27th Day of Ramadan

September 17, 2009
Today is considered most holy day of Ramadan so I’m trying to fast. Supposedly if I do all my dreams and wishes will come true. Hmmm. What are they.
One of my students and I went to the ceremony honoring the winners of a short story competition, sponsored by the German NGO. As we’re driving , she checks her phone and groans. Don’t you get random pervert calls? She tells me about a fellow woman student who’s been getting much worse from an anonymous male student at the university. He leaves pornographic messages and similar “gifts” in strategic places. N thinks she knows who it is and if she’s right, he’s one of my students, the son of a war lord, surrounded all the time by body guards. The women have complained to security but they’re unable to do anything because they can’t identify him.

I’m envious of the NGO’s with creative projects but if it weren’t for the soldiers no one would be doing anything here. Last week D and I went to visit Turquoise Mountain, an oasis in the middle of Kabul with lush gardens and the exquisite woodwork native to Afghanistan. TM is the baby of people like Prince Charles and the Aga Khan. The author Rory Stewart who wrote about walking across Afghanistan is the chair of the Board. Their intention is to restore native Afghan Arts, like the wood working with the goal of marketing products to the west. They have a school for Afghan students in jewelry making, calligraphy and pottery as well as woodworking. Mostly internationals run the workshops and live in the beautiful oasis ( the calligraphy of course can only be taught by Afghans). The Australian running the pottery workshop, through many experiments, came up with a formula for recreating the 1500 year old Turquoise glaze that had been lost. The jewelry workshop is teaching students modern rather than traditional design. Because they are so well funded they have impressive state of the art equipment for everything. TM is also restoring buildings in Kabul’s Old Town, working in schools and operating a health clinic.

Through the serendipity of the internet, I have connected with a group coming at the end of the month as part of a Code Pink peace initiative- they're trying to make a case for Obama to pull back on soldiers vs forging ahead.

Eid Mubarak (Happy end of Ramadan)