I've spent several months in Afghanistan, and in this series, I want to take you on a trip around Afghanistan's main provinces and cities, all in the company of local Afghan women tour guides, and spending time visiting various women-focused initiatives as we go. Supporting where we can.
The lives and experiences of Afghan women in Afghanistan today are nuanced, complex. The women we see here in this documentary are the ones who managed to make their own way in a society structured against them; who have their family and friends supporting them in the background. The ones who do not want to be shown on camera are perhaps ones that struggle more and - this doesn't even touch on the ones we didn't see throughout the production of this documentary because they're not permitted to leave their homes.
It is a sad truth that their voices, at least for now, will not be heard.
Nevertheless, there is a portion of the population that has until now been largely forgotten about by mainstream media. The ones who want their story told; their faces shown.
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Part 1 - Kabul (2 parts) Part 2 here -
Over this multi-part series, I travel to; Kabul Mazar Bamiyan (& Band-e-amir) Kandahar Herat
On our way, we meet women from the local craft market, have an embroidery class, visit a local women's retreat center, have a traditional cooking class, visit several schools and academies, visit a shipping factory run by a woman shipping clothes all over the world, spend an afternoon at an orphanage, visit a women-run art gallery, and dine at women-run restaurants.
Travel to Afghanistan may be ethically complex, but I believe it can be done ethically. And by supporting local businesses and initiatives, it's one step towards doing your part.
NOTE: Every woman in this mini documentary has agreed to be on camera and, indeed, are happy to finally be given a platform to share their voices. There are various places visited that are not represented in this series, either for the preference of the individual or organisation or for their respect and safety.
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Travelling as a Woman in Afghanistan
One of my favourite things about travelling with women in Afghanistan is that there are so many things you can experience BECAUSE you’re a woman. Not in spite of the fact.
Things that as a man would not be accessible.
In a world dominated by men, you’re invited into the loud and colourful world of women. And the women’s-only spaces in Afghanistan are some of the loudest.
That world, although on the outside much quieter, softer, much more demure... has a whole lot inside waiting for you to experience. A world full of emotions: Laughter, joy, smiles, and pain.
A world much louder than the world of men could ever be.
Women just don’t need to shout about it, is all.
What goes on behind closed doors in the world of women in Afghanistan, I can’t go into too much detail.
There are men reading this, after all.
And as sacred spaces for women, I’ll keep it as that.
But one thing I can say is that women may be silenced, they may be oppressed, but they do not let themselves live in silence. They do not let themselves live only in oppression.
If you want to support any of the organisations featured in this series, please contact me on Instagram - @zoediscovers
(Here you will also find photos & BTS of production)
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This trip was made possible with the collaboration of Koryo Tours, Somaya Moniry, Afghan Sisters Travel, and Masood Shnizai and his team at Afghania Travel.
Thank you to my Patrons who make long-form content like this not supported by ads or brand deals, etc possible. Without the support, I truly couldn't do it.
“No one who has spent time in Afghanistan has left unimpressed by its people’s hospitality, dignity, and firm sense of cultural identity.” TJB, February 2022, Cambridge, MA
Is what you see of Afghan women in the media like this?
Or like this?
In this series, I'm exploring Afghanistan with local women tour guide professionals and
the crazy thing is, is that when I recently gave an interview about this and provided photos,
this is what they did to them.
Mind you, not only are these professional working women,
but these women also have their own Instagram and YouTube channels.
These women have faces, they have voices, they want to be seen, they want to be heard,
and we don't need our own media to be complicit in hiding them from the public eye.
Last week, I introduced our first two Afghan women for this series, Mariam and Samaya.
Two brave, strong women going against the grain and trying to make a name for themselves in an
environment and society set up against them. Of course, the experience for every Afghan woman
varies and we cannot deny the suffering that many go through. At the same time,
we should not ignore those who also exist, not just the ones working in tourism,
but the other strong women we'll meet throughout this series in various industries.
So if you haven't seen the first episode, I'd really recommend going back and taking a look.
