I have just read A Thousand Splendid Suns, while it is fiction, the Afghan setting is not.

I think we all need our eyes opened to how very lucky we are here in Australia, but also to how other women suffer around the world.

Thanks for stopping by Jen.

Kabul last year who committed suicide by burning themselves – that is, setting themselves on fire – in order to end their misery.

What if I were born in the Middle East instead of Australia? What if our foremothers had not fought for equality and the right to vote a century ago? The look on the face of one beggar woman as she lifted her burkha said it all – her tired, withered face had endured more than one lifetime of hardship. “I was young before my husband was killed in the war. My son was killed too on the same day.”

This woman now spends her day begging beneath the disdaining eyes of men on the street who admonish her for being in need. Her two teenage daughters would like to study, but cannot afford to buy the requisite pencils and notebooks.

Today, after the heartache of thee Four Corners story, I received a newsletter from the Zonta Club of Sydney Breakfast, who for the past year sponsored Nasima, a student from Kabul who has been studying at Sydney Uni. The newsletter included a gut wrenching note from Nasima about her return to Kabul, the tears she shed upon returning to her broken city and – on a more light hearted note – her tribulations at trying to establish an internet connection back home so she can send more news. Perhaps, judging by Nasima, there is hope for Afghani women yet.

You can find the letter from Nasima in the “Beyond the Burkha” post at http://www.sphinxx.org/blog/

I am already familiar with your site from the Australian Blogs Community, and read you via the RSS feed there.

I’m not sure whether anyone should respect a culture that is trying to make you a lesser being. I don’t think I ever could respect that.

Snoskred
http://snoskred.blogspot.com/