Sylvia's Journal

I stumbled into a fascinating meeting this morning. It is or was Mother’s Day (today or yesterday) in Afghanistan. I am not sure about the history but it has something to do with a previous first lady or queen’s choice – her birthday maybe. This may require some more research on my part.

Because of that earlier this week a big Safe Motherhood event was organized. For reasons I don’t quite understand another big event, basically about the same topic, was organized today in the auditorium of the ministry. I had not intended to go there (I didn’t know and none of us at MSH had received an invitation) but the meeting for which I showed up turned out to be cancelled (which I also didn’t know).

Having made the trip across town I decided to attend the grand event but found the cavernous auditorium mostly empty – maybe 20 people at most in a place that seats more than 250 people. I settled down for the inevitable long wait for things to start with my Pashto homework and so I didn’t mind waiting.

After a few minutes the minister showed up with her usual entourage, quickly scanned the empty hall and, after a brief consultation with the organizers, turned around and invited the few people who were there to join her in her office for a more intimate gathering.

And so I spent the next two hours sitting around a big table with some 25 other people, including representatives from various other ministries, talking about what should probably be the center of Afghanistan’s efforts to rebuild itself: paying attention to mothers/women/families rather than its obsession with the military.

Although from an official point of view the event flopped because speeches were made to 25 people rather than to 250, I thought the conversations that ensued were more productive, relationships built, common ground explored and I was thrilled that I had stumbled into this event. Even more so because all was done in Dari and so I got a two hour immersion. The only speech during which I got totally lost was the one from the ministry of religious affairs as that vocabulary is not part of my usual exposure.