The Dressmaker of Khair Khana by Gayle Lemmon - Essay Example

?The Dressmaker of Khair Khana Introduction Gayle Lemmon, the of ‘The Dressmaker of Khair Khana’ was the former ABC producer who dared to document Kamila Siddiqi’s true story of how she nurtured a highly successful business during a period of time when it was prohibited for women to work at all. This was the unfortunate time when women were reeling under the iron hand of the Taliban rule. The harsh and heartless Talibans targeted women for simple reasons like going out of doors without a male chaperon, not wearing a burqa or for exposing their arms in public. The punishment meted out for going against these rules was unthinkable. Such women, who faltered, were arrested, stoned or beaten to death in public. Kamila Siddiqi, an average Afghan woman, confronts life with great hope and determination as she sets out to carve out a successful business in order to support her family, and in doing so, she successfully overcomes brutal oppression at the hands of the Talibans. ‘The Dressmaker of Khair Khana’ by Gayle Lemmon, gives us a bird’s eye view of Afghanistan that is quite different from what we know of it so far. According to archaeological evidence, Alexander the Great had defeated the Achaemenian Dynasty between 330 – 327 B.C. during the Pre-Islamic Period and, thus, ushered in an era of Greek culture. However, by 637 B.C. the Arab Muslims started conquering the tribes in Afghanistan in a long drawn out process and introduced them to the Islam religion. By the 10th century, the Arab Abbasid Dynasty and the Samanids, who were the successors of the aforementioned dynasty in Central Asia, were torn down. Therefore, the Ghaznavid Dynasty, which was the offshoot of the Samanids, was established and became the first major Islamic dynasty to rule Afghanistan. Once again, Genghis Khan who was the leader of the Mongol forces, defeated them in Central Asia in 1220, and left Afghanistan fragmented, till Timur succeeded and took over the country during the 1380’s. The Mongol Empire that was already there was further expanded by Timur during his rule (Nations Online Project, n.p.). Till the early 16th century, the descendants of Timur ruled Afghanistan. In 1919, after the signing of the Treaty of Rawalpindi, that brought to a close the Third Anglo- Afghan War, Afghanistan got its independence and became an independent country. However, the Guerrilla Wars that occurred between 1979 and 1989, killed thousands of people, devastated the land and left about 5 to 6 million homeless. Once again in 1992, a Civil War broke out because the government could not settle their differences with the Mujahideen and this further served to drag down the economy and make it even worse. This resulted in a struggle between the various armed groups and finally, one of the Islamic fundamentalist groups, the Taliban emerged victorious and took control of the country in 1996 and it was the Taliban that gave permission to the Al Qaeda, an Arab terrorist Organization to make use of Afghanistan as their base. The Taliban made use of an extremist interpretation of Islam to suppress and control the country and hence terrorist activities were rampant. The Taliban ruled with an iron fist and the people were not free to do as they wished. Especially for women, the depth of female deprivation and torture knew no bounds because the Talibans treated women even worse than animals. Their rules put endless restriction on women and the foremost of them was the ban on women working outside the house. Women were also not allowed to carry out outside the home activities without a male chaperon. They were not allowed education in any school or university and were forced to wear a burqa that covered them from head to toe. They were banned from dealing with male shopkeepers and were not to be treated by male doctors. Women were not allowed to use cosmetics or paint their nails. Women found going against the Taliban rules, were stoned, whipped and beaten in public. Sometimes they were shot in public at point blank range. In such a dangerous atmosphere, we see the hopefulness and courage of Kamila Siddiqi as she risks her very life to save her family from starvation. Her faith and confidence that she exudes is what enlightens the soul of other Afghan women who trace their steps to Kamila’s haven in the hope of being liberated themselves. Deutsch (2005) in his article on the different forms of oppression states that the root cause of conflicts around the world is primarily due to oppression. These forms of oppression include religious and racial conflicts, conflicts between a dictatorial government and its citizens or between labor and management and battle between the sexes. Deutsch (2005) points out five main forms of oppression, which include the following: 1) distributive injustice, 2) retributive injustice, 3) moral exclusion, 4) procedural injustice, and 5) cultural imperialism. The women of Afghanistan including Kamila had to face these oppressions in addition to trying to fend for themselves and their families. These types of injustices directly or indirectly are concerned with the attitudes of people