Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Day 140

Mom – Day 140

While Dal and I have been on vacation, I had the opportunity to read the book, A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. This is the second book I read of his and I really enjoy his writing. I enjoy that he shares with the reader some history, literature, and the rich culture that is sometimes forgotten. There are so many things that I can write about with respect to what I read in the book and my thoughts on it but I really want to point out one thing that really goes over in my head all the time. I have spoken on this topic before but I need to mention it again. I am so disgusted by the treatment of women and children (especially girls) by the Taliban and by many of the Afghan tribes. The book is primarily set in Kabul, the capital and the most educated and progressive city or community in Afghanistan. Khaled Hosseini lets the reader see the spectrum of rights women use to have and what they had under the rule of the Taliban. My heart went out to the young girls of 14 and 15 being married off to men that were old enough to be their grandfathers – and often as a second or third wife. Under Taliban rule, they had to be covered from head to toe, they could not leave their home without a male escort, they could not work, could not wear make-up or even fingernail polish or their fingers would be chopped off. Women did not have a lot of access to hospitals and there were only a few doctors (they had to be women and women were not suppose to work) and they didn’t even have anesthesia or antibiotics. Women would be raped and then their husband or father would kill them because they disgraced the family. Women were no longer able to attend school – but with that said, people were no longer able to read (except for the Koran), write, sing, watch movies …. Although what the Taliban did to women is not considered genocide, there should be a word for it. A word that describes the deliberate humiliation, abuse and fear tactics imposed on a group of people in order to break their spirit.

I don’t know if Zach is making an impact on the people of Afghanistan but I hope the killings and the abuses will eventual stop and that education and schools will then fill the void.

I love you Zach
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

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