Words leave imprints in your mind like footprints in the sand...
2002: Deborah Rodriguez worked as a hairdresser and beautician in Michigan before travelling to Afghanistan after September 11th to help reestablish the ‘beauty schools ‘that the Taliban had destroyed. What she achieved via helping the women of Kabul to feel good about themselves is so many ways is quite inspirational.
A true story of one women who went over to Afghanistan to help bring back the notion of the beautician and the beauty schools which the Taliban had banned. So, she opens a beauty school and helps to train Afghan women in their lost art and to help them feel good about themselves again in every sense of the word. These women would then have the freedom and the knowledge to set up their own beauty schools.
The women she meets become her friends as she fully immerses herself in their lives,culture, concerns and hopes for the future. Their daily life contains the kinds of struggles that many of us would never be able to understand or overcome. But these women face their struggles and overcome them. And at the centre, an American lady who wanted to teach the women of Kabul but also to learn from them too.
The view of Kabul and the culture of Afghanistan is seen through the eyes of the women of the country and what a different view they have to the men. The author has previously called the country ‘Manistan’ for its focus on the men and what they want and how they live, so her attempts at befriending the woman and teaching them beauty skills shows a unique side to the city and the culture at large.
A beauty school in a land where Burqas are worn? Well in the class they are removed and the hairdressing skills are learned as they would be in the Western World. Just because you’re covered up doesn’t mean to say you can’t look and feel your best.
In the story inspired by Deborah’s journals, we meet Debbie , the american who co founds the salon and many of the students via which we learn of the things women face every day – Mina’s marriage problems and threats against her to Roshanna who is set to wed but who holds a secret which could cost her dear. Oh and then there’s Nahida and her scars she bears..
It was the events and times that these women go through that provide the most arming and insightful pages of the book – the traditional marriage consummation ceremony for one.
Marriage and money problems are also not of the same kind we might imagine in the west – and the abuse these poor women suffered is difficult to read about. But it helps to paint a picture – overall, that there is hope after so much devastation.
Oasis beauty salon – the Kabul beauty school –oasisrescue.com
Twitter: @debb_rod
Facebook: /DeborahRodriguezAuthor
Web: debbierodriguez.com
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