Aside from the schools where some of the women of Jalalabad work and study, there are few public places for women to gather and socialize. A rare exception is the main park downtown, which is only open to women and their children on Wednesdays. The park is downtown and has one large field and another field with trees and benches for picnicking. A concrete wall eight feet high surrounds the park, allowing for privacy.
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| Jenn and Lou hanging with the the female guard for the park. The only Afghan woman I've seen wearing pants - and sweet shades to boot! |
Lou, Jenn and I visited the park this past Wednesday,
not know what to expect once we crossed the gate. We were first greeted by an Afghan woman dressed in a military outfit and surprisingly – wearing pants! She was very friendly and ushered us in with a smile. There were a couple hundred women and children milling around the park. The children, both boys and girls, were chasing each other around the fields while the women were sitting together in groups talking, drinking tea and eating. The first thing I noticed was the brilliant colors. Everyone seemed to be decked out in their finest, which included bright reds, purples and greens and lots of flashy jewelry. The second thing I noticed was that we were one of the few women who had head scarves on! Most of the women had their scarves draped around their shoulders with their long hair stylishly in plain sight. It was a beautiful thing to behold.
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| One of the first girls to join our game of soccer |
We had just bought a knock-off Nike soccer ball so we headed out to the main field to kick the ball around. It didn’t take long for a few of the braver kids to edge over towards us and watch. We kicked them the ball, the international sign for come play with us, and we quickly had a couple dozen kids playing with us. The boys started to dominate the game, pushing aside the girls to get to the ball, but we tried to pass the girls the ball and encourage them to participate. After about a half hour we took a break and had tea with one of the families. I was kicking myself for not knowing enough Pashto (or any really) to be able to converse with the ladies. It would have been a great opportunity to talk candidly with them.
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| Two of our soccer buddies - the older one is wearing one of Lou's stickers |
After our tea, the three of us walked over to the food vendors in the back of the park to snag lunch. We sat down at a small table with our newspaper-wrapped bits of goodness and snacked while looking out on the park. While we were eating, our ever-popular Jenn, was approached by two groups of students that recognized her from visits to the schools. They were taking a break from their exams which they said had been quite stressful! One of the girls invited us to meet her two sisters and mother who were with her at the park. Jenn’s student-friend was able to speak English so she helped translate for us as we chatted with her family. Finally, although we were the drabbest women at the park (wearing dark colors, no makeup and matted-down hair) Jenn’s friend and her family asked us to have our picture taken with them. They had a photographer from a photo studio in the park come out with his digital camera and take photos of us in front of a defunct water fountain. Like the male food vendors, it didn’t seem to matter that this man was seeing the women without their head scarves.
All good things must come to an end, so after two hours we said our goodbyes with promises of returning to the park next Wednesday.