This week, we'll be taking a further look around Kabul before traveling up to Bamiyan,
where we will meet our next star, Zahra.
Welcome to Afghanistan!
The National Museum in Afghanistan is found in Kabul, although unfortunately,
it's nothing compared to how it used to be. It was founded in 1942 by King Amanullah and
once housed 100,000 items, including some bacteria and gold. But by 2001,
70% was looted during the civil war and the Taliban destroyed most of what remained.
After years of looting and Taliban destruction, the staff there reported that there was only
a single giant bronze urn, which you can still see today as one of the few large objects left
on display. There are still a few things to see here though, and a couple of floors and
rooms to explore, as well as a whole building full of cars and also a train behind the main
building too. If you haven't got much time in Kabul though, I actually really recommend
skipping this one and visiting the Omar Landmine Museum instead, which we'll visit in later episodes.
Just next to the National Museum is Darul Aman Palace. This actually means abode of
peace and honestly, that's what this place is. A sanctuary from the hustle and bustle of the outside.
Welcome to Darul Aman Palace.
It was built in the 1920s under King Amanullah Khan as he wanted to modernize Afghanistan.
He was a pretty liberal king who banned veils for women and spent a lot of time traveling abroad.
Indeed, him and his wife took a eight-month-long state tour around various countries, including the
UK, Germany, France, Egypt, India and the Soviet Union. This palace was designed in a European
neoclassical style with influences from western architecture. Inside, there's three floors and
about 150 rooms, but it was largely destroyed over the years of conflict and almost fully
reconstructed by 2019 to coincide with the 100th anniversary of Afghan independence.
And on the way back to the city center is the Babur Gardens or Baha'i Babur as it is locally
known. It's one of the oldest surviving Mughal gardens in Afghanistan and located pretty close
to both the palace and the museum. After Babur conquered Kabul in 1504, he developed the site
into a terraced avenue garden following the Persian Islamic tradition of aligning water
channels along a central axis and carving the hillside into roughly 15 levels. Not long after
his death in 1530, his remains were moved from Agra and placed in the grave here. In the 20th
century, it became a public park under King Nadeh Shah and has since undergone various reconstruction
efforts. Today, it's a nice area for locals to have a picnic. It's well kept and although generally
local women are not permitted inside, I've never had a problem getting in with other women, both
local and foreign. One of the most popular places to visit in Kabul is the famous bird market.
If you don't like seeing animals in cages, I recommend you to skip the next minute or two
because these streets are just full of them.
Keeping birds is a favorite pastime of many Afghans and birds have a solid place in various
aspects of Afghan life including paintings, poetry, and the gardens or houses of a lot of
but do try to end up at this great local restaurant if you get a chance.
and all this food will be inside of it and then it will get cooked and also it's possible that
you get your bread and just eat like for example one piece of the meat and eat it but also
and eat it
this traditional dish is heavy on the meat but you can't get much more local than this
it's called jainaki and it's usually served in individual pots and is basically a meat
stew with a little bit of veg tomatoes onions that kind of thing inside
served alongside a naan of course. We then take a drive to the northern side of Kabul to go to
Wazir Akbar Khan Hill otherwise known as TV Hill. It originally gets its name from a revered Afghan
and then in the 1990s it became a spot for tv and radio masts hence the nickname. It's a nice place
to relax and have a picnic and enjoy the views. For some reason the Soviets here built a swimming
pool complete with a diving board all the way up here. It's empty now of course and no one uses it
to swim in. In the afternoon we were invited to a local orphanage called Future Hope charity
organization with over 100 children living there. It has a section for both girls and
boys and we got to take a look around before hanging out with the children and eating together
Unfortunately due to the nature of this visit I don't have footage that I can put here but I do
have some reflections I wanted to share from the next morning. Last night we spent the afternoon
and the evening at the orphanage and honestly this is probably one of the most incredible
experiences that we do in Afghanistan. Unfortunately it's also an experience that
I can't put into video because we want to respect the privacy of the girls and to be honest it makes
