Afghan Creative Arts Prison Project - First Report

In April Joanna and Anna spent a month in Herat launching the Creative Arts Prison Project. We are working again with members of Simorgh Theatre, with whom we collaborated for the Theatre for Social Development project in 2011. Here is Anna’s first report.

Together again!

Back in Afghanistan after four years. Back to Herat to see the girls of Simorgh again! How wonderful to have the chance to work together again. Four years is a long time, and yet it’s like yesterday. But going from 13 to 17 or 16 to 20 makes a big difference. They’re young women now, all grown up. I hardly recognized some of them! And others look exactly the same. (For me, I just look older, as one of them pointed out. Well, yes, time does that!). We had a happy reunion and then we met the new girls who have joined the group. All in all, we are working with six young women, and then two young men who are helping out -- who really just want to be part of the process, and I’m so glad to see them again too! They are great guys. But this project is specifically for women by women.

Getting ready for action

All of us jumped headlong into our work together with great excitement and energy. For the first nine days we did training to prepare the group for the upcoming program. Workshops practicing various theatrical exercises in the morning, and in the afternoon rehearsals to develop a performance. In between we have lunch together. During the week I think to myself, “We are having such a wonderful and fulfilling time together that if this is all we do with the project I will be happy!”

Enjoying lunch together the Afghan way. 

But we have much more to accomplish. The goal of our project is to bring theater workshops to the women’s prison and the juvenile correction center as a way to offer psychosocial support -- to give the women and girls a safe, creative forum in which to express themselves and process their experiences through play and physical action. Research and experience has shown theater to be an effective tool in helping people heal trauma, build self-confidence and manage daily challenges. Eventually the women will have the opportunity to create their own plays. The aim is for this to be an ongoing program throughout the year.

We are training the members of Simorgh Theatre to lead the program and teach the workshops, as we are only here for a month and after we leave, the project will continue. We are also preparing a play that we will present first thing as an introduction to theater. That is, the Simorgh girls will present it. Joanna and I are directing and they perform. Many in Afghanistan have never seen a live theater performance and have no idea what it is. We want to show them that they can create a play just like this with their own stories.

A Common Problem

The play is called The Backbiters and centers on two gossiping women who make life difficult for a young woman, Nafisa, who wants to go to university. They talk bad about her and spread rumors that worry her family. Nafisa’s friend, a younger girl of thirteen named Fereshta, looks up to her and dreams of herself becoming a doctor one day. But Fereshta’s father has other ideas. He has decided she’s going to get married to an older, rich man who will give the father lots of money. Fereshta is devastated. The mother can do nothing to prevent it, but finds an ally in Nafisa’s mother and together they speak to the mullah (similar to parish priest). This mullah is a wise, learned man who talks to the father about the laws of Islam and that a girl must agree to who she marries and that Fereshta is much too young and should get an education. He points out what happened last year when the neighbor’s wife almost died because they couldn't find a female doctor to treat her. It’s good that girls study to become doctors! The father struggles with the idea but finally decides to forego the marriage and let his daughter study. Meanwhile, the backbiters have had some backlash and decide they must mend their ways.

Our story has a happy ending, but unfortunately this is not the case for many girls in Afghanistan. This is a common scenario – forced early marriage. Even though Islam does say a woman must agree to marriage and should be educated, many villages follow old tribal ways that have become tradition and conflated with Muslim practice. The community listens to the mullahs who often are corrupt or ignorant. And people are very concerned with what the community thinks and says about them because honor is everything. Gossiping old ladies is a common problem and families can be destroyed by bad rumors.

Our talented actors in Simorgh made the play very compelling and also added lots of humor to it. The two women playing the backbiters were funny and forceful, and the woman playing the father (yes, women only-troupe playing all characters) didn’t hold back in her portrayal of a gross, old man. It’s exaggerated but all too real.

Joanna guides a discussion planning for our workshops in the prison. 

