Back to School at Jalalabad

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Back to School @ Jalalabad ”Does it have any impact,” a friend recently asked me, “giving video training to different groups in Afghanistan for only 1 week?” If by impact he meant does anything get learned that will be useful to the students now and in the future, then my answer is yes.

WORDS BY MARK FONSECA RENDEIRO PICTURES COURTESY OF MARK FONSECA RENDEIRO

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My average day as a visiting new media teacher in Afghanistan started more or less the same depending on what city we were working in that week. As part of Small World News, our team of international media trainers would arrive early each morning at the large gate of the local Nai Center (organization that works locally to empower independent media and promote freedom of expression), two bearded Western men in their late 20’s, and a cleanly shaven muscular Afghan translator of around the same age, ready for action. First we must clear security, which usually consists for two or more guards who may either be wielding an AK-47 or a cup of tea depending on the day.

Media development organizations are not generally at the top of the list when it comes to being targeted by the Taliban, but it feels 7

like each month a new unexpected place gets attacked. We go through a quick security check with the full understanding that if there were an attack, these polite uniformed gentleman would be easily over-run. Next step is to greet staff at the the NAI center, everyone is Afghan but they greet us in English and we discuss how yesterday’s classes went or how yesterday evening was.

Once everyone has been greeted with a hand shake and a hand on your heart, off we go to our classroom - along with an overhead projector, a few computers, and some flip cameras.

Beat the burqa Students arrive on foot mostly, or getting a ride from a family member. In more conservative and security-inconsistent places like Jalalabad, women often arrive wearing a burqa. Once in the building the Burka is put away. Some ladies wear a veil throughout the day while others choose simply to go for the standard and simple head cover throughout class. Later I learn that in some cases women prefer coming to the center with the anonymity of a full burqa, as they fear being recognized and risk being kidnapped or murdered.

For myself, the full face veil proves to be a difficult obstacle. On a simple level, I can’t tell if the student is smiling or scowling, through I try to read this in their eyes. As the days go on, in the case of one class, I find the veiled students are the one’s I’m making the least amount of progress with. If I sit next to a young lady with a veil, the feeling I get - whether its true or not- is that she is uncomfortable with me sitting next to her and is not listening to a word I’m saying regarding how 8

to edit or some other computer related issue. It may also be simply my own insecurity projecting this feeling, but since these things never get discussed, I’ll never know. However, this was not an issue in the case of female students wearing a head cover, who proved to be very alert, motivated, and often extremely interesting for we the teachers to learn from.

few screenings there was nothing but praise for each other, no one speaking a critical word about another. The moment a student did point out problems with audio quality and camera angles in one interview, a back-and-forth argument erupted that seemed to spread like a sickness around the crowded classroom. Even when things seemed to calm down, students who had been criticized would bide their time and wait for the next chance to attack back and find flaws in the work of the person who dared previously attack their own work. The idea of constructive criticism very easily seemed to descend into grudges and vitriol. The students themselves did all of this with relative ease while we the foreign visitors felt quite upset about what we were witnessing.

In the back of my mind I started wondering how closely this is connected to how Afghan politics

work, were alliances seem to come and go and rivalries are dangerously bitter.

Eventually we adjust our strategy, putting a limit on criticism and changing the way we give assignments. Based on previous problems, each student gets a customized assignment that seeks to address their specific needs. Several students rise and give stern reminder to their colleagues of what the purpose of criticism in the classroom should be, to help each other improve and not to insult one another. Thankfully these comments as well as our change of strategy are well received, the results of which we enjoy when reviewing the excellent final assignments.

Be home for dinner What a foreign teacher might not be used to but will likely face when teaching in a country

Revenge in the Classroom Our experiences on this particular mission were limited to two groups of students, one from Western Afghanistan, a mix of ethnic backgrounds, and one from Eastern Afghanistan, an all Pashtun group. Besides speaking different languages, there is also a distinct cultural difference between a group of Pashtun students and a group of students from varying backgrounds. All are surely Afghan, but from the first day we notice the Pashtun group’s lively classroom dynamic.

Discussions erupt in sometimes inconvenient times in different parts of the room. Just when it seems to us that students have understood the lesson, the assignments show that in fact that haven’t understood much of what we have been saying. Even with an excellent translator who moves from student to student reviewing the latest lessons, there is something I start to think – cultural- about wanting to please the teacher by saying everything is fine, even when it is not.

The other issue that proves problematic is the idea of criticism in the classroom. When students show their video projects, we encourage others to comment on the work. The idea, just like in many classrooms in the western world, is that peers can provide constructive criticism. In some cases this proved to be true and useful. The trouble arose when at first no students would dare criticize each other. Throughout the first 9

with as complicated a reality as Afghanistan has, is the outside classroom factors for students.

Sometimes it can be as simple as a female student who needs to leave early, as she is concerned with having dinner ready for her husband or children, and other home related responsibilities. Then there are the security risks, as in the case where a student would tell us he would be missing class tomorrow as his friend, who had been kidnapped last week, had been found dead. Not only do you listen and learn about what the reality sometimes can be for each individual but as the teacher you can see it on their faces, as they get terrible news during class, or the following day after the funeral when they’re back in class.

