Recently, our Chapter went down to Providence to visit with the new Afghan students who just arrived through the Initiative to Educate Afghan Women (IEAW) program. The visit was ostensibly to help the students practice their English– however when we got there we realized that the students probably spoke English better than we did– so instead we had a conversation comparing and contrasting life in the US and Afghanistan.
Members of PTPI's Medfield, Massachusetts Student Chapter
The students who come to the US through this program are incredibly accomplished. They all have finished in the top of their class– and many have spent a year studying at a US high school so they have had experience with the US culture. In addition, many had additional skills. One student was a member of the Aghanistan National Girls basketball team. They all speak several languages in addition to English — Dari, Pashto, Urdu, some Russian (from the time of the Russian occupation) — and one girl even spoke Hindi.
The girls talked about some of the challenges they still face as women in Afghanistan– especially in the southern part of the country. One student said her family had to relocate from Kandahar to Kabul because her mother was an engineer who wanted to work– and this “radical” decision was met with death threats for the mother along with threats that acid would be thrown in her daughter’s face. However, the students also explained that the Afghanistan we see in the media is not representative of the country either. They explained to us how much the people of Afghanistan value hospitality. And how important family is in the Afghan culture.
The students expressed some concern that Americans do not understand the culture of Afghanistan. They said that at times they are confused by the questions they get by Americans— questions like “Have you killed any Americans?” “Do they wear shoes in Afghanistan?” “Do you know Osama bin Laden?” It was a reminder of the importance of the Peace through Understanding motto of PTPI.
The students were totally thrilled because they had seen the star of the movie Eclipse. They also expressed a desire to get a basketball so they could all learn to play in between their English lessons. The chapter voted to use some of our funds to buy a basketball, which we mailed to the Afghan students.
Later, those who were interested went to Tufts University to hear another Afghan student talk about life under the Taliban. She brought a burqa which both girls and boys tried on. Although it was much lighter than I expected, it was also very claustrophobic. Your vision is limited, it is very hot, and apparently you need to wrap it tightly so that your hands won’t accidentally be seen.
Unfortunately it is hard to get pictures of these events, since the students feel they need to guard their privacy for security reasons.
We are making arrangements to have an Iftar (meal to break the Ramadan fast) later this month. And that is news from the exciting world of Medfield!
Trish O’Shea
Advisor, PTPI’s Medfield, Massachusetts Student Chapter
Tags: Afghanistan, IEAW, Initiative to Educate Afghan Women, Student Chapters
Thank you, Trish, and all of our friends with PTPI Medfield, MA. This is such a fascinating experience ~ thank you for sharing!