Showtime in the Prison

The day arrived for us to present our play at the women’s prison! I wasn’t sure what to expect, or how the women would take to the show or the idea of doing workshops.  How open and accessible will they be, or perhaps closed off, resistant, even hostile? No telling what will happen, we’re breaking new ground. Here we go – "hala hamagi hamabaham bedboard!" ("Now everybody all together, let’s go!")

Well, it went fantastically well. About ninety women in all gathered to see the performance. They laughed and applauded and listened intently, and a few cried. Afterwards we did a talkback where they had a chance to speak about the show and go up on stage and engage with the characters. This is where I wasn't sure how it would work. But it worked very well. The women didn’t hesitate to engage. Some stood up and talked about their own personal circumstances. Others got up on stage to confront characters, especially the father. They argued with the father for not letting his daughter go to school and marrying her off so young. The woman playing the father stood her ground and said “Everyone in my family married before the age of 13, it’s no problem.” The prisoner countered, “And this is why we’re all in here!” Spontaneous applause broke out in acknowledgement. Another woman wanted to speak with the mullah and proceeded to rail against mullahs who are bad and want money and don’t follow proper Islam. She was animated and passionate in her speaking. All the women spoke with great passion. It was clear the play really resonated with them. It reflected and acknowledged their situation and gave them a chance to have a voice and speak out.

Afterwards, several women came up to me and exclaimed over and over again, “I’m so happy, I’m so happy, thank you for being here, thank you for presenting this play to us.” One woman seemed particularly taken and keen to connect. She asked my name and where I was from, I said USA and Sweden, and then she wanted to know which I liked better, Afghanistan or Sweden. I told her they are very different, and that I really like the people of Afghanistan -- they are so friendly and hospitable. She said, “We are friendly because you are. We respond to you. You are so nice and friendly, and we want to be friendly back.” At the end, she took a ring off her finger (a crocheted band with black beads) and put it on mine and told me, “This is a memory from me.”

I wonder what happened to her, what she did that she is here in prison. Did she run away from home? With her lover? From a threatened forced marriage? Or was she forced into marriage? And did she run away from an abusive husband? Was she raped? Did she kill somebody? These are many of the possible scenarios and circumstances that land a woman in prison in Afghanistan. I did not want to ask this woman right away, but Joanna and I have heard many stories since that first day.

More to follow! 

No photos beyond the barbed wire!

Jessy's Experience Teaching Theatre at Kakamega School for the Deaf

Jessy tells us her thoughts about her recent experience leading theatre workshops with deaf students in Kakamega, Kenya.  

 

Today, I led a one-hour workshop with a group of sixty deaf students at Kakamega School for the Deaf. Ages ranged from 7 to 17.  All of the students participated in the first three activities, and only classes 4 through 8 participated in the second half. This was largely due to the fact that their sign language was more fluent (some deaf Kenyans don't learn sign language until 9 or 10 years of age). 

I had some time to speak with the head teacher of the school.  He told me that some of these children are orphans, some have wandered in off of the streets, and others are abandoned by their families.  Any kind of disability is seen in Kenya as a curse, and families often want to rid themselves of the child in fear that the curse will directly affect them.  

Of course, I had a person sign as I spoke.  This was an interesting experience - and also a real "performance" in itself.  Sign language is such an expressive form of communication.  It includes facial expression, body movements, and even the occasional sound or squeal. 

Awooga!

They liked this activity, but they obviously didn't know that they were supposed to shout "Awooga!" They still jumped, but I realized how helpful the sound itself is in coordinating the jump of the two people. 

Passing Energy in a Circle

The students had some difficulty with this one.  Making eye contact with the person to whom they would like to throw the energy proved difficult.  This may have been due to the fact that the group was large, or maybe they have difficulty focusing their attention on one area of the room just in case something else happens around them that they need to react to.  I'm not entirely sure.  They were also trying to keep their eyes on the interpreter at all times just in case he gave them further direction.  Because of this, we ended up just passing the energy around the circle one at a time instead of throwing it across.  It still worked, and they still seemed to really enjoy it.  

