News from Afghanistan:

EDUCATION
Literacy Classes: Rubia continues to hold classes in rural Afghanistan with a focus on women and teenage girls who would never have the chance to attend classes otherwise- those who observe purdah, the custom of seclusion. Classes are held in the privacy of women’s homes, accessible to relatives and neighbors. The current program in the town of Shewa has 8 classes with 178 students.  Classes began in the winter of 2007; they were halted due to decreased security over the summer and have resumed again this fall. Shewa women’s eyes are being opened to formal learning with the generous support of funding from Barakat, Inc. Barakat is a Cambridge, MA charitable foundation that supports education in South Asia and promotes land conservation.

THE DESIGN CENTER IN KABUL TRAINING RUBIA STAFF
Mentorship: Hafiza Malikbaba, Rubia master embroiderer, has been accepted as a trainee at the Design Mentoring Program at the Design Center in Kabul, an Aid to Artisans program implemented with the Afghan Women’s Business Federation.  This selective and intensive program is training women in close mentorship with international designers to create and transform concepts, work with technical processes, various media, and develop quality control. Rubia looks forward to working with Hafiza when she completes this program and has new tools to express her creativity skills. 
Seminars: Ghulamsakhi Rostamkhan, Rubia Afghanistan Director, attended the first in a series of seminars at the Design Center intended to improve the merchandising, marketing and presentation of local artisan work.  Ghulamsakhi put many of the seminar’s lessons to work during the holiday sales season in Kabul. An often overlooked aspect of sustainable business ventures is the essential component of training in display, sales, and service. The development of improved business skills through these seminars results in more work- and increased income - for the embroiderers.

Rubia recognized Hafiza Malikbaba and Zalmay Khan Mahmad for 7 years of outstanding service at a ceremony and celebration held in at the Design Center in Kabul in November 2007. Hafiza and Zalmay have been involved with Rubia since its inception in Pakistan in 2000.  Hafiza traveled to the US to represent Rubia at the Santa Fe International Folk Art Market in 2006 where she widened her exposure, learned new skills, and met many Rubia supporters across the country.

Rubia was busy during the holiday season with sales at the US Embassy, the Holiday Fair at the Design Center, and Cabul Coffee House. Rubia fine embroideries are now available at Turquoise Mountain Foundation Visitor Center, in addition to the Cabul Coffee House. For a listing of all the retail outlets for Rubia products visit HERE

Rubia in the US:

Rubia & Women’s Caucus for Arts-Philadelphia CollaborativeProject. In August 2007, Rubia and The Women’s Caucus for Arts, Philadelphia Chapter initiated a national collaborative project - Women Helping Women Stitch by Stitch. The resulting work is a large tapestry with individual panels created by Rubia embroiderers in Afghanistan, Rubia board and staff volunteers and WCA members from across the country. In the tradition of a quilting bee, women have joined together to create a work that highlights both the beauty and the struggles of life in Afghanistan.  The opening reception for this traveling exhibition on Friday May 2, at the City Government Building in Wilmington, DE, will spotlight this collaboration. Other Central Asian embroideries will be on display, including a large Suzani from the Uzbek tribe of Afghanistan. The opening reception will serve as a fundraiser and outreach effort to educate the public about Rubia, its mission and the tradition of embroidery in Central Asia. The work will be on display for the entire month of May 2008 in Delaware, with more show locations to be announced in the near future. For more information and updates about the show and collaboration visit http://www.marycrowley.com/rubia

New For 2008 – Rubia Afghanistan Calendars.

Beth Gottschling, graphic designer and Rubia Board member put her creative talents to work for Rubia designing an elegant calendar for 2008 featuring portraits of people in Afghanistan, hand-embroidered textiles, and ethnographic and historical information about Afghanistan. Proceeds from the sale of the calendars directly benefits Rubia’s work in Afghanistan. Calendars are now available for half price HERE.

Rediscovering Afghanistan - Seeking to enhance understanding of complex cultural issues Rubia has been expanding its role educating Americans about Afghanistan. Through partnerships with funding and implementing organizations, Rubia has developed an innovative interdisciplinary approach to public outreach programming viewing global issues through a familiar and accessible reference – the home.

