Assignment: Afghanistan - our whole life is a secret
The Documentary Podcast
BBC
4.3 • 2.7K Ratings
🗓️ 26 November 2024
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The Taliban edict that women's voices should not be heard aloud renders women up and down Afghanistan inaudible as well as invisible in public. Women are already denied most forms of education and employment. They are not allowed to go outside without a male guardian, and have to be completely covered up, including their faces. Now the new rules say they should be quiet too. Women singing together, or even raising their voices in prayer, is forbidden.
But there's more than one way to be heard.
Our Whole Life is a Secret records the day to day life of 'Leila', a lively, energetic Afghan woman aged 23, doing everything she can to navigate the rules. From behind the walls of her home, Leila reveals her vivid interior world, and that of her female friends and relatives. She and her sisters are the first women in their family to read and write, and before the Taliban returned to power in 2021, she was a university student. Now she teaches in a secret school and is part of a dynamic online learning community. From reading Emily Bronte to working out to Zumba, Leila is determined to keep stay sane and busy.
'Leila' is not her real name and all locations are omitted for safety reasons. Her words are read by Asal Latifi.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the documentary from the BBC World Service. |
| 0:03.7 | I'm Monica Whitlock, and on assignment I've been in conversation with a young woman in Afghanistan, |
| 0:09.7 | living under severe Taliban restrictions. |
| 0:12.7 | She's full of life and determination, as you'll hear. |
| 0:16.8 | Godermand do you, so who say that the zanano awas, the law which the Taliban restriction of the sound of the sound of women's voices. |
| 0:36.1 | He's setting out details of the Taliban restrictions on the sound of women's voices. |
| 0:41.3 | It is written that women must not raise their voices aloud in prayer, he says, |
| 0:46.3 | let alone sing songs. |
| 0:52.3 | According to the law on moral decency, first issued in August 24, no woman should read devotions aloud in a gathering, or recite the a cappella chanting, tarana, that is still allowed in Afghanistan in place of music. |
| 1:08.1 | It stipulates that a woman can only leave her house alone in case of urgent need. |
| 1:14.4 | And then she must cover her body, her face and her voice. |
| 1:20.7 | Hello to everyone who'll hear me without seeing me. |
| 1:25.0 | I extend my heartfelt greetings to all as you discover the hope, |
| 1:30.3 | passion, strength and energy that define me, a young Afghan girl amid the sadness that geography |
| 1:37.4 | has imposed upon me. This is the diary of one young woman in Afghanistan. We'll call her Leila, though it's not her real name, and I can't tell you where she lives. |
| 1:49.3 | Leila was a university student when the Taliban returned to power in 2021. Now she's at home, day after day, navigating the rules as best she can. |
| 2:00.6 | These are her thoughts through two weeks of this autumn, in conversation with me, Monica Whitlock, for assignment on the BBC World Service. |
| 2:09.7 | It's not her voice you can hear. Everything must be hidden, but they are her words. |
| 2:16.1 | I have a passion to write about everything. |
| 2:19.9 | I have a lot to say. |
| 2:22.1 | Sometimes hearing can better express than seeing. |
| 2:29.7 | Day one. |
... |
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