Taloqan Ministry of Women’s Affairs Shelter

Throughout Afghanistan, there are many women who have faced an inordinate amount of turmoil and suffering in their short lives.  In Taloqan alone, there are many examples of such suffering.  In the entire district of Takhar, there is only one women’s shelter which is situated within the Ministry of Women’s Affairs (MoWA) compound.  While the MoWA is a government agency, it only receives enough money to cover salaries and running costs, and no money is available to spend on projects which would promote women’s affairs.  Even the MoWA building was funded by NGOs!  Therefore, Razmara (the head of MoWA Taloqan), must constantly search for willing organizations to pursue projects which will enhance the development of women.  This year, Concern Afghanistan has agreed to fund the running costs and literacy classes for the women’s shelter.

When one enters the current shelter, the thick stench of dirt as a result of the lack of hygiene is unavoidable.  The women at the shelter live, eat, drink and sleep in the one room which constitutes the shelter.  Dirty, well-worn mattresses lie stacked in the corner while the women cower around their sole stove to keep warm in the freezing winters.  There are currently seven women and one child residing in this room, but this number fluctuates continually.  The women are end up at the shelter through a number of avenues: in some cases their families will bring them there if they feel it is not safe in their homes for them, other times the district governor will present cases to Razmara as a result of a complaint to the police, and other times the girls find their own way to the shelter.  In one case, a father brought her mentally disturbed daughter to the shelter and told the staff: “If you do not take her, I will kill her”.

Often the women who arrive at the centre have injuries as a result of abuse of rape, or mental problems.  Razmara presents their cases to the hospital, however she does not have the budget to pay for their treatment, thus contributing to their demise.  She is very keen to build a separate building for the shelter with more space and rooms, but understands that this is a security risk.  In other areas such as Mazar-e-Sharif and Kabul, other INGOs have rented houses for the purpose of a shelter, however these projects ran into security difficulties and the women felt insecure there.  In the current shelter, there is an unarmed guard on duty 24 hours a day, and an armed policeman on the door from 8am to 4pm, however Razmara does not trust the police enough or to work during the night.

Most of the stories of the women in the shelter are very tragic and unimaginable.  Very recently, Razmara received an Afghan women who had come all the way from Iran.  She arrived with two children and pregnant with another.  When her husband died, her husband’s family refused to keep her and her children after a family conflict, and expelled her from her home.  UNHCR sent her to Afghanistan, and the immigration department sent her on to the shelter, where she knows no one and has lived it out of the country for such a long time.

Another tragic story involved a 25 year old woman from Rustaq.  One man married one of two sisters and raped the other.  He told her that if she told anyone he would kill her and the rest of her family.  In fear, she kept quite however she had unfortunately fallen pregnant by the rape.  Rather than confess, she attempted to induce a miscarriage by eating salt and making herself very sick.  With this and the stress of living in fear, she got very sick and her family took her to the hospital in Taloqan.  After they discovered she was pregnant and what had happened, her parents did not disown her, and instead told the police about the violation.  The man subsequently fled his wife and children, assumably for Iran.  Unfortuntaly, the sister who had been raped gave birth to a boy, but the baby died as she had made it so sick.  She now resides in the shelter for security and fear of the shame.  Her parents have explained that she has TB and is in the Taloqan TB Clinic, as they too fear the shame and concern that the man might come back.

Finally, one story of a young girl depicts the worst of the attitudes towards young women and girls in Afghanistan.  After this girl’s father had died when she was very young, her mother remarried and her new husband did not accept the daughter from the first marriage.  The girl then had to live with her uncle, who sent her to work as a shepherdess at the tender age of eight.  While working, the other older male shepherd raped the young girl.  At the age of 14, her uncle married her off to a 60 year old man.  When the girl did not bleed when they first had sex, her husband expelled her from the house as she was not a virgin and he had been deceived that she was.  She managed to escape to Taloqan where she found the women’s shelter.

In order to improve the lives of these women, Concern Afghanistan is providing a number of necessary supplies for at least one year.  These supplies include mattresses, blankets, carpet, heaters, a washing tub, towels, soap, food, the salary of a literacy teacher and training for MoWA staffs.

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