Women of Kabul share their stories
A$12,556
of $12,000 targetyrs ago
Successful on 9th Jan 2013 at 12:00AM.
A high quality art book with works of Australian artists and text written by women of Afghanistan
The fundraising drive is over. The book, with final title Two Trees, is published by SAWA-Australia (SA) and printed by Vivid Publishing and is available here.
Third Update: Last chance to participate in history. Go to Updates to see full details.
Second Update: The director of the Vocational Training Centre writes the Introduction. Go to Updates to see full details.
Christine Willcocks and Basira
We, having passed the night, have become homeless.
We, having waited for the morning, are following the dawn.
....
Homeland! your good name is Afghanistan, Your air is cheerful and your sceneries lovely,
Your terrain invigorates the hearts, The subject of our love is your soil.
Deborah Klein and Majabeen
I am Majabeen a student of this course
I was a child with a lot of interests in learning and education but unfortunately I did not have a family to allow me to study. My father used to say (sarcastically) "What is a girl good for? And what good could be her education! I will never let my daughters go to school, just the Qur‘an."
...
I grew up and got married and came to Kabul, got children and tried hard to get them an education. Life went on and at certain moments in life I strongly felt the need to have been literate, meaning I could hardly figure out the difference between a pharmacy and a clothing shop.
...
Majabeen daughter of Daulat Khan, a student of this course
I hope my story has not been boring
Thanks
Rosalind Atkins, name withheld
All the Afghan woman are very courageous, despite all these problems they do all of their work themselves; they are very sorrowful.
They have faced different problems but still did not lose their spirit. These skills and crafts training courses are what helps them solve their problems.
Annelise Scott and Hamida
Name: Hamida
Father's name: Mohammad Omar
Grade 1 OPAWC Literacy Center
We are in dire need of your assistance, friends. We are in need of your help. Help your Afghan sister out. I can read and write letters and am very thankful to OPAWC organisation for providing us with a literacy course. I am a 45 years old lady with eight children.
...
Please help me to get the message of the women of Afghanistan out into the world and become one of the first to receive a copy of the completed book.
First Update: Malalai Joya agreed to write the Foreword! Go to Updates to see full details.
In 2009-10 an ambitious art project took place between women artists in Australia and women in Afghanistan. The women wanted to overcome their illiteracy, the artists wanted to support and encourage them to continue their efforts in their right to be literate.
What eventuated was beyond an act of support. It resulted in collaborations between Australian women and women in Afghanistan, integrating images and script in beautiful works of art. The Australian artists produced small concertina-type books in lino print, etchings, photography and other techniques, the Afghan women wrote their life experience into them.
The quality and significance of the books have been recognized by all who have seen them, including the State Library of Queensland which has acquired them as a collection, with the proceeds gone back to the Vocational School.
Moreover, the books tell the stories of the women in Afghanistan in their own words and their own gestures of handwritten script.
This project shows a particular historical moment in time and place. As the messenger for the project who carried the works of the Australian artists to Kabul I now want you to share the experience, so I want to reproduce all art and text with English translation as a high quality art book.
By purchasing a copy of the proposed book you, too, become a part of the project and have a role in it. This publication not only tells the different perspectives of those who were involved in it but is an unmediated voicing of experiences of women in Afghanistan who only recently have been able to write their own stories, who show strength and resilience, now for us to read and thereby to hear.
Altogether there are 36 concertina books. I cannot reproduce them all here, but I include a few examples for you to see, with a few lines of the text written by the Afghan women. If you want to browse through all of them you can go to SAWA-Australia (SA). The final book will have 88 pages, printed in full colour on matt art paper, hard cover.
In 2009-10 an ambitious art project took place between women artists in Australia and women in Afghanistan. The women wanted to overcome their illiteracy, the artists wanted to support and encourage them to continue their efforts in their right to be literate.
What eventuated was beyond an act of support. It resulted in collaborations between Australian women and women in Afghanistan, integrating images and script in beautiful works of art. The Australian artists produced small concertina-type books in lino print, etchings, photography and other techniques, the Afghan women wrote their life experience into them.