I think it is important to note that deaf students have to keep their eyes set on the interpreter at all times in order to know what is happening.  This would make activities such as Walking Through Space (pg. 26), Trust Walks (34), and Group Start, Stop, and Jump (pg. 38) particularly challenging.

Follow the Leader 

Students, especially those who are ousted from society due to their disability, have a deep desire to please.  Creativity plays no true role in their education system.  This is in part due to Kenyan culture and in part because they are so far behind in their schooling to begin with.  Because of this, they often try to copy what the teacher does.  Therefore, after I demonstrated the activity with my interpreter, they used my movements exclusively and did not add any of their own.  

I have experienced this to some degree in the past, especially in societies that use rote learning styles, and I think that it is something interesting to note - demonstration can sometimes hinder students' ability to think on their own.   

Following these three exercises, I asked each class group (class 4 to class 8) to pick a story of struggle from their lives and present it as a drama/mime for the younger students.  It was interesting that all of the scenes began with characters greeting one another with handshakes.  Handshakes are very important in Kenyan culture, and forgetting to shake someone's hand can be considered very rude. 

I think it could be great to include some kind of disability section in the manual.  It would be great to identify which activities in the manual lend themselves most to deaf individuals, blind individuals, physically challenged individuals, etc.  This would be another way to make the manual truly accessible to all groups.

News from Kampala, Uganda

Our intern, Emma Dolhai, set off for Kampala, Uganda, in October 2014.  We asked if she could “field test” our new Training Manual in Theatre for Social Development.  She has been reporting as the project progresses, and given us useful feedback on which training methods have been successful and/or challenging. Here she reports from her work with Uganda Hands for Hope, working in the slums of Kampala, educating children who have never had the chance to go to school and helping women find alternate sources of income. Emma reports:

                This past week I had the privilege of attending the annual “Liftoff to Literacy” day at a primary school in Kampala, Uganda. The final event in a week of literacy-themed activities, the school had organized a giant celebration for the students and guests. As an intern with Uganda Hands for Hope, an education-based community organization that makes its library of books available to schools in the community, I was lucky enough tag along. The highlight of the event, judging by the reactions of the students, was a skit put on by their teachers, who played newly elected government officials all trying, and mostly failing, to read their oath of office. It was classic comedy at its best, with the words often hard to hear over the laughs of the students, all jostling to get the best view of the show.

            If reading about Bond Street Theatre is an exercise in hope, then going out into the world and seeing their principles in action is an exercise in truth. What Bond Street does so well is bring creativity to an increasingly interconnected world with a rapidly rising demand for outside-the-box thinkers and solutions to solve ages-old problems. Talking to a friend about the recent terrorist threats in Kampala, we both came to the conclusion that conventional methods of countering violent extremism simply won’t cut it. No matter how many people governments fight and jail, a new generation willing to use illegitimate means to deal with legitimate grievances will rise to take their place. The only way the cycle of violent extremism will ever be broken is if future generations are given an alternate means of self-empowerment. In fact, as long as any group in any country is excluded from the opportunity to tell their own stories and is silenced instead, discord will always be close behind. As we talked, all I kept thinking was, “wait until you see Bond Street’s latest project. It’ll knock your socks off”.

Then in November and December, Emma gave us a great update on her workshops with the children:

Four workshops were conducted with 80 pupils ranging in age from 7-13 at St. Charles Luwanga P.S., St. Barnabas P.S., and Uganda Hands for Hope in Kampala, Uganda. All spoke English as a second language and all workshops were mixed-gender.

Feedback from the headmaster of St. Charles Luwanga Primary School:

“It was my first time to see such workshops and, I was inspired with the performance you did. It stimulates the mind and set your mood and the sense of humor. It did wonders on the side of kids… wow!  They were motivated, excited, and now they are asking me when you are coming back again! Now those whose classes you didn't visit are yearning to do workshops with you, because the pupils in P.4 &5 (grades 4 and 5) shared the happiness they enjoyed in your workshops with them.

Surprisingly, the following day some parents came to my office thanking me for the workshops you did with their kids. I was happy to hear such feedback!  To tell you the truth, my kids miss you big time!“