Trouble outside the class is nothing new to any educator anywhere in the world, but the specific types of trouble students face here, that can be difficult to grasp for anyone, foreign or Afghan.

Untold Stories As each of our one week trainings are completed, we are pleased with the results. Students have gone from never having produced a video report on some topic, to having produced one or two 4 minute segments consisting of interviews and detailed video footage. Their stories focused on every work in Afghanistan: the tailor, dairy farmer, teacher, day laborer, and even brick making children. They also reported about civic issues in their communities, such as pollution, water, and basic sanitation, all issues that impact everyone’s lives here, but rarely make the international press. Those students who came with previous experience were also able to build upon that. Our favorite example being Said, the veteran camera man for a local TV station who was determined to finally learn how to edit and produce his own items. His experience proved invaluable for his own work and for the class. “I remember once during the war between the Taliban and the Mujahadeen I was at the frontline with my video camera,” Said explains during a lesson on being aware of one’s surroundings while filming, “I got so immersed in getting the footage and good camera shots, I realized much too late I was all alone, the soldiers that had been with me had all disappeared. The frontline had moved, others were getting hit and gunfire was still coming my 10

way as I ran away as fast as I could.”

A Military Exit As the media trainings come to an end, yet another reminder of the precarious security situation: we must take a helicopter from a nearby US-Afghan military base, the Jalalabad to Kabul has been too dangerous lately. Oddly enough a local military base was attacked only a

few nights ago by a few Taliban fighters, “nothing too big” we’re told, just a few rockets fired. And so we pass through another world with its own cultural traditions, the forward operating military base. After enjoying a quick coffee with a helpful security contractor from the UK, the big Russianbuilt Mi8 helicopter swoops down along with its Australian military escorts. Well armed flight escorts who are good spirited and sit vigilantly at the open door of the helicopter is we fly over some of the most majestic mountains and valleys on earth. A strange but exciting ending for a story about teaching a course.

The question others ask, which we also ask ourselves, is how to ensure long term impact.

As interest and funding for Afghanistan grows smaller, so too do job offers and length of training programs. Jawad Jalali, founder of the photoagency Afghan Eyes, and a fellow teacher, explains the situation based on his own experiences giving photography seminars: “Most of our participants are unemployed young people or students in schools or university. The important thing that I have to mention here is that after distributing the certificates at the last day of workshop

we don’t leave the students behind. Instead we note their contact information and when any organizations are ask us for a local afghan photographers we connect them to the talented students. A good example is Qais, a young afghan man who was one of our participants in Mazar province, AFP (Agence France Press) needed to hire a photographer in Mazar for news and feature photo coverage in Mazar, I introduced my student Qais to them. Now he is working for AFP and last week I saw one of his photos featured as photo of the day in NY Times Magazine. This also means he is making money and can provide for his family by selling his photographs to AFP. In the long term we have got many young men and women who are interested in taking these courses in long term and find a job through this profession, every day we are getting phone calls and emails about when the next course will be.

But we have our own problem in our agency too, as a non-profit we find it difficult to find funding for long term courses that can have a greater impact.”

knowledgable and experienced teachers there, where they will receive excellent instruction. To us it is the same, studying in foreign country or foreign teachers coming here in our country to teach us. It is really interesting and important for us to have learned from the intelligent teachers which come from far away and let us benefit from their adroit ideas and knowledge.”

Looking back at my own experience teaching in Afghanistan, my second time teaching in that country in the past 2 years, I see a hopeful but concerning situation. Declining interest and lack of funds for Afghanistan, combined with extremely strict immigration policies in the west and obviously limited scholarships for Afghans to study abroad. We want the students to become teachers, the trainees to become the trainers, but we want it all to happen now under the most difficult of circumstances. While some, like Jawad and Ulfat, are themselves prepared to do just that, they may not get the resources and support they need to do so. In that situation, everyone loses, foreign instructors, organizations, governments, Here or Abroad and above all, Afghan people who are lining up The other question that observers might ask and and ready to learn what others have to teach. we certainly ask ourselves is couldn’t an Afghan teach what we teach? It would certainly be more affordable for media organizations in Afghanistan, and arguably safer for instructors who are better integrated into local culture. Presently, groups of international police are in Afghanistan to teach the fundamentals of police work with the hope that once the seed is planted their role will no longer be needed and Afghan police will train others themselves. Part of our goal is to arrive a similar situation, teach future teachers.

With some luck and if we do our jobs correctly, some of our former students will go on to work for media organizations or make use of video production in some other forum, which will give them experience, income, and make them good teachers for others. But gaining this experience takes time, while many Afghans are extremely interested and in need of such training right now.

Ulfat Kazemi, an English teacher and a graduate of our training program, explains the situation as follows: “Here in Afghanistan students like to study in foreign countries because they can find 11