LOKA HUMANA social outreach theater: May 2011

Afghanistan: The Drug Treatment Center for Adolescents

The first performance of our boys' troupe is at a treatment center for drug-addicted adolescents in central Herat. As we enter the compound, there is a young child standing in the yard. I think, surely he can’t be one of them! But he can, and he is. The patients are boys ranging in age from 9 to 17. How do they end up getting involved in drugs? They come from families where there are drug-addicted adults, and in which the children end up using drugs as well (opium, heroin). Indeed, I saw a documentary on Afghan women who would smoke opium to soothe various ailments and give it to their babies to put them to sleep so that the women could work undisturbed. In other situations, children who are working are given drugs by their employers and once they are hooked they get paid in drugs so that they’ll keep working more and more. The treatment center runs ads on TV to bring awareness to the issue and has field workers out looking for whoever might need help. At the center the boys get treatment and vocational training, such as tailoring, together with classes in literacy, computers and painting. They youths stay at the center for six months. I did not find out exactly what happens to them after this. The young ones go back to their families, but are the families still drug-addicted or did they get treatment too?

We do the show outside for 40 boys all dressed in blue tunics and pants. It’s a good show with great energy – kudos to our young performers! – and everyone seems to really enjoy it. We ask if they have ever seen a play before. None have. Theater doesn’t really exist in Afghanistan in these times. It’s a complete novelty for them to have something played out before them in live action.

What is the show about? As with the presentation by the girls' troupe, the boys' show addresses family conflict but focuses on the role of the husband. It tells the story of an angry and frustrated man who mistreats his family with verbal and physical abuse. While away on a journey, the man witnesses other ways of living and being. He sees men who act with authority and yet with patience and kindness, and how they as well as everyone around them are so much happier. Little by little, the man sees the errors of his ways and decides to make a change. In great excitement, he returns home to start anew with his family. The story is simplistically laid out here, but in its theatrical presentation it is quite affecting. Our boys are as talented as the girls and play their roles with great commitment. The goal is to present to the community effective and positive ways to handle conflict within the family and how everyone in the family benefits (including the husband) when there is support of each other. We discuss with the boys the difference between the men portrayed and which behavior works best for a happy and productive home and society.

Did they like the show? Bale! (Yes!) Do they think it’s a good message? Bale!! Is this a good way to bring information to the community? Bale!!! What else should we do a show about? Drug-addiction! Indeed.

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As this is a show with the boys for the boys, Michael (being a boy) leads the workshop section, which leaves Joanna and I free to observe. There is great excitement as Michael engages the group in a physicalized energy game and some silly clown antics. Afterwards, one of the boys breaks out in an impromptu dance performance in our honor as guests. Someone plays Iranian music on a cell phone as accompaniment. The boy dances in the same style I’ve seen girls do, apparently men do the same movements, although this boy is definitely effeminate (Joanna suspects he is a ‘dancing boy’*). Another boy joins in. There is a fun festive feeling of spontaneous joy and celebration in our shared exchange. And I think to myself: these are the moments I live for. This is why I do this work!

Khoda hafez! Time to go. Joanna and I start to leave, waving goodbye and turning to go but we turn back again and a silly game ensues between us and the boys of turning back and forth while attempting to leave. I suddenly realize I don’t have my shoes on, and burst out “oh no, my shoes!!?” This is apparently hilarious to the boys, and so I start to play with lifting my feet up looking at them and then looking around wondering where in the world my shoes could be. I’m genuinely confused, but then I ham it up a bit too. The boys follow, finding all this very funny. Crazy foreigners! Well, I can’t help but clown around a little! (And I can’t help that someone took my shoes and put them away at the front entrance.)

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* For information on dancing boys, see this article: The Dancing Boys of Afghanistan

Afghanistan: The Women's Shelter

The very first performance that our girls' troupe undertakes (outside of the try-out for family and friends) is a show at a women’s shelter in Herat. The shelter is run by Voice of Women, an organization based in Herat led by Soraya Pakzad who has worked tirelessly since Taliban time to fight for women’s rights, and who started Afghanistan's first shelter in 2003.

There are about 40 women and girls at the shelter ranging in age from 15 to 25, and mostly under 20. They are escaping abusive marriages, and in most cases forced marriages. Some were about to be married off and ran away beforehand. They are lucky to have ended up here in the shelter, and not in jail or worse. If they are caught by the police they risk getting raped and put in prison, and if sent back home they may be killed.

Parwana, who works at VOW and is coordinating our visit, talks to me about the situation the women are in and decries the inhumanity of it all. She exclaims, “they feel…!,” and searching for the words she utters something about “not human!” I think she is saying the girls feel they are not treated as humans, but then I realize she is talking about the husbands, that they are not human the way they act. And she tells me about one girl who came to the center. The husband had cut off her fingers and slashed her face across the cheek from mouth to ear. What kind of man would do such a thing? And why? (Beyond its senseless cruelty, it even seems senseless out of practicality -- now the husband has to look at her disfigured face, and how is she going to be able to do his cooking and laundry with her fingers cut off? How does that serve him? But he doesn't think about this, he doesn't think at all.) Both are true – the girls are not treated as human beings and the men are not acting as humans. What we think of as human – humane – humanity… separating us from the beasts.

