They feel imprisoned \u201clike a bird whose wings have been torn off\u201d but struggle on, defiant in their own way.<\/p>\n
Five Afghan women talked to AFP about the things that help them cope with their lives tightly controlled by the Taliban government\u2019s rules, from singing to going up into the mountains to scream.<\/p>\n
They are banned from education beyond the age of 12 and from a host of public places, including parks, pools, gyms and beauty salons.<\/p>\n
They have to cover up when outside the home, with only their hands and eyes visible. Those who break the law risk imprisonment.<\/p>\n
Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada insists women have been rescued from oppression since the Taliban authorities returned to power in 2021, enforcing their strict interpretation of Islamic law.<\/p>\n
The United Nations says women are facing \u201cgender apartheid\u201d.<\/p>\n
The feeling of being trapped has grown as Europe and the United States further tighten entry rules, with neighbouring Iran and Pakistan forcing out 2.5 million Afghans last year alone.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll doors are closed,\u201d said one of the women, who were drawn from across the country and whose identities AFP has disguised for security reasons.<\/p>\n
Blue notebook<\/strong><\/p>\n Sanam, 25, wanted to study medicine but lost her chance when universities were shut to women in 2022.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel disenfranchised and angry because our rights have been taken away from us,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel like a bird whose wings have been torn off.\u201d<\/p>\n She lives in a very poor village but feels she is making a difference by teaching 30 girls and young women online.<\/p>\n Every day, they \u201care waiting for me to say good morning to them and teach them a new lesson\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cTeaching is not allowed and is a crime. I accept this risk because I know it\u2019s valuable and I feel valuable.\u201d<\/p>\n She also treasures a blue notebook.<\/p>\n \u201cTo cheer myself up, I write memories in my notebook every day. I keep the notebook in my closet, among my clothes, so that no one can access it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cGirls my age are free outside Afghanistan,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are in a cage, we can\u2019t study, but we still try and have hope, and we continue despite all the dangers.\u201d<\/p>\n Screaming in the mountains<\/strong><\/p>\n Sayamoy, a 34-year-old widow, lives in a two-room home in one of Afghanistan\u2019s biggest cities.<\/p>\n Her husband was a military officer who was killed by Taliban fighters before they took power.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel very sad and I wish I wasn\u2019t a woman,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cBut when I see my children, I find hope again.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cEven if my eyes are filled with tears, I still smile for my children.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI tell my children imaginary stories. I try to make the stories motivating and uplifting,\u201d she said, such as tales of a new home with separate rooms and beds.<\/p>\n She earns her living as a cleaner but also teaches primary school children in her home, pointing to a small whiteboard on the wall.<\/p>\n With women expected to be accompanied in public by a man they are related to, she remembers being turned away from an estate agent\u2019s office.<\/p>\n \u201cThey said: \u2018Go away auntie. We don\u2019t have any house for rent,’\u201d she recalled.<\/p>\n When she sought help from the government, she was told to marry a Taliban fighter.<\/p>\n \u201cThe armed man (the fighter) was there too\u2026 I was scared and didn\u2019t go again,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n But she finds relief by her husband\u2019s isolated grave, on a plain between high mountains.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is no one to hear my voice. There, I scream a lot,\u201d she said, feeling the mountains share her pain as they echo back her cries.<\/p>\n \u201cThen my heart is emptied of sorrow and I feel relieved.\u201d<\/p>\n Dressing up<\/strong><\/p>\n Hura, 24, wanted to be a diplomat and was studying public relations and journalism before universities were closed to women.<\/p>\n \u201cAll doors are closed to girls. Only the door to getting married is open. I\u2019m afraid of this door,\u201d she said, fearing being forced to stay at home.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat makes my mood so much better is that I take videos and photos of myself and post them,\u201d she said, her nose piercing visible.<\/p>\n She appears in a low-cut blue velvet dress, her hair down and singing in a country where music is effectively banned.<\/p>\n Another post shows her in a colourful traditional dress, smiling and wearing make-up.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel free because that photo is my reality. It\u2019s who I want to be.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel free but I\u2019m also scared,\u201d she said, having heard of women being imprisoned for social media posts.<\/p>\n She still dreams of being a diplomat and wants women abroad to help her access online courses to resume her studies.<\/p>\n \u201c(Even) if my hair turns white like my teeth, I won\u2019t give up till I get my master\u2019s degree.\u201d<\/p>\n Music of exiled stars<\/p>\n Shogofa, 22, lives in a major city with her parents and eight siblings.<\/p>\n She was supposed to become a teacher.<\/p>\n \u201cI pray that one day I will be free and can study without fear. I hope that one day all girls can laugh freely.\u201d<\/p>\n She misses studying and her classmates.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019d like to go back to those days, to be able to walk, see my friends,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cI was very happy then and had hope for the future. Now, I\u2019m in the corner of my house and only study online.\u201d<\/p>\n Shogofa suffers from arthritis. Music helps her keep her spirits up.<\/p>\n \u201cTo cheer myself up, I listen to music and watch cooking shows. I listen to songs by Aryana Sayeed and Farhad Darya,\u201d she said, of stars who left Afghanistan.<\/p>\n Darya\u2019s \u201cKabul Jaan\u201d was the first song played on national radio after the Taliban government was ousted from its first stint in power in 2001.<\/p>\n Sayeed, meanwhile, was a judge on the TV show \u201cAfghan Star\u201d.<\/p>\n She is known for songs denouncing violence against women and received death threats even before 2021.<\/p>\n Reading women\u2019s stories<\/strong><\/p>\n Mohjeza, 30, was an NGO worker who supported women farmers but lost her job last year because of President Donald Trump\u2019s cut to US aid.<\/p>\n She lives in a mountainous region with her mother and five siblings, relies on solar power and had to leave home in search of a phone signal to speak to AFP.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel like a prisoner because I can\u2019t even go to the market alone,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is no public place for us to breathe fresh air for a few minutes,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n She volunteers to teach girls in her community \u2014 which \u201cmotivates me to keep going\u201d \u2014 and still offers advice to farmers she helped previously.<\/p>\n \u201cI exercise for half an hour in the morning,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n She also loves reading books, which she downloads and shares with other women.<\/p>\n \u201cThe books I usually read are about women who have seen a lot of hardships\u2026 Their stories motivate me to keep going.\u201d<\/p>\n For the moment, she remains stuck in the mountains after a visa application to study in China was rejected.<\/p>\n \u201cI made an asylum claim for the US but since Trump came, everything has been scrapped.<\/p>\n \u201cMy message to those outside Afghanistan is to never lose hope because the world I\u2019m in is very dark,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cYour world has light and if you follow that light, you will definitely achieve your dream.\u201d<\/p>\n The post Taliban rule: How Afghan women stay sane in their \u2018cage\u2019<\/a> appeared first on KBC Digital<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" They feel imprisoned \u201clike a bird whose wings have been torn off\u201d but struggle on, defiant in their own way. Five Afghan women talked to AFP about the things that help them cope with their lives tightly controlled by the Taliban government\u2019s rules, from singing to going up into the mountains to scream. They are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-132865","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132865","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=132865"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132865\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=132865"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=132865"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=132865"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}