The humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan has taken on dimensions never seen before. There is no money, no work, and people face hunger every day. Women and girls are in the worst situation, who, apart from living in extreme poverty, have no rights. Jagoda Grondecka, a journalist specializing in Middle Eastern issues, is monitoring the situation on the spot.
The Iranian woman regularly presents the situation of Afghan women on social media. On her Instagram profile, she shows the dramatic reality that women incapacitated by the Taliban face every day.
“She got married when she was 14, the second wife of a 50-year-old man”
One of them is Dżamila, whose story was told by a journalist. “Mrs. Jamila, 38. She comes from Logar Province, in the very center of it – she lives on the outskirts of the provincial capital, the city of Pul-e Alam. She married when she was 14, the second wife of a 50-year-old man. Why? Her father also wanted to remarry, but he had no money to pay the so-called toyana – that is, simply the bride price. Therefore, there was a tie-in transaction – he married Jamila to an older man, and in return he married his sister himself” – wrote the journalist.
“Jamila says that her husband was kind to her, he didn’t bully her or hit her. He says he just didn’t like his first wife, so he married her. She bore him eight children. She took care of them for the last 24 years of her life, her husband and home. She was not allowed to go out alone, for example to the bazaar or to other houses to visit a friend. Her only friend and confidante was her husband’s sister. Unfortunately, he recently passed away from cancer.”
Jamila was left alone. Her children stopped going to school – there was no room for books, notebooks or even a pencil in the meager household budget. Jamila laments this fact. She didn’t go to school herself. »Every mother would like her children to be educated«, says the 38-year-old. »I’m very sad that mine can’t go to school, but we don’t have any money«, Dżamila tells Jagoda Grondecki in an interview.
“My life is not good. A woman’s life should be different”
Dżamila, in an interview with a journalist, laments her fate, lack of prospects and loss of all rights. Her words are deeply moving.
“Mrs. Jamila believes that women should have more freedom, they should be able to go to the bazaar for errands or decide who they want to marry – or at least be able to refuse if the future fiancé is much older than her. »My life is not good A woman’s life should be different.”
-Jagoda Grondecka is an Iranian scholar, journalist and columnist specializing in Middle Eastern issues
Photo: photo @grondecka / Instagram / Ofeminin
In July, Jamila and her children’s home was damaged by a flood wave that swept through several Afghan provinces. The woman now lives in the house after her husband. Her eldest son moonlights as a hired laborer and works for the lowest wage. Their whole family of 9 lives on the money they earn.
See also:
The Taliban take away the rest of women’s rights. “Afghan women have lost everything”
Women in Afghanistan are being wiped out of public life. Detention and torture are the order of the day
Runny nose. Hotel workers talk about harassment. “He made me have sex”
