Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, September-October 2002, pages 68-69

Northern California Chronicle

San Francisco Librarian, Montana-based Nonprofit Devoted to Educating Afghan Girls

By Elaine Pasquini

Nearly one year after the U.S.-led bombing of Afghanistan began in October 2001, non-governmental agencies continue to provide assistance to Afghans, although the American media’s reporting on their activities has been waning. Despite lack of any significant funding from U.S. governmental agencies, one group that is forging ahead to help improve the lives of ordinary citizens in the war-ravaged area is the Bozeman, Montana-based Central Asia Institute (CAI).

CAI board member Julia Bergman spoke to the Washington Report in San Francisco June 13 about her recent trip to Afghanistan with CAI co-founder and executive director Greg Mortenson. Bergman, coordinator of library automation services at City College of San Francisco, and Mortenson traveled to Afghanistan March 24 through April 9 for the purpose of locating a site for a girls’ school. A site was chosen in the Panjshir Valley, and Mortenson returned in July to initiate the construction of a school for 400 girls who have never received an education. The CAI’s second project is to acquire furnishings and supplies for two large schools in Kabul.

Despite Afghanistan’s devastated infrastructure, Bergman said she was impressed by the desire of Afghan women and girls to be educated. “Their hunger for learning was infectious,” she exclaimed. “It was a real morale booster!”

The girls she met were so intent to earn an education, Bergman recalled, that they would walk great distances to attend school. The literacy rate in Afghanistan is about 32 percent, but, while the literacy rate for men is 47 percent, the rate for women is estimated at only 3 percent. The country’s educational system suffered greatly when the Soviet Union withdrew in 1989 and the Taliban prohibited girls from attending school.

The City College librarian initially became involved with the CAI after several trips on her own to the rugged and extremely mountainous area of Baltistan, an historic part of Kashmir controlled by Pakistan since 1947. Bergman helped establish one library in a rural area and another in Skardu, Baltistan’s capital city.

The CAI’s mission is to promote community-based, locally initiated education and environmental conservation projects in Central Asia. The institute works with the local people in all phases of the projects in order to best serve the community. In the past nine years, CAI has founded 28 schools in Pakistan with an enrollment of some 5,200 children, 30 percent of them girls. Educating girls is a top priority for the CAI, as even a fifth-grade education level for girls helps to reduce the infant mortality rate significantly, in addition to improving the general health and quality of life for women and their children. Moreover, since Afghanistan is estimated to have the world’s largest number of war widows, women are frequently their family’s only breadwinner.

The CAI’s projects are funded through private donations. For more information or to make a contribution, contact: Central Asia Institute, 617 South 5th Avenue, Bozeman, Montana 59715; phone (877) 585-7841; fax (406) 586-9516; e-mail <info@ikat.org>; Web site <www.ikat.org>.

Old Cairo in Black and White

On view at the San Francisco Arab Cultural Center June 21 through 23 was Egyptian-American photographer Monda Rafla’s exhibit, “Legacies of Cairo: Her Monuments and Her People.” The photographer gave a brief presentation at the opening reception June 21 and showed her friend Caroline Williams’ video, “Cairo: 1001 Years of Art & Architecture” (available from the AET Book Club).

In 1995, after a 25-year absence, Rafla returned to Cairo. She returned again in 1999 and began photographing the buildings and people living in the historic area of Cairo which contains the greatest concentration of Islamic monuments in the world. Wandering the narrow streets and alleyways, she said, opened her eyes to the people and places of ancient Cairo.

While enthralled with the beauty of the Islamic and Coptic architecture, she also immediately realized that the people living and working in the area were an integral part of its beauty and charm. “I discovered that the people and the monuments are one soul, so I photographed people as well as monuments,” she told the audience.

