AFP: Herat poet Nadia Anjuman remembered two years on

November 6, 2007

KABUL (AFP) — Two years ago police discovered the battered body of Nadia Anjuman, a young Afghan poet already known in literary circles for her poignant poems about the misery of being a woman in Afghanistan.
Police arrested her husband on charges of beating her to death in their home in the western city of Herat; he confessed to the assault but not to murder. Today the case is classified by the courts as “suicide.”
The death of the 25-year-old thrust her work into the spotlight and today her poems — written in the Dari language, which is close to Persian — have been translated into several languages.
They speak of the pain of Afghan women, trapped in a conservative culture torn apart by nearly three decades of war that were followed by the 1996-2001 rule of the extremist Taliban — known for their harsh treatment of women.
An extract from “Useless”, for example, reads: “Happy the day when I will break the cage/When I will leave this solitude and sing with abandon/I am not a weak tree that sways with every breeze/I am an Afghan girl and it is right that I always cry.”
Anjuman’s work evokes “a great sorrow directly linked to her status as a woman and an Afghan,” says Leili Anvar, a literature expert who has translated some of her poems into French.
Under the Taliban, girls could not go to school, women were barred from working and confined largely to their homes.
The removal of the fundamentalist regime has seen few improvements to the lives of most Afghan women, who suffer abuse and discrimination.
Women still chose to end their lives through self-immolation, including in Herat, an ancient city of two million people and known for its art, culture and literature.
Anjuman “was becoming a great Persian poet”, the head of the respected Herat Literary Circle, Ahmad Said Haqiqi, said at the time of her death on November 4, 2005.
Anvar, who has dedicated several pages of an upcoming anthology of Afghan poetry to Anjuman, agrees. “When one considers her age, the extreme maturity of her work is astonishing,” she says.
Anjuman “showed a great mastery of Persian free verse and of the music of language,” she told AFP.
One of the late poet’s professors at the University of Herat, Mohammad Daud Munir, says her work showed a “deep and comprehensive thought.”
“Her absence has left a gap in the literary community of Herat,” he said.
Anjuman’s first collection, “Gul-e-dodi” (“Dark Red Flower”), came out a few months before she died and while she was a university student.
The Herat Literary Circle has since released a second collection of 80 poems and her work is regularly published, Munir says.
Abroad, beside the publication due in France, Anjuman’s work has also been translated into English and Italian.
The memory of the young woman is fresh among those who were close to her.
Her best friend, Nahid Baqi, who studied with her at university, is bitter.
“Everyone wants to forget,” she told AFP. “There was pressure on the authorities to conclude that it was a suicide.”
Anjuman’s husband, Farid Ahmad Majeednia, who is the head of the Herat University library, says she has written only about the Taliban period and before she was married.
“All of her poems are a narration of sorrow and sadness which is a result of being imprisoned behind home walls,” says Majeednia, who is raising the couple’s young daughter.
“Now almost two years later, my hands and legs still tremble when I think of her death and her absence,” he says.
“After Nadia’s death lots of things have ended for me.”

IRIN: Women workers exposed to health risks in Herat factories

HERAT, 30 October 2007 (IRIN) – The Safi fur and wool factory, in Herat city, western Afghanistan, has more than 350 female and 300 male workers who earn only 300 Afghanis (US$6) for their 48-hour, six-day week. The factory produces coats, jackets, hats and other garments for the European and North American markets. There are more than 1,500 women working in four such factories in Herat city.

The air in the Safi processing plant is full of dust from dirty furs, which workers tear to pieces with their bare hands.

Jamila (not hear real name) has worked in the factory for more than a year and recently experienced an unrelenting pain in her chest. “First, I was coughing and now I feel a terrible pain in my chest,” the 32-year-old said.

“Doctors and medicine are expensive,” she said. The modes amount she earns helps to supplement the family income to help feed her four children.

Less than 2m away from where Jamila is working, her baby has fallen asleep on a thin piece of straw. Jamila brings her youngest son to the factory every day, because there is nobody to look after him at home.

