Afghanistan: The situation for women and girls
Sandra Fenkl and Chris Hartmann were on site for Terre des Hommes in spring - including in Kabul, Herat and Jalalabad. They are cities whose names everyone knows from the news - from the time before Taliban took over in August 2021. Since then it has become very quiet about Afghanistan.
The interview was released on October 14, 2004 in the NOZ (Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung) and was run by editor Sandra Dorn.
Ms. Fenkl, how was it for you as a confident woman who works in Osnabrück on demonstrations against extremism and racism in Afghanistan?
Fenkl: Of course you prepare for such a trip, you know that you have to behave differently. But then being there is something else. On the first day directly in the airport, our project partner presented me with a bag, in which there was a hijab and an abaja [a headscarf and a kind of overwrid, note d. Red.]. I ran around for the next two weeks. That alone is a strange feeling.
How would you describe this feeling?
Fenkl: It's like a corset, and you immediately know where you belong in this society as a woman, in the last row. You behave differently. Immediately and automatically. At first I always went with a lowered head. And had the worry that the headscarf slipped. I was well protected. We were there as a group - with Chris and our board Beat Wehrle and two colleagues from India, Ingrid and Gwenita. In addition, our Afghan project partners were always by our side.
Have you ever been to Afghanistan before the Taliban seized the Taliban. How serious has life changed there?
Hartmann: We don't, but colleague: were there inside. From stories, I can report that it was different in cities. It was always difficult in the country and traveling was almost impossible because of the many attacks. This is rated positively in the country, but of course that is also a deceptive security.
Fenkl: Hoch -armed Taliban stand on every corner. Our hotel like a high -security wing. You have to check in there like at the airport. All of this still comes from the time of the attacks.
What is the situation of women in Afghanistan?
Fenkl: The women sit at home. The only employment for you is social media. Otherwise, do the housework and wait for you to be married. They are literally locked up. Individual errands can make them, but they cannot gather publicly, they are not allowed to visit the parks, no gym, no bathrooms, no cinema, nothing.
Hartmann: You can still see them in the markets. But everything that Sandra listed was possible earlier, at least in the cities.
Fenkl: I experienced an 18-year-old who told me that she graduated from school and prepared for the university, and then the Taliban came. Any hope that every dream had died immediately. The women are extremely disappointed, are hopeless, depressed. There are many who have suicide thoughts.
What about hope on site?
Fenkl: There are also women who do not want to get them down. They hope that one day the situation will improve. We were in a museum where photography was prohibited: And a woman secretly took a photo and triumphed towards me: "I broke the right!" It is significant that such small gestures of "resistance" mean so much.
How are the children in Afghanistan?
Fenkl: There is child labor and children's marriage. Girls are promised to a man at nine and ten years old who can be significantly older. They are married at 14, 15. Then the husband and mother -in -law prevailed over the young girl, often with a hard hand. It is difficult to understand how little solidarity sometimes prevails among women.
Hartmann: The day of children in primary school age often looks like this: in the morning they attend the Koran school, then other school classes and then they have to work: cleaning shoes, collecting garbage, many are sent to begging. You only get something right in the evening.
What work is still possible for Terre des Hommes in Afghanistan?
Hartmann: We were able to maintain all partners from the time before taking power and continue to work on the projects we had before, but they had to adapt. We had many classes, where we supported girls and young women with conveyor lessons, for example, to create the entrance test to the university. Unfortunately, this has become impossible. Education is only possible for girls up to the sixth grade.
What does Terre des Hommes do instead?
Hartmann: For example, our partners offer support classes for schooling and projects for street children. For older people, we now have the opportunity to do something for vocational training and literacy, also on the subject of nutritional security. In particular, the measures for vocational training are beneficial because they improve the economic situation of households.
Fenkl: Social workers can still go into the field and exchange ideas with women. This psychosocial work is very important. There is a lot of what the women burdened. The exchange among like -minded people gives them strength.
What professions can women in Afghanistan still practice?
Hartmann: sewing, embroidery, weaving, cooking - basically everything you can do at home.
Fenkl: Incidentally, all men we asked did not agree with the strict requirements of the Taliban because they see how their women, sisters and daughters suffer. The income of women is also missing. The men now often have to take care of the family alone. This burdens them, and suicide also occurs more often in men.
Hartmann: We spoke to graduates who are now learning how to repair cell phones. Unemployment is extremely high, the lack of prospects too.
What moved the most on her trip?
Fenkl: In hardly any other country in the world, the rights of women are as limited as in Afghanistan, where there is gender apartment. We visited many girls classes. The girls are incredibly curious and awakened, they wear magnificent, colorful clothing: it is the plump life. But what will become of these girls? This curiosity, this striving and hope of a self -determined life are destroyed - that doesn't let you go. I still have contact with some Afghan women, but what remains more than comforting and building words? By the way, our partner organizations in Afghanistan impressed me with their unconditional will to help girls and women - this will to keep going against any resistance is a role model for me.
Hartmann: I was most impressed by the potential, the will and the resilience of the people there. It is so important that this country will not forget. We and our partner organizations do not want to leave the women and children alone and try to negotiate the greatest possible scope for action with the local authorities in order to continue to support them.
Sandra Fenkl is a philologist, 55 years old and has been with Terre des Hommes for 25 years, where she works as a speaker Fundraising. Chris Hartmann is 49. The geographer is a consultant for humanitarian aid at Terre des Hommes.