Projects

“Orphans in Afghanistan” - An audiovisual exhibition of Farzana Wahidy (photographs) and Shikiba Babori (concept, text and sound)

Who are the orphans of Afghanistan? They don’t have a date of birth nor do they have a birth certificate. They have lost their families and all structures. They do not revel and don’t have a proper childhood. Some of them had to witness the abuse, rape or killing of their parents or friends. These children are unprotected and being exploited for the purposes of certain political and religious groups – first as students of the Koran and later as soldiers. We introduce you to these children, because it is our responsibility to look at this issue, to understand it and think about it. In the end their fates have also consequences for our own life. The war in Afghanistan lasted for three decades. We experience it primarily in conjunction with global politics and international terror. But on-site the war leaves not only debris, poverty and unemployment but also countless orphans. UNICEF estimates the number of worldwide orphans at 1.6 million only in Afghanistan. Their fates are only marginally perceived. That’s the reason for this exhibition.

Direct Insight into the World of the Orphans What do we already know about these children? Where can they take refuge today? Who looks after them? People in East and West are alienated not least because of the effects of globalization. They fear their own traditions and values are being threatened. Therefore it is necessary to strengthen the dialogue between the peoples of the world and thereby get to know their specific ways of life in their own context.

An audiovisual exhibition is intended to provide access to the world of these children. A direct insight into their daily life shall give us a more differentiated picture. In a forum created specially for them the orphans can communicate their needs and thoughts and find a way out of their anonymity. This audiovisual exhibition is meant to direct our focus on the life of orphans in Afghanistan in order to create a space for their desires and needs. This will provide a basis for public dialogue.

The pictures and interviews were produced in Kabul in February and March 2007.Altogether 15 children could be portrayed. The youngest child is 7 year old and the oldest 14. Every child is represented in three photographs accompanied by placards summarizing their stories.At the same time the exhibition room will be filled with background noises, the children’s voices, their statements, their favorite songs or poems.

This will create a dense atmospheric impression mirroring the children as authentically as possible. The children’s pictures and personal stories will enable visitors to delve into a hitherto unknown world. The exhibition purports to open up new perspectives, trigger discussions and give impulses for personal engagement. Most of all, however, it serves as a platform for those whose voices are never heard: the orphans.

Conditions

People:
Farzana Wahidy, born in 1984 in Kandahar, lives and works as a photo journalist in Kabul. Throughout the war in Afghanistan she could not leave the country. As her mother died early and her father was a prisoner of war, being tortured on occasions, she was forced to feed and bring up her three younger sisters and brothers at the age of 13. Working as a journalist to her means to be free and independent. Motivated by the high illiteracy rate in Afghanistan she tries to portray the events in her immediate environment, in other words her daily life, through pictures. She has rejected a call to work for the press office of the Afghan president in Kabul, in order to work independently of censorship and political dictates.

Shikiba Babori, born in Kabul in 1966, lives and works as an ethnologist and free-lance journalist in Cologne. During her multiple trips to Afghanistan she has produced a variety of press reports, a short documentary about a school project near Kabul as well as a radio play for the WDR and SWR (regional German radio stations). She taught an advanced training course for Afghan journalists in Herat in 2004. Since 2006 she has been setting up the journalists network KALIMA in Afghanistan. The network is aiming at a constructive inter-cultural dialogue by providing background information on socio-cultural topics.