Afghan woman blends colours to defy life’s restrictions
The sharp carpet-weaving knife swiftly cuts the knots, and a moment of distraction might lead to injured fingers, which has happened to her multiple times. It seems she is in a hurry, but it is normal to finish the carpet sooner.
After a brief pause, I start the conversation by asking her name. With all the weight, she lifts his head from her work and looks at me with tired eyes, saying, “My name is Razia Hosseini. I am originally from Maidan Wardak, Afghanistan.”
Razia was working at a non-governmental institution just two years ago. With the fall of the republic and the ban on women’s work, she has been forced to turn to carpet weaving to support her family of seven.
Razia says: “Twenty-two years ago, when we came from Iran, my younger sisters and I learned carpet weaving, and it was our means of earning until the twelfth grade.”
While swiftly moving her hands during carpet weaving, she narrates: “We went through a long and winding road to reach university and secure a better job, shaping a relatively peaceful life for ourselves.”
Ali Ahmad, Razia’s father, who has a back injury, says: “My daughters wove carpets at night so they could attend to their studies during the day to lead a decent life.”
He adds, “When Razia and her younger sister became employed, I would prostrate in gratitude that my daughters’ struggles were over and they had made something of themselves.”
Razia’s father spent many years doing hard labour in Iran, and the adverse effects now incapacitate him.
He explains, “My back was injured in the brick ovens in Iran, and since then, I haven’t been able to do heavy labor. I’m illiterate and can’t earn through writing. We came from Iran hoping our children could study in their own country, but today neither Razia nor Marjan can go to work, nor can their younger sisters go to school or university.”
The reminder that Razia is forced to forget all her achievements and years of education to do hard work with minimal income is painful for her. This recollection makes her pause for a moment to rest her fingers.
Razia says, “In the blink of an eye, we lost decades of achievements that we fought tooth and nail to earn.”
She resumes her work. The sharp carpet-weaving knife in her hands moves so fast among the vertical threads that it makes the viewer dizzy. But it seems Razia is in a hurry.
In front of her, vertically tied white threads, from top to bottom, are knotted, with colourful threads appearing above and below the working area of the carpet-weaving knife; the results are visible as the carpet patterns emerge one after another from under Razia’s hands, becoming more complete.
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