Health risks

Workers have to separate fur from goats’ hair and weave sheep’s wool without protective gloves or masks.

Ahmad Zia Rahmani, a lung and chest diseases specialist at the Herat city hospital, says workers in fur and wool factories are vulnerable to virulent microbes, which harm the respiratory system and cause chest infections.

“Sheep’s wool and goats’ hair usually contain harmful bacteria which can easily be transferred to a human via close contact and inhalation,” Rahmani said.

Mothers who regularly breastfeed their babies and consume food at the factory can also transfer dangerous microbes to their children if they do not wash their hands with antibacterial soap, Rahmani added.

In the past year, at least seven female workers died due to respiratory and chest diseases, workers and factory officials said.

Afghanistan’s Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (MoLSA) said it would send a delegation to Herat to assess and report on the situation of female workers in factories there, after IRIN approached the ministry for a comment.

“We will make sure appropriate measures are adopted to improve the situation of workers,” said Ghulam Gaus Bashiri, a deputy minister in the department.

According to Bashiri, a revised draft labour law has been submitted to the National Assembly for approval, which has “many benefits for female workers”, including maternity leave, equal wages for men and women and a light working regime for women during pregnancy.

No medical insurance

According to Afghanistan’s labour law, public and private employers should provide medical insurance to employees who work in hazardous environments.

However, there are too many hurdles – including poor law enforcement institutions, lack of awareness about women’s rights and conservative traditions – which constrict the law on paper with weak or no practical power.

Almost all workers in factories in Herat province have no written contract with their employers, particularly in the private sector. Workers and employers have only verbal agreements, which do not cover medical and hazard insurance.

In the past 12 months, seven women workers of the wool and fur factories in Herat have died due to respiratory diseases and chest infections, workers and Mohammad Ibrahim Ghafori, an official at the Safi factory, said.

Workers’ health problems have been compounded by their inability to afford medical checks and treatment.

There is no legal imperative for employers to offer assistance to their workers in need of medical treatment.

“We are not in a position to offer medical insurance or any financial assistance for health problems. We tell this to our workers before they start a job with us,” said Mohammad Ibrahim Ghafori, an official for the Safi wool and fur factory.

Some workers, meanwhile, acknowledged that they are exposed to health hazards in the factory but said lack of employment opportunities and economic needs force them to accept the risk.

Ottawa Citizen on Humaira Habib of Radio Sahar

How media bolster still-fragile freedoms: Ousting the Taliban was just the beginning

Don Butler
The Ottawa Citizen

Saturday, November 03, 2007

Four years ago, Humaira Habib didn’t even know what a radio studio was. Today, she manages Afghanistan’s only women’s community radio station, Radio Sahar, reaching a potential audience of 700,000 in the city of Herat.

Along the way she’s had to overcome stiff resistance from authorities in Herat province, and even threats of imprisonment. She’s also witnessed the murder of female colleagues who dared become journalists.

Since the fall of the Taliban in 2001, progress has been steady if slow. “Now we are really happy,” she said yesterday during a panel discussion on the media and democratic development sponsored by the International Development Research Centre.

“We can broadcast and produce any kinds of programs on our radio station.”

In a country in which most people are illiterate and access to electricity is far from universal, radio is the most accessible and popular mass medium.

Radio Sahar opened in 2003. At first, it was hard to find women willing to speak on the radio. “Now it’s easy, because they really like to talk about different issues,” said Ms. Habib, who became station manager in 2005.

Initially, the non-profit station broadcast just two hours a day. It now broadcasts 13 hours daily and produces more than 40 weekly programs. Of the 15 staff members, 11 are women, including all the top staff.

Radio Sahar remains an anomaly in Afghanistan, whose media are otherwise dominated by men. The station, says Ms. Habib, “is a symbol to all women that they can do things they weren’t allowed to do before.”