in authority in connection with moral rule breaking. Gayle Lemmon describes her protagonist Kamila and other women like her, stating that these women “believe, as they always have, that something better is possible.” To prove the above point Lemmon digs deep into the Afghan psyche and tries to understand what makes these women tick against all odds. In her soul searching story, she tells us how Kamila’s father was “determined that all his children – the nine girls as well as the two boys – enjoy the privilege of school.” However, this was not to be because as soon as the Taliban’s rose to power in 1996, they were prevented from going to school and were shut inside their homes. Kamila who was then in her teens, was consumed with an uncontainable determination, to help her family thrive amidst these callous restrictions. Kamila’s education as a teacher stood her in good stead as it gave her immense confidence to plan what she was going to do. She was thoroughly determined not to be trapped or bogged down in any way by the Taliban’s. So when her father and brother were forced to flee the place, Kamila learned how to sew within a single day and discreetly set up the family business of sewing in her family living room. She taught the trade to her younger siblings and began to regularly negotiate orders with some of the local merchants to sell her merchandize. Kamila’s hopefulness and determination helped the family business to prosper and soon other desperate women traced their steps towards Kamila’s house in the hope of lending support to their own families. In addition to this, they also had the opportunity of learning how to read and write and also studying the Quran. If Kamila had not been such a positive and courageous individual, she would never have dared to take such steps. In my opinion Kamila was brave enough not to let the negative factors work against her and her family. On the other hand, she turned these negative forces into positive ones and made it work in her favor against all odds. Daniel H. Pink’s best selling novel, titled ‘Drive’ provides us with deep insight as to what actually motivates us. Pink explains that Motivation does not stem from external rewards such as money or riches, but the secret of high performance stemmed from a deep human need to direct our lives the way we want it to be, by being creative and trying to better ourselves and our situation. Daniel H. Pink, explored decades of scientific research on the subject of motivation and concluded that there was a mismatch between the stance that science holds and the stance that business holds. According to Pink, it was this mismatch that negatively impacts every aspect of our life. In Daniel H. Pink’s opinion, the world has drastically changed from what it was ages ago and what it is now. One has to move with change in order to meet the present challenges. In his book ‘Drive’, Pink examines are the three most important elements of motivation, which are autonomy, mastery and purpose that highlight the techniques for putting these points into action (Pink, n. p.). In the case of Kamila, though she had a purpose, which was to fend for her family, she did not have autonomy to do as she pleased and neither was she a master at her job. It was only sheer determination and hope for a better future that was the driving force behind all her decisions. “The Dressmaker of Khair Khana” gave me a clear picture of how women are treated in Afghanistan and the fear they had to live with for the rest of their lives. It helped me to reflect on how some human beings could be so heartless and cruel to other human beings just because they have power in their hands. By analyzing the success story of Kamila, I wondered if other women in Kamila’s place would have done the same, given the dreaded situation she had to undergo. The book also made me realize that some parts of the world are not safe to live and drastic changes have to be made in order to make world a better place of everyone. “The Dressmaker of Khair Khana” also taught me that in any given difficult situation, we should never lose our faith and confidence and we should be determined and positive about how we would remedy that situation and make it work for us even if the odds are against us. This inspiring book has also taught me not to take people and things for granted, but instead be appreciative and helpful to others in difficult situations. I love the novel and I’m very impressed with the courage of the protagonist who has looked in the face of oppression in spite of any danger has emerged as a successful entrepreneur. Works Cited Pink, Daniel H. Drive. The Surprising Truth about what Motivates Us. Riverhead Books, 2011, p. 272. Print. Deutsch, Morton. Forms of Oppression. Beyond Intractability. Eds. Guy Burgess and Heidi Burgess. Conflict Information Consortium, University of Colorado, Boulder. March 2005. Web. 4 Dec 2012. Lemmon, Gayle Tzemach. (2011) The Dressmaker of Khair Khana. Harper Collins: 2011. Print. Nations Online Project. History of Afghanistan. N.d. Web. 4 Dec 2012. . RAWA. Some of the Restrictions Imposed by Taliban on Women in Afghanistan. N.d. Web. 4 Dec 2012. . Read More