Unfortunately, this girl’s situation is all too common. Beatings and barrages of mental abuse are an everyday occurrence for young wives in Afghanistan, perpetrated by the husband and any or all of his relatives. Across Afghanistan, girls are forced into marriage and essentially condemned to life as a household slave. Often the girl is young and the man much older. It is not uncommon for a 12-year old to be married off to a 60-year old man! Many of these girls are driven to such despair that they set themselves on fire and burn themselves to death. It is difficult to fathom. In the Herat area there have been 100 such self-immolations in the past year. That’s two girls every week setting themselves on fire.

I look at the women, at the younger girls, and wonder about each one’s circumstances. But I don’t want to ask as it’s such a sensitive matter and I respect their privacy. And it's time to start the show.

The women laugh a lot, and they applaud at the end of each scene! The play is not necessarily meant to be that funny (although we have definitely incorporated some comic bits)... After all, we’re dealing with a serious subject matter that we want to earnestly bring awareness to: the abuse that mothers-in-law so often perpetuate, and how it destroys families. If women treat each other horribly, how can they make men treat them any better? We want to make sure people take it to heart and are moved to make a change. In this case, however, the laughter is good and it doesn’t mean they aren’t taking the play seriously or its message. Presented and received as a comedy, it is easier to take in the play and what it addresses. These women have lived through this, they don’t need to see it presented to them in a heavy and serious way. This is how comedy can be cathartic, getting to laugh about something that is painful. The women gain some vindication in seeing their reality acknowledged.

But this is not enough. In the Q&A afterward, one woman speaks up to tell us that we must show this play to the men, to the families, out in the community -- "they are the ones who need to see it, not us in here, we already know!" She is adamant and angry – and we assure her that this is indeed our intent. As we leave, the woman thanks us for our visit and asks us when we will come again. They rarely have any visitors, and hardly ever leave the shelter. But this confinement is a blessing compared to the hell they were living before.

The shelter in Herat We were not allowed to take pictures of the girls' faces

The wife in the story gets harassed on the street by two men

The husband beats his young wife while the mother-in-law eggs him on and joins in

We did it! Our star performers after the show

Afghanistan: The play's the thing!

Having finished the workshops sessions, we embark on a period of play development and rehearsal with a select group of our young performers. Our mission is to create a show about a relevant issue, which we will perform out in the community as a way to bring information to people in the most effective way -- straight to the heart and minds through entertaining live action played out right before you, that is, theater! The goal is to bring the show to villages out in the provinces, but it depends on security and which areas are deemed safe. Our performers are all Hazara, an ethnic group often discriminated against by Pashtuns and Tajiks. We ask our young performers if they would be comfortable performing in a Pashtun village. One of the girls blurts out, “Sure, we could do it, but afterwards they’d probably hang us!,” and they all giggle. Then Rohela speaks up and tells us: “When we choose to do theatre it is our task and duty to reflect on the problems and pains in society. It is not important who is the audience, if we have an opportunity to affect a good change in people and society it is our task and duty to do it." Rohela is thirteen years old.

I am amazed at the talent, skill and dedication of these young performers, most of whom are only 12, 13, 14 years old! There are two girls who are 17 and 19, and then the boys are 16-21. During the course of our work, I forget how young they are, because they are so good, so dedicated and so professional! And they are tackling serious subject matters of family conflict and domestic violence, acting out beatings and abuse. But they are wise beyond their years and fully aware of the problems of their society. And, sad to say, many of the wives for whom this is a reality are only 14 years old (or younger)! Innocence of childhood is shattered early in this country.

In discussion with Monireh, the Afghan director, and with our young performers, we decide on the themes for our show. We are actually creating two separate shows. One by the girls to be performed for women, and one by the boys for the men. This creates flexibility to be able to perform in more restrictive places, and also gives us the opportunity to approach a theme from two different perspectives. Since we are supported by the U.S. Institute of Peace, we have been requested to do a show about conflict resolution. We decide to address the issue of family conflict and domestic violence.

The girls’ show is about a mother-in-law who abuses her daughter-in-law with constant put-downs and beatings. This is actually a big problem in Afghanistan. It is a pattern that gets repeated time and again. Often a young girl is married off to an older man who abuses her along with his grown sons and all other relatives around. Or a girl gets married to a boy -- both of them too young – with the boy trying to establish his manhood and beating his wife at the behest of his mother. A man might get a young wife just to be a slave to his mother. The mother was herself a young bride once who was mistreated by her mother-in-law. And so she perpetuates a behavior that has become ingrained. It is difficult to understand why women would stand against other women rather than stand together in this patriarchally oppressive society, or why a mother would discard her daughter, but it has to do with economics. A daughter brings no economic benefit, since women do not work, so she has no value (but to be a household slave).