Lecture Series - Rediscovering Afghanistan: Lessons from the Home is a series of illustrated lectures by Dartmouth professor and Rubia Board member Dr. Jennifer Fluri, and Rachel Lehr, Executive Director of Rubia, which examines geopolitical factors influencing the constraints on private and public space, development planning, and personal and cultural behaviors. Dr. Fluri and Ms. Lehr argue that the intimate insights garnered from their experiences of the Afghan home are important in promoting rich and in depth understanding. Interspersing still and film images with material artifacts, ethnography, personal stories, and geopolitical data, Dr. Fluri and Ms. Lehr provide a dynamic and lively program that fills a void in American public experience – an opportunity to understand what life is like in Afghanistan today.

The lecture series was made possible by a grant to the Arts Alliance of Northern New Hampshire from the New Hampshire Humanities Council to provide a lecture series at libraries in Northern New Hampshire. This presentation is now being offered by the New Hampshire Humanities Council throughout the state as part of its Humanities to Go program. Visit www.aannh.org for a schedule of upcoming presentations or to arrange a presentation in your community.

Multimedia Ethnography Conference Presentation - Molly Crowley and Rachel Lehr traveled to England for the 10th RAI (Royal Anthropological Institute) International Festival of Ethnographic Film and Conference at the University of Manchester, England. Ms. Crowley and Ms. Lehr presented Rediscovering Afghanistan through new and old media, demonstrating the integration of digital media (photographs, videos, sound) with material artifacts (clothing, toys, a bucket), as a prototype for an interactive traveling exhibition about Afghanistan.

The conference atmosphere fostered open and positive exchange among filmmakers, anthropologists, museum curators, and artists from all over the US and Europe who work on the visual representation of cultural issues. The research and presentation was made possible with funding from the American Institute of Afghanistan Studies, New Hampshire State Council on the Arts and the New Hampshire Department of Cultural Resources.

Rubia had strong sales this holiday season in numerous shows in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Philadelphia.  Several additional stores have picked up the Rubia product line offering Rubia goods across the country.  Rubia was featured at the World Women Trade Fair in Santa Monica, CA and at the Afghan Sarai at the Meridian International Center in Washington DC.  For a complete listing of stores and show details visit www.rubiahandwork.org.

Rubia Returns to the Largest International Folk Art Market in the Country. For the third year, Rubia has been selected to participate in the Santa Fe International Folk Art Market, July 12 -13 in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The market features over 100 artists from more than 40 countries including China, Bhutan, Vietnam, India, Afghanistan, Chile, Peru, Brazil, Mexico, Sudan, South Africa, Kyrgyzstan, Romania, Poland, France, and many others. The artists will exhibit a huge array of arts and crafts ranging from embroidery, jewelry and textiles, to clothing, wood carvings, pottery and more. As many of the vendors represent cooperatives and associations of artisans, the economic impact is enormous, affecting thousands more in villages and communities around the globe. Through a pre-Market training program and Trade Buyer Showcase the Market is helping artists achieve economic sustainability. Rubia’s participation in the Market is an exceptional opportunity to make trade and professional connections that sustain Rubia’s work in Afghanistan and the US.  For more information visit www.folkartmarket.org.

Jennifer Thomas was introduced to Rubia in Hanover NH, at the Christmas Fair with a Difference and was so taken with the project that she decided to hold her own fundraiser. Ms. Thomas has a personal connection to Afghanistan through her son who served there in the military.  She chose to join a family tradition of selling homemade gifts and reclaimed castoffs- thrift store treasures- with her desire to help women in Afghanistan by organizing a Holiday Open House in December at her home in Quechee, Vermont.  The staff of Rubia was deeply touched by Jenny’s initiative and appreciative of the proceeds from her sale that benefited Rubia.

