Gathering Strength:. Peggy Kelsey

      

       copyright 2012 by Peggy Kelsey

      All rights reserved.

      Published by Pomegranate Grove Press

      Austin, TX 78757

      First Pomegranate Grove Printing 2012

       Permissions

      Grateful acknowledgement is made to the following for permission to reprint: Dr. MS Noury: two poems titled Love, by Rabia Balkh translated by Dr. MS Noury.

      Ketab Corporation: The Sin, by Forugh Farrokhzad. Translated by Ahmad Karimi Hakak in Remembering the Flight: A Parallel Text in English and Persian.

      Ismail Salami: The Captive by Forugh Farrokhzad, translated by Ismail Salami Afghan.

      Women’s Writing Project: Excerpted from Recipe for a Protest by Shakila. First published on the Afghan Women’s Writing Project blog: http://awwproject.org/2010/04/recipe-for-a-protest/.

      Map of Afghanistan courtesy of University of Texas Libraries.

      Jacquelyn Davidson: pictures of Tajwar Kakar taken in 1968.

      Author photograph by Jane Steig Parsons

      Afghan History Timeline by MG Wizard and P Kelsey

      Printed in the United States

      Pomegranate Grove Press Speaker’s bureau can bring authors to your live events. For more information or to book an event, contact the Pomegranate Grove Speaker’s Bureau at 1-512-799-5915 or visit our website at http://www.pomgrovepress.com

      Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

      ISBN-10: 0985750200

      ISBN-13: 978-0-9857502-0-6

      eBook ISBN-13: 978-0-9857502-1-3

      Includes bibliographical references and an index.

      1. Women—Afghanistan—social conditions—21st century. 2. Afghanistan—social conditions—21st century. 3. Afghanistan—history—1979-2012. 4. Afghanistan—personal narratives. 5. Muslim Women. 6. Women Social Reformers—Afghanistan—biography. I. Kelsey, Peggy. II Title.

      Cover photo: Sahraa Karimi, Afghan filmmaker

      Title Page: Round Islamic decoration with a historic symbolic meaning. The circle represents the Earth, the leaves symbolize nature and harmony. The star shape radiates equally from every corner and represents the center and expansion of Islam and its unity. Islamic Ornament created by Anicka / FreeVectors.net

      To Bill

      For my daughters, Petra and Danielle

      And the women of Afghanistan

      "To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness. What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places (and there are so many) where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction. And if we do act, in however small a way, we don’t have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory."

       –Howard Zinn, patriot, historian, and author

      A few women drive in Kabul.

      Table of Contents

       Preface

       In Focus: Sana

       Timeline

       History & Geography

       Peggy's Story

       1. The Artists

       2. Islam

       In Focus: Zainab

       3. Women's Rights

       In Focus: Suraya

       4. RAWA

       5. Welayat Prison

       6. Education & Educators

       In Focus: Horigal

       7. Women in Business

       In Focus: Siebewal

       8. Women's Health Workers

       9. Sports & Fitness

       In Focus: The Male Instructor: Mosakan

       10. The Elderly

       11. Women in Parliament

       In Focus: Karima

       12. Refugees

       13. Voluntary Returnees

       14. Tajwar Kakar

       15. Suraia Perlika

       16. The Taliban

       17. The Youth

       Frequently Asked Questions

       Epilogue

       Glossary of Terms