here are some photos: a few scattered glimpses from the travels & a few from the training (only of the men unfortunately, can't post pictures of the ladies as this is a little sensitive).
Wednesday 7 March 2007
mobilisations & details from the field
as part of the development programme for our physiotherapists we have wanted to encourage more active & manual methods of treatment. so, an australian physio has been here for almost a month to do a course on manual therapy (soso interesting & inspiring!), & we have for the past weeks been traveling a fair bit conducting training in taloqan, mazar-e sharif, jalalabad & kabul (can't go to ghazni, one of the regions where we have physios, because of deteriorated security).
here are some photos: a few scattered glimpses from the travels & a few from the training (only of the men unfortunately, can't post pictures of the ladies as this is a little sensitive).
here are some photos: a few scattered glimpses from the travels & a few from the training (only of the men unfortunately, can't post pictures of the ladies as this is a little sensitive).
Sunday 4 March 2007
tilework
we were back in mazar-e-sharif a couple weeks back, & going back to the shrine i honed in on some of the details of this beautiful construction. the tiling & the different shades of blue are really lovely, & compared with so many historical structures & sites that have been destroyed or worn with uncare & the passing of time, the condition of the shrine is truly remarkable.
Saturday 3 March 2007
the mother of all cities
so the arabs named balkh, this northern town which used to be a magnificent & powerful city. little remains to tell of this, & driving through present-day balkh you can just sense the shadows of its past glory, through the corner of your eye.
balkh was once a desirable region sought by the high & mighty: alexander the great, for example, praised the city, chosing it for his base for a few years & marrying a princess from the region. it hosted a variety of rich religious eras: zoroaster preached his beliefs a few hundred years BC; buddhist pilgrims flocked to worship at the many buddhist temples found in the region; islam entered with the arabs in the seventh century AD. it was also an intellectual centre, & many great persian writers & poets stem from the region, including rabi'a balkhi (see below).
tragically, as with many other places in afghanistan, denghis khan ravished the city in 1220, which marked the end of its glorious era. it did regain its foothold & slowly rose to some semblance of importance due to its strategic position. however, it was finally stripped of its capital status in the mid1800s after a series of particularly harsh outbreaks of cholera & malaria, & was replaced by the flourishing mazar-e-sharif, just 20 minutes down the road.
below are some pictures from this fascinating town:
rabi'a balkhi was the first woman of the islamic period to write poems in persian. her tale is tragic: she fell in love with a slave, & because of poems written to this lover she was cast in a dungeon to die by her brother. with blood from her slashed wrists she wrote her last poems on the walls of what became her grave. her tomb is now visited by girls & women who come to pray & seek inspiration for lovers problems.
the ancient walls which once protected balkh hint at the power that was; their crumbling remains now line the southern part of the town. climbing up the rise & onto these walls i soak in the marvelous view of the surrounding region of the balkh province, where the sun is setting over trees & fields just starting to prepare for the coming of spring.
balkh was once a desirable region sought by the high & mighty: alexander the great, for example, praised the city, chosing it for his base for a few years & marrying a princess from the region. it hosted a variety of rich religious eras: zoroaster preached his beliefs a few hundred years BC; buddhist pilgrims flocked to worship at the many buddhist temples found in the region; islam entered with the arabs in the seventh century AD. it was also an intellectual centre, & many great persian writers & poets stem from the region, including rabi'a balkhi (see below).
tragically, as with many other places in afghanistan, denghis khan ravished the city in 1220, which marked the end of its glorious era. it did regain its foothold & slowly rose to some semblance of importance due to its strategic position. however, it was finally stripped of its capital status in the mid1800s after a series of particularly harsh outbreaks of cholera & malaria, & was replaced by the flourishing mazar-e-sharif, just 20 minutes down the road.
below are some pictures from this fascinating town:
rabi'a balkhi was the first woman of the islamic period to write poems in persian. her tale is tragic: she fell in love with a slave, & because of poems written to this lover she was cast in a dungeon to die by her brother. with blood from her slashed wrists she wrote her last poems on the walls of what became her grave. her tomb is now visited by girls & women who come to pray & seek inspiration for lovers problems.
the ancient walls which once protected balkh hint at the power that was; their crumbling remains now line the southern part of the town. climbing up the rise & onto these walls i soak in the marvelous view of the surrounding region of the balkh province, where the sun is setting over trees & fields just starting to prepare for the coming of spring.
orange statement
there are an assortment of burqas in the world of different styles & colours. due to diligent attentions from western media, i am assuming there are few who have never seen the afghan chadari. (& i will not delve into a discussion about the practice of hiding the female side of the population while the men roam free to do & look at whatever they please...)
the most common shroud through which ladies here meet the world is a lovely clear-sky blue. a few white ones break the blue monopoly, but i have seen very few black - or any other colour for that matter - burqas used. then, last week, when walking in the bazaar in mazar i saw a row of darkgreen, black, & (shock!) bright orange shrouds!
what a brilliant way of revolting against the system while still complying with the cultural norm: the whole impersonalising role of the burqa where ladies are grouped into an anonymous mass could be challenged by the bright orange that would stand out like a flashing light on a dark street.
i would love to see an orange burqa walking around!
the most common shroud through which ladies here meet the world is a lovely clear-sky blue. a few white ones break the blue monopoly, but i have seen very few black - or any other colour for that matter - burqas used. then, last week, when walking in the bazaar in mazar i saw a row of darkgreen, black, & (shock!) bright orange shrouds!
what a brilliant way of revolting against the system while still complying with the cultural norm: the whole impersonalising role of the burqa where ladies are grouped into an anonymous mass could be challenged by the bright orange that would stand out like a flashing light on a dark street.
i would love to see an orange burqa walking around!
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