The quality and significance of the books have been recognized by all who have seen them, including the State Library of Queensland which has acquired them as a collection, with the proceeds gone back to the Vocational School.
Moreover, the books tell the stories of the women in Afghanistan in their own words and their own gestures of handwritten script.
This project shows a particular historical moment in time and place. As the messenger for the project who carried the works of the Australian artists to Kabul I now want you to share the experience, so I want to reproduce all art and text with English translation as a high quality art book.
By purchasing a copy of the proposed book you, too, become a part of the project and have a role in it. This publication not only tells the different perspectives of those who were involved in it but is an unmediated voicing of experiences of women in Afghanistan who only recently have been able to write their own stories, who show strength and resilience, now for us to read and thereby to hear.
Altogether there are 36 concertina books. I cannot reproduce them all here, but I include a few examples for you to see, with a few lines of the text written by the Afghan women. If you want to browse through all of them you can go to SAWA-Australia (SA). The final book will have 88 pages, printed in full colour on matt art paper, hard cover.
Christine Willcocks and Basira
We, having passed the night, have become homeless.
We, having waited for the morning, are following the dawn.
....
Homeland! your good name is Afghanistan, Your air is cheerful and your sceneries lovely,
Your terrain invigorates the hearts, The subject of our love is your soil.
Deborah Klein and Majabeen
I am Majabeen a student of this course
I was a child with a lot of interests in learning and education but unfortunately I did not have a family to allow me to study. My father used to say (sarcastically) "What is a girl good for? And what good could be her education! I will never let my daughters go to school, just the Qur‘an."
...
I grew up and got married and came to Kabul, got children and tried hard to get them an education. Life went on and at certain moments in life I strongly felt the need to have been literate, meaning I could hardly figure out the difference between a pharmacy and a clothing shop.
...
Majabeen daughter of Daulat Khan, a student of this course
I hope my story has not been boring
Thanks
Rosalind Atkins, name withheld
All the Afghan woman are very courageous, despite all these problems they do all of their work themselves; they are very sorrowful.
They have faced different problems but still did not lose their spirit. These skills and crafts training courses are what helps them solve their problems.
Annelise Scott and Hamida
Name: Hamida
Father's name: Mohammad Omar
Grade 1 OPAWC Literacy Center
We are in dire need of your assistance, friends. We are in need of your help. Help your Afghan sister out. I can read and write letters and am very thankful to OPAWC organisation for providing us with a literacy course. I am a 45 years old lady with eight children.
...
You can also pledge multiple amounts and receive copies for your friends as well. All we need to do is work together to reach the target before the days are up.
You will receive a set of 3 greeting cards, designed by students of the Fatherland orphanage for Afghan refugees I visited in Rawalpindi, Pakistan.
5 chosen
Est. delivery is Feb 13
You will receive your personal copy of the "Unfolding Projects" coffee table book, at a substantially lower price than what it will cost in the book shop.
58 chosen
Est. delivery is Apr 13
You will receive your personal copy of "Unfolding Projects" and a second copy for a friend. I will send you a gift voucher for your friend's book that you can send out before the book arrives.
37 chosen
Est. delivery is Apr 13
You will receive your personal signed copy and two copies for two friends. I will send you two gift vouchers for your friends' copies that can be sent out before the book arrives.
33 chosen
Est. delivery is Apr 13
You will receive a signed copy and be acknowledged in the book as a sponsor of the project.
7 chosen
Est. delivery is Apr 13
You will receive a signed copy and be acknowledged in the book as a major sponsor of the project.
5 chosen
Est. delivery is Apr 13
You will receive a signed copy of the book, be acknowledged in the book as a major sponsor of the project and receive a framed Certificate of Appreciation signed by the director of the Vocational Training Centre in Kabul.
0 chosen
Est. delivery is Apr 13
I will organize a book launch in your town/city with you acknowledged as a key sponsor. Your name will of course also be added to the list of sponsors - as a key sponsor - and you will receive the rewards mentioned for the $1000 pledge.
0 chosen / 5 available
Est. delivery is Apr 13