Rafla described an encounter with the first person she photographed in 1999, an 82-year-old Coptic woman. Um Saleeb, she said, became her “muse.” On her return visits every six months, Rafla visits Um Saleeb and receives her baraka (blessing). The black-and-white photo of Um Saleeb is one-third of a trilogy entitled, “One God—One Egypt.” The other parts of the photo trilogy include a Qur’anic verse which reminded Rafla of the Christian Bible’s Lord’s Prayer, and a man entering a mosque.

Rafla explained that she felt the need to photograph the mosques, bathhouses, public fountains and Qur’anic schools now because a major restoration project has commenced which, she feels, may detrimentally alter these historic treasures—the original beauty of which her black and white photos indeed capture. While Rafla believes preservation is important, she is concerned that restoration efforts are moving too quickly and may not be done properly. Also, she noted, some longtime residents of the area are being forced to move because of the project, which she described as “an open-air museum.”

Rafla’s photographs will be exhibited at The First World Congress for Middle Eastern Studies, at the University of Mainz in Germany, Sept. 8 to 13, 2002, at The Middle Eastern Studies Association Annual Conference in Washington, DC, Nov. 23 to 26, 2002; and on her Web site: <www.monda.net> (e-mail <monda_rafla@hotmail.com>).

“Mosaic” Brings Arabic News to English-Speaking Audiences

San Francisco businessman Jamal Dajani is filling a much-needed void in the dissemination of news from the Middle East to the American public. As director of Arabic programming and producer of WorldLink TV’s informative new television program, “Mosaic,” he told the Washington Report that he wants Americans to be able to “see the news that 280 million people watch.”

That figure is roughly the combined population of the Arab League’s 22 member countries. Dajani further explained that scenes of American-made Israeli bulldozers and tanks destroying Palestinian homes and killing innocent unarmed children outrages viewers in the Middle East. Americans would be outraged, too, he emphasized, if they received more accurate and unbiased reporting from the Middle East.

Dajani was born in Arab East Jerusalem’s Wadi Joz district in 1957 and came to the U.S. when he was 18 years old. His prominent Jerusalem family became refugees within their own hometown after the 1948 war erupted. As the fighting raged in and around Jerusalem’s Old City, his family fled their home outside the Old City’s Bab Nabi Daoud (Gate of the Prophet David—called Zion Gate by the Israelis) and eventually re-settled in the eastern part of Jerusalem. Jordan controlled Arab East Jerusalem until the 1967 war, when Israel illegally occupied the entire city of Jerusalem.

“Mosaic,” which first aired in December 2001, is a half-hour daily news show featuring unedited newscasts from Middle Eastern broadcasters translated into English. It reaches viewers through San Francisco-based WorldLink TV, a nonprofit satellite channel that focuses on world events and culture.

Viewers can watch news reports from some 15 Arab countries, including the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Morocco, the Palestine Broadcast Authority and, most recently, Yemen, which is broadcast via Cairo. Dajani hopes to include Israeli stations among “Mosaic” offerings. “We don’t want to be one-sided,” he explained, noting that Israeli stations sometimes run controversial programs, such as on the “refuseniks,” the courageous soldiers who oppose Israel’s illegal occupation and refuse to serve in the occupied territories.

Another WorldLink TV program focusing on the Middle East is “Viewpoint,” which is co-produced with Abu Dhabi Television. The live call-in program airs Fridays at noon EDT and is hosted by Arab American Institute president James Zogby.

Created in December 1999, WorldLink TV now reaches nearly 17 million homes in all 50 states through DirecTV and the Dish Network. Funded by grants from major foundations and viewer contributions, “Mosaic” is supported by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, which supports journalism initiatives worldwide.

Although other foreign, English-language news shows air in the United States—such as “Journal,” which has a European and German perspective—“Mosaic” is the only one focusing specifically on Middle East news.

For complete program scheduling visit <www.worldlinktv.org> or call (800) 565-7495. Dish Network may be reached at <www.dishnetwork.com> or (800) 333-3474, and DirecTV at <www.directv.com> or (800) 531-5000.

Elaine Pasquini is a free-lance photojournalist based in Ignacio, CA.