Another panelist, Mathatha Tsedu, editor of South Africa’s Daily Press, said press freedom has improved since the fall of apartheid, but not as much as outsiders might think.

Many laws restricting the free flow of information from the apartheid era have been retained, he said, even though they conflict with constitutional guarantees of freedom of expression.

As well, some of those who fought apartheid and who are now in government “became easily irritated when media criticized their work, insinuating that because they fought for freedom they should thus be trusted to protect it,” Mr. Tsedu said.

“As media professionals, we accept that freedom is never won, but forever defended.”

Mr. Tsedu said South African editors have launched a campaign called “Media Freedom is Your Freedom,” to help the public understand that “media freedom is their freedom to receive credible information that helps them make decisions about their lives.”

Mr. Tsedu said journalists’ mission must be to represent the powerless and the voiceless. If they fail to do so, “we sell out the ideals on which journalism is based.”

That role is especially important in a world of instant information, where the powerful and the wealthy are able to shape people’s perceptions by getting their views out first.

Radio Sahar: Afghan official report drop in mortality rate among pregnant women

Excerpt from report by Afghan female-orientated community Radio Sahar on 8 October

[Presenter] According to the statistics released by the Afghan Health Ministry, the mortality rate of pregnant women has fallen in the country. At the same time, the Herat Health Department held a ceremony on the occasion of the National Day of Immune Mother today. The Herat health officials say that this day will be celebrated across the country and a three-month campaign has already been organized to improve women’s level of awareness [on pregnancy, delivery and postpartum measures and hygiene]. Hamid Azad is reporting:

[Correspondent] Mohammad Rafiq Sherzai, head of Herat Health Department’s press office, has told Radio Sahar on the phone that this day is celebrated at a time when the mortality rate among expecting women has declined. He states that 900 mothers out of 100,000 births lost their lives according to the statistics released in Herat Province last year. The official quotes the report as indicating that 1,300 mothers out of 100,000 have died in other parts of the country [in the past years]. Nevertheless, there has been a decrease with 1,200 instances since last year. [Passage omitted: repetition]

Mr Sherzai says that 900 midwives have been trained in Herat and five main centres and 56 basic centres providing services for pregnant women have been established across the province.

Afghan Health Ministry officials are trying to cope with this high mortality rate by establishing such centres and improving women’s level of awareness. The statistics also prove the efforts have yielded good results.

[Description of Source: Herat Radio Sahar in Dari -- local independent radio station in Herat run mainly by women. OSC IAP20071008950133 Herat Radio Sahar in Dari 1230 GMT 08 Oct 07]

Radio Sahar: First modern burn unit opens in Herat

Excerpt from report by Afghan female-orientated community Radio Sahar on 7 October

[Presenter] Afghan health minister took part in the inaugural ceremony of a burn centre in Herat Province today. The burn centre has been built thanks to the financial support of the US and French governments. Here is a report on this:

[Correspondent] The hospital has been built amid mounting concern over the increasing instances injuries involving burns. The officials are now trying to prevent casualties caused by immolation instances at this hospital.

In the meantime, Afghan Health Minister Sayed Mohammad Amin Fatemi says this is the only modern burn centre in the country, adding that the US government has spent 700,000 dollars for construction of the hospital. In addition, the French government provided 400,000 euros as aid for equipping it, the minister states. [Passage omitted: minister's comments, repetition]

The hospital has 36 beds and has been built in three floors, with different wards of physiotherapy, treatment of burn injuries and psychosocial services. It is said that the cases of immolation have exceeded 270 in the current year, 246 cases among women and children and 47 cases of self-immolation. It is reported that most of the people setting fire to themselves succumbed to their injuries.

Self-immolation mainly takes place among women, which has caused deep concern [in the Afghan society]. The observers blame patriarchy and traditionalism as the underlying factors of these instances in Herat Province.

Source: Radio Sahar, Herat, in Dari 1230 gmt 7 Oct 07 via OSC EUP20071008950050 Caversham BBC Monitoring