Meena: Heroine Of Afghanistan by Melody Ermachild Chavis
A true story of courage and determination of one Afghanistani woman Meena who set up RAWA, The Revoulutionary Association Of The Women Of Afghanistan, to fight against injustice and fundamentalism and for justice, democracy and women's rights in a society where women were at best considered a peripheral distraction if not a nuisance with hardly any rights even as human beings.
RAWA had to work under almost impossible conditions when any dissent was brutally suppressed by the then Soviet installed regime. Its members had to work clandestinely, carrying any association literature under their burqa, moving about surreptitiously or risked arrests, torture or a worse fate.The situation became so bad that Meena had to move to Pakistan to continue the RAWA work. But even in Pakistan, Meena and her helpers had to face harassment and taunts from Muslim fundamentalists especially from the Hekmatyar faction and later the Taliban.
Unfortunately, Meena was gunned down in 1987 before she was able to officially open the Malalai Hospital for women she helped to establish.
The story unfolds nicely the way the author writes and there was hardly a boring moment, at least for me.
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It's so good to read. I've noticed quite a few books about women in the middle-east doing great things in my local bookstore. Must get round to reading them!
ReplyDeleteDuncan In Kuantan
Yes, Duncan, there are quite a number of such books and some of these are quite inspiring. I had in fact read another book by another Muslim woman, Nonie Darwsih who wrote "Now They Call Me Infidel" on why she renounced jihad for America, Israel, and the war on terror. If you can find the book in the local library or bookstores, you should read it.
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