Afghan embroiderer to speak on life in her native country

Master embroiderer Hafiza Malikbaba has spent her life in eastern Afghanistan; she spent this summer in Warner. Next week, as she prepares to return to her home and her work, Hafiza will present public library programs in Lincoln, Hooksett, Newport and Effingham, talking about life in her native country and about her efforts as assistant director of Rubia, the Afghan Women's Handwork Project, a nonprofit organization serving rural Afghan women and children through training, education and promotion of their traditional handwork.Talking through her interpreterand Rubia co-founder and president Rachel LehrHafiza will show and demonstrate household artifacts from Afghanistan as she tells stories of social and family life, from her childhood to current conditions. Hafiza will also answer questions, and Rachel will share her own insights, gleaned as a frequent visitor to Afghanistan.Hafiza is the first woman to travel from her isolated village in eastern Afghanistan to the United States. Living in one of Afghanistan's most conservative regions, and the mother of eight children, she had to overcome significant social and cultural barriers to make this journey.In New Hampshire, Hafiza has been busy meeting with local artists and school groups, working on design training, selling at the Portsmouth, Henniker and Warner Farmers' Markets, and demonstrating her craft at the League of N.H. Craftsmen's fair at Mount Sunapee State Park.As one of a few fortunate women in Afghanistan to have received an education, Hafiza had the organizational skills necessary to help develop Rubia, founded in response to a critical need to create economic opportunities for Afghan refugee women. Rubia is committed to working in the old way with natural fibers, plant dyes and designs rooted in Central Asia that reflect diverse geographical and textile traditions from the various regions.The lives of women in rural Afghanistan are largely defined by the mud brick walls of their family compound, Lehr notes. Time is marked by cooking, cleaning and caring for the children; some women do not leave their compounds for days at a time. Hafiza is directly involved with creating employment opportunities and education for these women. She coordinates the handwork of 200 women, creating economic opportunities for them to support their families and to preserve fine embroidery skills practiced for generations.Hafiza and Rachel will present a program on Saturday, August 26, at 10:30 a.m. at Effingham Public Library. They will talk with children about the everyday life of a family in rural Afghanistan and show them objects, including clothing, books, money, utensils, pictures and crafts, that will help them think about how life is thesameand differenthalfway around the world.The program is presented in cooperation with the Arts Alliance of Northern New Hampshire, and is free and open to the public. For more information, contact Marilyn O'Kelly, director, Effingham Public Library, 30 Townhouse Road, Effingham, by phone at 539-1537.