In our story, the mother in law suffers from the bad memories of her own life as a young bride terribly abused, all the while lashing out at her young daughter-in-law, purposely getting her in trouble with her son, the husband, and beating her. One day, a friend comes to visit, catching her in the act of mistreating her daughter-in-law, and the friend berates her for it, telling the mother-in-law of her own misery having done the same. The friend’s daughter-in-law set herself on fire and killed herself as a result of all the abuse (this is a common occurrence in Afghanistan, I’m aghast to say!), now her son left her and she is all alone. The friend reminds the mother-in-law that she once was a young bride too. Slowly the mother-in-law realizes she is doing the very same that was done to her, and after some struggle, she decides she must and can make a change. In the end there is a reconciliation with the daughter-in-law. They realize standing strong together and supporting each other is a better way of living, and as a result, the son/husband also has a transformation.

- Photos from rehearsal -

The young wife gets harrassed
by some guys on the street,
and then accused by the mother-
in-law of enticing them

Rohela as the mother-in-law

To develop the show, we start our young actors off with a simple scenario and let them improvise around it, playing with character and action. They make our job easy as directors, because they are so creative! Of course, they have a lot to learn yet about theatrical presentation and how to make strong, physical choices on stage, but they are impressively adept already. Such clever dialogue, improvised on the spot! And funny little character quirks. In less than two weeks, we have a half-hour play fully developed and ready to go – and it’s amazing how much our work and our actors have grown. Madiya and Hasti who play the two narrators have become a knock-out clown duo. They bring the audience along the journey and provide some comic relief. And they’re really funny! Marzia has really found solid strength in her portrayal of a man. And Rohela is truly an amazing actor – intensely expressive as the mother-in-law, showing both nasty cruelty and vulnerability. Her transformation in the moment of reconciliation with the daughter-in-law is full of so many emotions. It is a very touching scene. (I just can’t believe this young actor is only thirteen years old!)

Mother and daughter-in-law reconciliation

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I hope Rohela can continue doing theater, and the other girls, too. But the risk is that in a few years they will be married (off) and that will be the end of it. To encourage their families and the community to accept theater as something good, indeed, to show that it is something that can bring income to the family, we are paying the girls (and boys, too) a fee for participating in the workshops and for their work as performers. See, theater brings economic as well as social benefit to the community!

For the first performance, we invite the performer's families and friends as well as all the workshop students. We present the girls' and boys' shows and then we have a certificate ceremony for everyone involved in the workshops. It is great to see the smiles on the parents' faces!

Afghanistan: Baba-jan and badan-jan

We are living with our Afghan partner Monireh's family -- her sister Madiya, brother Reza (who are both in the workshops and the shows we are doing -- theater runs in the family), and then her mother and father. It's a typical Afghan house with a tiny courtyard behind a tall gate along a dirt road in the midst of Jabraeil, a village community right outside the town of Herat.

The father is really funny, he’s quite the clown! Good humor abounds in this household. He has decided I’m his American daughter, his sixth daughter after Nahib, Monirah, Tahira, Halima and Madiya (or actually I would be the first, since I’m older). He’s having a good time playing with this. “Dokhtar-jan”! he calls out (“daughter, dear”). Come here, time for breakfast, time for tea, time for joking around. So I call him “baba-jan.” I had learned that “baba” is how you say daddy in Dari, and “jan” is a term of endearment you add after a name, like saying “dear.” I give him a hard time and he threatens me with the fly swatter, all in good fun. Last night we were having tea and fruit after dinner, and he starts singing to me, a lullaby about “dokhtar” and “baba.” That’s so sweet! Joanna and Michael are juggling the oranges and putting on a show. Impromptu we start making percussive sounds, the father drumming on his big belly. Lots of laughter together. These are the precious moments!

This is an Afghan man with a good heart. We hear so much about women being oppressed, forced marriages, abusive husbands, horrible men. But of course not all men are like this, there are good happy loving homes and families too in Afghanistan. This is one of them. I can see that Sayed Hassan loves and appreciates his wife, Fatima, very much. Yesterday in the afternoon, while we were enjoying tea time together, he leaned his head on her shoulders and looked at her with adoring eyes. Then he tweaked her nose. Ever the jokester. Even if it’s an easy-going and open-minded family, it’s still a traditional house-hold, since the father is adamant the women must wear the head scarf with Michael there; and the mother does the cleaning up, while the father takes a nap. But then when I jumped in to do the dishes after lunch, and Michael took it upon himself to clean up after dinner, the father sprang into action and had to show how it’s really done. I thought to myself, here’s a first! An Afghan man doing dishes! I bet he’s never done this ever before, but he was quite swift so he might have some experience after all. And actually he does do household chores, he helps with the laundry and they do the cooking together.

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Everyday baba-jan goes to the market to get the greens for the day’s cooking, and then sits and chops them all up to make, for example, “ku ku” – like a vegetable patty, or quiche but without the crust. And let’s not forget the “badan-jan” – eggplant with tomato fried in a lot of oil. I normally hate eggplant but this is really good! And thank goodness, because it’s served every other meal.

Badan-jan with nan

But the best is the “bulani,” which are like pierogis filled with cooked greens or potato, and making this is a whole family affair – madar-jan flattens the dough, baba-jan puts the filling on, and sister Monireh readies them for the cooking and fries them up on the stove. And then I eat them! Yum!