Good Husbands

Performed by the students of the International School of Kabul 23May07 - directed by yours truly - photos by Waheed Sarmed

The wives prime for a pregnancy annoucement at the gym.

"Have you not loved me all these years - now you want me to have a bady!" Wellllll on three conditions





Babies interrupt negotiations for "just a few more billion dollars" between senior management of the Afghan Construction Company and American Reconstruction Company President Ms Vicky Jones

"Hi John - Yes everything is OK - heh I am soooo happy - we are gonna have a baby"

The good husbands will get the contract thanks to succcessful Santa Maria Naroz Party adoption negotiations

Any Where Any Time

Well I may be approaching a tipping point in my insecurity tolerance. Colleagues from the International School were attacked today on the morning hill walk - sunrise looked so peaceful up there last week.

The daily security report pulls no punches ...

Attack: 21 May, Kabul City (District 5, Af-Shar Area) – initial reports suggest that early this morning four members of the international community were walking on a hill adjacent to the Intercontinental Hotel when they are attacked by an individual with grenades and a hand-gun; one grenade was apparently lobbed at the walkers but detonated too far away to inflict injuries; attacker then produced a hand-gun with which he did not appear to have much experience; gun jammed a number of times; walkers managed to make good their escape with no apparent physical injuries.

Comment: Circumstances still to be clarified but incidents such as this serve to illustrate why it is unsafe to assume that any part of Kabul is free from potential danger at any time of the day or night.

Viewer Discretion

An upper class woman announces her pregnancy to a friend at the gym, two prominent business men are almost caught cuddling their infant children, and the president of the American Reconstruction company just might award a substantial sub-contract in exchange for an adoption.

All these babies must mean that some sort of sexual practice has been going on. Viewer discretion is advised for the World Premiere of "Good Husbands" 23May07 by the Drama Club at the International School of Kabul.

School Supplies

The girls' classroom is by the side of the road

Backpacks just fill up your arms

The boys look better together

Photos by HEP Community Outreach Team - you guys rock

We can't chose

17May07 is the international day against homphobia.

On doit lire le message de Madame Louise Arbour le Haut Commissaire des Nations Unies aux Droits des Personnes.

"The quality of the debate is as important as the result"

http://www.unhchr.ch/huricane/huricane.nsf/424e6fc8b8e55fa6802566b0004083d9/b91ae52651d33f0dc12571be002f172c?OpenDocument

Photo - Le Devoir

The best Odds

Days ago I was wondering about the personal and collective responsbility for a specific human rights abuse in my home country, and wether that had an analogy in Afghanistan.

Here is a remarkable example of abuse - 1000 Kurd men gathering to stone a young woman to death in Iraq. With the support of her parents.

http://www.aina.org/news/20070425181603.htm

Honour killing such as this - apparently condoned by Islam - ensures the best possible odds.

Time to own it

Are there any offenses too big to forgive?

To what extent is responsibility for one’s offenses a condition of forgiveness?

I have been wondering aloud and praying about a tragedy being uncovered this week back home – evidence of wide spread sexual abuse in an upper crust Toronto boys school some 30 years ago. An acknowledgement of guilt on four counts and a plea bargain to drop other rumoured charges and serve house arrest. One victim committed suicide.

I am no more responsible for this than for the widespread human rights abuses in Afghanistan – by Taliban fundamentalists, coalition occupation forces, warlord powerbrokers, drug cartels and corrupt government officials. But this outrage at home has raised my ire at the powerful here – their greed and lack of respect. Sexual abuse of minors is analogously angrymaking – the exploitation of the powerless by the powerful.

And hence the question “is there hope”? For the oppressed and for the oppressive world. Is there a possible truth and reconciliation process – a way to acknowledge responsibility and ask for genuine forgiveness? As a Christian I believe my accountability is to both God and man. But it is the latter with whom we face the greater challenge.

Mankind may indeed be burdened with original sin, but it is our own acts that we need to examine - our own impact on the world that we need to critique. And we seem to live in a time of gross inability to admit error, to acknowledge mistakes, and to take responsibility for oppressive outcomes.

I’d like to start by asking the offenders to reflect on their victims. For both the sexual abusers and the powerful in the Afghanistan political arena to take some time to examine the consequences of their greed. To put aside for a moment their grievances – or ideologies. To make settling the score or being right a lower priority than being humane and kind and respectful of their fellow humans.

We have blood on our hands.

It is time to own it.