Day 4, Kabul, International Women's Day

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First, a confession. Prior to this trip, I had never even heard of International Women's Day. Apparently, it is a "big deal" in many parts of the world, and in Afghanistan, any large, public celebration of women is a wonderful (and dangerous) thing. Our group had received VIP invitations to the main event, at which cabinet ministers, ambassadors, and President Hamid Karzai spoke. It was held in the famous Loya Jirga tent at Kabul Polytechnic University. Little did we know that one of the speakers, Sibghatullah Mujaddedi, the head of the Upper House of the Afghan Parliament, would narrowly escape an assassination attempt in Kabul only two days later.

Once inside the tent, we were escorted to the second row and given headphones which allowed us to hear English translation of the speeches. Common themes of speakers were the need for enforcement of the existing laws to protect women, abolition of forced marriages, and advancing women's and girl's education and opportunities. Most members of the audience were foreigners and Afghan women - there were few Afghan men - but the entire program was broadcast on television that night and later in the week. Of course, the electricity is such that even if an Afghan family can afford a tv, they have a slim chance that the electricity will happen to be on at the time a program is broadcast. The lack of reliable electricity will continue to hamper efforts to educate Afghans and promote legal rights and programs.

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Photos

Little girl sitting in front of us at International Women\
So cute!

Little girls sitting in front of us at International Women\\
They enjoyed getting their photos made, as you can see.