HEARTLAND: A PLAY SET IN AFGHANISTAN AND NEBRASKA

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By Humaira

I am thrilled to announce that HEARTLAND, a play I’ve been collaborating on as a cultural consultant with playwright Gabriel Jason Dean will be produced at three notable from January-April of 2019 — Vortex Rep, New Rep Theatre and InterAct Theatre Company. As part of my work on each production, these theaters have chosen Afghan Friends Network, the non-profit I co-founded, as a partner for the rolling World Premiere of HEARTLAND. So, get your tickets to see this amazing play and come see me speak at a Symposium on February 3 at New Rep Theatre in Watertown, Massachusetts.

Promoting War or Empowering Peace: American Involvement in Afghan Education - A Symposium

Please join me for a FREE discussion about international history, education, and storytelling as part of our Enrichment Program, the Spotlight Symposium Series.

Sunday, February 3, 2019
3:30pm, Following the 2:00pm performance of HEARTLAND

For more information about the Symposium, click HERE.

About the HEARTLAND:
Dr. Harold Banks, an aging professor of Literature and Afghan Studies in Nebraska, is reeling after his adopted daughter Getee is killed by the Taliban while teaching children outside Kabul. When Afghan refugee Nazrullah arrives at his door with an incredible story and carrying Getee's prized books, the two men form an unlikely bond. Each is searching for his own brand of forgiveness, but as their friendship develops Naz accidentally exposes an unexpected source of Dr.Banks' guilt. How might a CIA propaganda operation over 30 years ago have contributed to Getee's death? Inspired by true events, HEARTLAND is a story of healing, connection, and the devastating unintentional consequences of our actions. 

LAST MINUTE IDEAS FOR THANKSGIVING SIDE DISHES - AFGHAN STYLE

By Humaira

The older I get the more I like my own food.  At pot-lucks, I grab a nice plateful of my dish before others get to it.  At restaurants I order food with similar spices and flavors.  I recently accepted the dark reality that I have become my mother --- when it comes to food.

The first time I had Mujaddara, it was love at first bite.  It tasted very similar to my favorite Afghan dish Shohla but not as filling.  I recently sought a recipe for this dish popular in Arab countries and settled on a recipe from the Food Network since I had the ingredients in my pantry. To my children's annoyance, I have made this dish every week in the past month to perfect the recipe to my taste, my waist line and to my kid's palette.

It occured to me that most of us struggle with new and innovative Thanksgiving side dishes. If you want to jazz up your Thanksgiving meal, perhaps you might want to consider Mujaddara or some of following Afghan dishes:

Sabzi - Slow cooker Afghan spinach

Kadoo - Afghan braised pumpkin

Gulpea - Tender Afghan cauliflower

Sweet Potato Bolani - Yummy turnover

Lghataq - Creamy Afghan eggplant dip as a starter

Carrot pudding - Rosewater carrot pudding

Mujaddara means pock-marked in Arabic, referring to the the black or green lentils mixed in with rice, onions, coriander and cumin.  I have to admit, I did make the dish with Trader Joe's steamed lentils which turned out fabulous and it cut the cooking time in half.  However, in this recipe I use dry green lentils so those who are not near a TJ's can still make the dish.

Lentil&Rice

May the cooking fairies make your Thanksgiving day a fabulous one.  This year I give thanks for my family, for my health and for my community (that includes all of you).  I also remember my father Ghulam Farouq Ghilzai, who celebrated Thanksgiving with great enthusiasm every year since it was his favorite American holiday. He always reminded us to be thankful for living in this fabulous country, the United States.

Happythanksgiving

Humaira's Mujaddara

 A Rice and Lentil Dish

1 cup small green lentils

1/4 cup olive oil

1 tsp. cumin seeds

3 red onion thinly sliced

1 cup short grain or calrose rice rinsed

1/2 tsp. ground cumin

1/2 tsp. ground coriander

1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper or skip if you have kids

1 tbsp. salt (adjust to your taste)

1 tsp. ground black pepper

3 cups water

In a pan, add lentils and cold water.  On high heat, bring to a boil, then reduce to simmer.  Cook until lentils are soft, around 15-20 minutes.  Don't over cook the lentils since they will simmer with the rice.

