Hi Donna --
 
Sorry to be so long in responding to this question about non-Muslim women.  
 
Only 1% of the population is not Muslim. (of the Muslim population, ca 80% are Sunni and 19% are Shia).  And, as best I know, most of this 1% lives in Kabul.  The literacy program that I'm working with does not have activities in Kabul, so no, I haven't been in touch with Hindu Afghans.  Or Christian Afghans, of whom there are a few, I'm told.
 
A follow up comment to my post from earlier today:  I have a copy of a booklet (in Dari) that was distributed at the eliminating violence conference, about women (around the world, in Afghanistan, women's issues).  It a joint publication, I think, of UNFPA, the government of Afghanistan, and Women Without Borders (and maybe more organizations - I can't read the Dari).  It contains some great illustrations. The one on the cover is of three women standing on a globe (with symbols of women's work/contributions - books, pots, a stethoscope, a scythe). They are holding their arms up toward the sky --Two of the three are wearing hijab, or scarves, and the third does not have her hair covered.  The title translates something roughly like the old slogan 'women hold up half the sky' --  I love it!
 
And -- one more note -- inside the booklet there is a map of the world, with pictures of notable women from various places in the world.  The one woman pictured from the US is Rosa Parks.  I love it!
 
Finally -- it has been so great to connect with friends through this discussion -- Donna, Uju, Lisa, Sissy (hi!), Barb - and others -- and to meet new people as well.   Perhaps this glimpse of life in Afghanistan will encourage some of you to come here for a while.  I hope this thread of discussion about women and literacy internationally continues for a while.  I'll be available on the list for the next few days, so even if we've reached my December 1 cut-off point, let me know if you have more questions.
 
Brenda

________________________________

From: womenliteracy-bounces at dev.nifl.gov on behalf of Donna Brian
Sent: Mon 11/28/2005 9:00 PM
To: The Women & Literacy Discussion List
Subject: Re: [WomenLiteracy] RE: Afghan women



Hi Brenda and all,
Hope all is well with all of you and that you all feel you have a lot to be
thankful for.

On NPR this morning was a segment about Afghan refugees in Germany being
sent back to Afghanistan, the German gov. having decided that they were no
longer in danger there from the Taliban.  The segment was saying this was
especially hard on the Hindu Afghanis, since they did still feel they would
surely suffer if sent back.  It made me wonder about your programs and
whether you have contact with Afgani women who are not Muslim.

Donna Brian
djgbrian at utk.edu


----------------------------------------------------
National Insitute for Literacy
Women and Literacy mailing list
WomenLiteracy at dev.nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://dev.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/womenliteracy


-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/womenliteracy/attachments/20051201/e0a4b4e4/attachment.html