Living Behind the Veil

I'm often asked what I wear in Afghanistan and what it's like to wear a veil. It's freedom. Freedom to have a bad hair day, freedom to arrange my chadar to conceal the curve of my breasts and backside, freedom to not be an expatriate for a little while. It means freedom to hide even on the street from the Afghan men's eyes which seem to strip me naked.
When I relax my shoulders and walk less purposefully, less confidently, my eyes downcast and covered by sunglasses, I pass for an Afghan woman. I hear the men whisper in Dari, "Is she a foreigner or local woman?" I chuckle but am silent. On the street, I'm also a free target....freely exposed to groping, sexual innuendos whispered to me as a man bicycles by, free to have stones thrown at me, freely seen as no one's wife, daughter, sister, mother, friend, or boss. I step inside my gate, and remove my chapan and chadar. Now I'm someone's boss, motherhood returns to me as little steps run to greet me, and I receive a kiss from my adoring husband. Now I'm free to his loving and gentle eyes which know and enjoy my curves, free to once again be under the protective umbrella of being a wife, mother, friend, colleague, boss, niece, sister, daughter, woman.

Thursday, March 9, 2017

Cross-Cultural Risk Flow Chart

Hot off the Press!  The new "Cross-Cultural Risk Flow Chart!"  You are welcome to write with comments and suggestions on improving or tweaking the flow chart Neal and I put together. 

You'll notice that self-awareness and the inner-life is not apparent on this flow chart.  Those steps (Thinking Shift and Inner Life) are part of the RAM Action Guide, but are precursors and also part of discerning the Holy Spirit's leading, along with the (at least) 7 ways the Holy Spirit speaks in Cross-Cultural Risk.

Let me know what questions you have.  One question I had of Neal:  "Why did you use those colors?"  His reply:  "To make it colorful."  "Oh, okay, just wasn't sure if there was more to it."

The downloadable PDF of this flowchart is on the Resources page.


Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Feel free to comment related to this post or ask additional questions. All comments require moderation. I do not post sales or non-related links.

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)