TASHAKOR MEANS THANK YOU 

We would like to express our sincere thanks to Nancy, Tom, Raf, and Mary Meyers for hospitality and creative assistance in Santa Fe, and to Patty and Greg Pantano who hosted us in Espanola. Thank you goes to Matt Einstein for lending a hand wherever we needed it in Santa Fe and to Genie Lehr and Peg Crowley for all the buttons they sewed to help get products ready for the Market.  We would like to thank Brenda Sargent and Nancy Garrick for help with holiday sales, Mary Garland and Jennifer Thomas for their generous donations of embroidery supplies, and Frumie Selchen and Catherine Rielly for all they do to help mentor Rubia’s organizational development.  In Kabul we would like to thank WADAN for their gracious hospitality and assistance, Rosemary Stasek and A Little Help for the house and dog-sitting opportunity, and Gay-LeClerc and Shir Dil Qaderi for providing a home away from home. 

RUBIA BOARD MEMBER CONDUCTS RESEARCH IN AFGHANISTAN

Dr. Fluri visits Rubia's home region in the Afghan countryside. Dartmouth professor Dr. Jennifer Fluri paints a vivid picture of life in rural Afghanistan.  She visited Darrai Nur while conducting research in Afghanistan. As a Board member of Rubia US her impression of Darrai Nur helps inform the implementation of programs. The following is an excerpt from her journal:

I had the honor and privilege of traveling to the Darrai Nur from Kabul city in December, 2007 with Sakhi, the Afghan Director of Rubia, and some of his family members.  Five adults, a toddler and baby packed into a beat up corolla hatch back for the 4 hour ride. The 85 mile Kabul-Jalalabad road offers spectacular views of Afghanistan's lofty and narrow mountain passes.  We stopped briefly in Sorabi, or as Sakhi jokingly called it "the City of Pomegranates", to buy some of this fruit, consuming several on the way to Jalalabad.  The street food, deep fried chicken and bargars (meat enclosed in deep fried dough) that Sakhi bought in Jalalabad was for me a culinary highlight.  I am a particular fan of tasting various cultures' versions of deep fried goodness, such as Afghan Boolani, and now these scrumptious Jalalabad "burgers."  It was early afternoon when we arrived at the qala, where the enclosed compound was filled with the activities of household chores and as Rachel often says—the girls worked and the boys played.  The men drank tea in the process of discussion and decision-making.  The oldest women were also, at various times, involved in these discussions in between managing domestic tasks. 

Cows, chickens, and turkeys (one who became our travel companion and future meal in Kabul), rooted around the cots where we relaxed in the open common yard inside the qala. One of the women showed me how to milk a cow and we snacked on her homemade cheese (yum). The evening was filled with dinner and guests--26 family members both from this and neighboring qalas assembled on cushions around common plates of rice, soup, and chicken, in an 18 X 20' room.  Simultaneous conversations created a symphony of language and laughter, which slowed to silence when Sakhi and I called Rachel.  The generosity and hospitality of Afghans and the genuine kindness and good humor of Sakhi and his family touched each aspect of this visit.  The evening sky without light pollution was only matched by the clean air and water, and the absence of electricity provided a tranquil lack of city noise—the generator buzzing, car motors and horns that fill the evening sound-scapes of Kabul.  

The next day, anonymous in my blue chadori, I was able to travel with Sakhi and four other male relatives throughout the valley and several miles into the mountains--to the edge of Darrai Nur, where we saw both Kuchi Nomads and Nuristani communities.  We stopped at several homes, the men sat in the guest areas, and I was allowed to drink tea with the women and children in the interior spaces of these qalas. Happily, I neglected to bring a camera; many people are wary of being photographed by strangers. Besides, I could never capture the breathtaking beauty of the countryside with my limited photographic skills. We arrived back to the home-qala in the late afternoon.  At dusk Sakhi, his wife, niece, two of his children, and I walked from Sakhi's house to his cousin's qala, traveling across neighboring farms. Another feast and evening of restful silence, and my favorite--at dawn we walked back to Sakhi's qala--and witnessed the mountains reflect the pink flesh of morning.  

We said long goodbyes to everyone and the seven of us packed back into the corolla with two additional travelers, the driver's son, and the turkey (live of course).  The turkey had a fondness for thwacking me on the head every 20 minutes or so.  This sent me and the entire car into fits of boundless laughter; which truly made this one of the best car rides of my life.