intervened.

"My uncle came over last night and begged my father to let me and my two sisters come to school," Majida said in a quiet voice. "He finally agreed for me and my younger sister, but not my older sister. She's 17."

When both Majida and Baso failed the entrance exam (and their ages keep them from entering kindergarten), I assumed Razia would send them on their way. When she didn't, I assumed it was because their uncle is a powerful figure in the village, and she wanted to keep him happy in order to secure his support for the school.

I was wrong on both counts.

"For the first time in their lives their father is willing to let them go to school," Razia said as the girls were being led to first and third grade class. "This is their one opportunity. How could I possibly say no to that?"

As praise is coming in from Afghanistan's president for Obama's new war plan, the Afghans we talk with say they're cautiously optimistic. "I don't want to focus on then negative," one person told us. "But you see on people's faces here that they are anxious. They are just waiting for what's next. No one really knows."

While calling the growth of radical forces here the greatest threat to America and the world, Obama laid out a plan that will put more American troops here (4,000 now are added to the 17,000 already announced), do more to train Afghan forces, and (if Congress approved it) hand over $1.5 billion to Pakistan to help fight terrorism.

I'm no terrorism expert, but I've been re-reading Ghost Wars, and Pakistan has a long and troubling history with the Taliban, and there is still evidence that the Pakistani Intelligence Service is largely responsible for supplying the Taliban and Al Qaeda with money and weapons.


Also...
Interesting reading from Foreign Affairs on strategy of target killings--made popular by Israel, and now being adopted more and more by U.S. in War on Terror.

Meeting the Mullah

Across the street from the Zabuli Girls’ School is a mosque with a madrassa, an Islamic religious school where boys study and memorize the Koran. Madrassas have earned a bad reputation of late—associated with producing militant Islamists who interpret religion in violent ways. In Pakistan especially, Taliban fighters are known to have been educated at Saudi-backed madrassas teaching Wahhabism, a particularly fiery brand of Islam.

But there are still madrassas, like this one in Deh Subz, where boys come not to be Taliban, but to become Talibs or teachers.

“The word Talib can be somewhat misleading here because Talibs are an important part of life in Afghanistan.” says Razia Jan, founder of the Zabuli School. Razia remembers Talibs coming to her home as a child after a death in the family. “There can be as many as 30 Talibs associated with a mosque, and after someone dies they come to your house one- by-one and recite different parts of the Koran. You feed them, and they go.”

Today, after Friday prayers, the mullah (think Catholic church monsignor) of the Deh Subz madrassa and twelve village elders* walked across the dirt road to meet with Razia, school administrators and teachers.

“I’m very proud to see this here,” the mullah said about the school. “But I think it would be good if you could add three classes for boys, too—maybe in the afternoon.”

Razia told them she’d consider it, but she’s more focused on their other request—adding another first grade class and a sixth grade class for girls. “The girls need more classes,” said one village elder who recognizes how good the education is here. He brought his own three daughters to register, and when the principal tested them, he was shocked to discover that his 12-year-old—who had gone through 5th grade in public school—could not even write her name. After a week at the Zabuli School she was able to write both her name and her father’s name.

Allowed to enter fourth grade, the girl is technically at a first grade level—but putting her in first grade at her age is forbidden by the Ministry of Education. Although many other students in this situation are denied entry—we witnessed two girls fail their entrance exam yesterday—school administrators decided it was more important to maintain a good relationship with the powerbrokers in the community. Without the support of the mullah and elders, nothing can be accomplished here. And a lot has already been done to earn their trust, and get them to back girls’ education.

It wasn’t always this way. When the school was being built the mullah and all the village elders pushed Razia to make it exclusive to boys. “They approached me right before we opened and said, ‘This is your last chance to make it a boys’ school,’” Razia recalls. She refused. When they told her that it was more important to educate boys because boys are the backbone of society, she argued, “Boys may be the backbone, but girls are the eyes. You are blind.”


*Village elders do have to be men, but they don’t have to be elderly. Among the twelve village elders who came to the meeting today, 5 were younger men whose jobs and income caused them to rise to prominence here.

Update: We learned the reason for the massive military police presence on the streets heading to Deh Subz yesterday. Some organized criminals from Tarakhel had spent the night attacking cars and robbing passengers.