my experience a lot better because you're not always on your phone, you're not always
photographing everything and to be honest photographing and videoing orphans is not
you know what we're here for anyway. But I do want to just go over a little bit about
our time there and also show you these super sweet gifts that they gave us
upon arrival. So let me show you first of all these beautiful flowers that the girls
have handmade and prepared for us. Look at that beautiful tulips there and inside is a little
letter. Let me take the letter out for you. Welcome to FHCO. There we go that's the orphanage that we work with
They are just incredible guys. There was also this one for everyone so I loved the geniusness
and creativity that went into this. So it has FHCO on the back and then this is a heart and then
I love you. Too sweet. But the best thing and the most amazing thing because well I can't stitch or
I'm always very impressed is these. Every single one of them was different, every single one of
them was personalized and it has my name on it. Some things you really do just treasure forever
and this is one of them. It's tricky, I'm not gonna lie. It's tricky visiting an orphanage, it's
tricky getting that correct because there's a lot of reasons that it can turn very
unethical, it can turn very
observing and that's definitely not where I was going with this trip and I think honestly I think
that this visit does all the right things. Obviously we try to introduce the ladies to
the orphanage and help to create awareness, spread awareness like I'm trying to do here as well
but also it's a very interactive experience. It's less we are just sitting there and observing
and more the girls really love us being there to be honest and like we like to be there but we
basically spent the afternoon just hanging out with them. They had a little some little
performances for us and then we also gave them a performance which they absolutely loved
but the real fun was eating dinner together and afterwards we also just kind of were hanging out
though we don't speak each other's languages. My god there was a lot of sounds going on in that
room because kids don't need language. You can show photos of your family, just chat and
doesn't matter if you can't speak each other's languages you can still have a really incredible
time and I think getting to kind of further understand about these very difficult
issues in Afghanistan and also giving the opportunity to help and do something about it
as well as experiencing as much as you can kind of full-hand really trying to understand
you know these deeper issues. It's something that I think that this orphanage visit provides
and we work together with the orphanage to do these visits so I wish I could show you
everything on camera but it's just an incredible experience that I'm having this morning.
Today we are finally making it out of Kabul and into the mountains as we climb a couple
of thousand meters to reach Bamiyan where we will explore the famous Bandi Amir Lake,
the Buddhas of Bamiyan and pay a visit to a women's retreat center. The road to Bamiyan
is generally pretty decent with some pretty incredible views of the mountain range on the way.
The drive takes around four to five hours in total but we got a bit held up with a few side quests.
The first I was definitely not expecting. Rhubarb I had only ever had before in pie or in sweets
that taste like rhubarb and custard. I'd never tried wild rhubarb before but I was assured that
it's okay to eat raw and it's yummy and good for the gut. This rhubarb is taken from the mountains
where locals will go and forage and bring it down to the side of the road to sell.
Very nice.
What I wasn't pre-warned about was just how sour it is. I still have that taste in my mouth today
but weirdly addictive. Enjoying some roadside rhubarb.
That is sour. And we didn't get much further before we were sidetracked once
again. These nomad beekeepers moved between the mountains of Afghanistan and Pakistan,
coming back to Afghanistan in the summer months and spending the warmer winters in Pakistan,
bringing their bees with them wherever they go. This is honestly some of the purest and best honey
you will find in the world and this beekeeper was very happy for us to sample all of the different
kinds with some local tea of course. It ranges in quality and he had one liter jars for about $20
around you take control and provide you with unscripted experiences that really stick with
you forever. Like pulling up to a nomad beekeeper's house with camping chairs, a speaker and good
friends and enjoying the best cup of tea I ever had together.
But all good things must come to an end. Bamyan was waiting for us and
so was our local tour guide Zara. Here is the Bamyan and most welcome everyone.
Sorry to keep you on the edge of your seat here but I'm going to have to leave you hanging until
the next episode where we will enjoy a full exploration of all that Bamyan has to offer.