While the lentils are cooking, place a deep frying pan on high heat and add olive oil. After a minute, add cumin seeds and stir until the seeds turn slightly brown and fragrant, around 2 minutes. Add the onions to the pan and reduce heat to medium high.  Stir frequently, cook the onions until slightly brown and crispy, around 15 minutes. Scoop out a quarter of the caramlized onions onto a plate to use as granish later.

Add the rice to the pan, stir consistently so it doesn't stick to the pan or break. Once the rice is translucent, around 3-4 minutes, add the cooked lentils, the spices, salt, pepper and the water to the pan.  Stir well and bring to a boil. Turn down the heat to low, place a lid on the pan, let the ingredients simmer until the rice is cooked through and all the liquid is absorbed, 20-30 minutes. Remove the pot from heat, let is sit for an additional five minutes before serving.

Serve the dish on a bed of lettuce, topped with the carmalized onions, a wedge of lemon or a dollup of plain yogurt.  

Mujaddara

Except where otherwise noted, all content on this blog is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported license. 

AFGHAN CYCLES - DOCUMENTARY ABOUT WOMEN'S CYCLING TEAM

By guest blogger, Anna Brones

The bicycle may seem a simple form of transportation and sport, but for women around the world it can be a tool of empowerment. Afghan Cycles follows a new generation of young Afghan women who are pedaling their own revolution, aggressively challenging gender and cultural barriers using the bicycle as a literal and metaphorical vehicle for freedom, empowerment and social change.

In Afghan Cycles, the bicycle is used to tell a story of women’s rights - human rights - and the struggles faced by Afghan women on a daily basis, from discrimination to abuse, to the oppressive silencing of their voices in all aspects of contemporary society. Marginalized and severely discriminated against under the Taliban, today’s Afghan women enjoy minimal constitutional rights, but gender bias still runs deep.

“In the spring of 2013, I arrived in Kabul with the intent of making a short film about the Women’s National Cycling Team of Afghanistan. I figured that a cycling-centric film with Afghanistan as the backdrop would make for an unlikely, yet compelling story. At that point in my career, I was getting established as an adventure filmmaker, and the story of these Afghan women seemed perfect for the path my work had taken me on thus far. Within an hour of landing and taking in my surroundings from the safety of our car, I knew that this was going to have to go much deeper than the story I originally sought to tell. I met the girls that afternoon, and they looked brave, stoic, and beautiful. Sitting there with them on that first introduction, I realized how little I knew about them or their backgrounds. At that moment, I felt so lucky to be meeting them, and honored that they were willing to open up their world to me.”

— Director Sarah Menzies

Gender violence and oppression makes Afghanistan one of the most challenging places in the world to be a woman. In a country where even straddling a bicycle seat is considered immoral, the simple act of cycling makes these women cyclists’ revolutionaries. The women profiled in Afghan Cycles are ushering in a new era for a country slowly awakening to global influence and cultural change.

The film follows a group of women training and road racing as part of the Women’s National Cycling Team in Kabul. The obstacles they face at times seem insurmountable­–corruption, national instability, threats from the Taliban–yet their story represents progress towards empowerment that many Muslim women worldwide are desperately trying to obtain. We see them making major life decisions for themselves. While some opt for furthering their education and careers, others are getting married and starting families. But for some, the danger of being a female athlete in Afghanistan can prove too much, leading to personal and family threats. The fate of one of the major characters is in limbo when she decides to flee to France to secure a better situation and future for herself and her family.

In contrast to the National Team, the films moves to the shadows of the Buddha that once overlooked the Bamiyan Valley in Central Afghanistan, and profile a women’s mountain biking group that commutes to school and runs errands on their bicycles--a simple change with huge impact on education, self-sufficiency, and a shift in public perception of women on bicycles across the Muslim world. However it does not come easy--they face backlash from the community and local Mullah who do not its appropriate for women to be cycling in public, but the team perseveres.  

Afghan Cycles spans a four-year period, from 2013 to 2017. As the stories of these brave women develop and evolve, the security situation in Afghanistan worsens. Women bear the brunt of this shift, and as Afghanistan deals with growing security threats, it jeopardizes these female riders and Afghan women as a whole.

Afghan Cycles is screening as part of the 2018 Napa Valley Film Festival  on November 7, 9 and 10.