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The Dressmaker of Khair Khana is a very interesting story of how 5 sisters survived and succeeded in remaining safe during the occupation of the Taliban of Kabul, Afghanistan.  The book tells how educated women figured out how to remain safe and how to include their community in surviving the strict and oft times horrific treatment by the new regime.   This is a story of how women keep a culture continuing and providing for their family and especially their children’s needs.

The Dressmaker of Khair Khana is primarily the story of one young entrepreneur who actually takes big risks and blossoms after her father challenges her to help her younger sisters survive and to assist the community in need.   At first, she organizes a book exchange program so that all the women in her neighborhood can keep learning despite the boredom of being sentenced to their own homes.  Her older sister moves into the family home with her 4 young children (one set of newborn, frail twins) and this sister is a talented teacher and dress designer/tailor.   As the men of the households must disappear to remain safe these two sisters, the marketer and the tailor, must think ahead and figure out what needs to be done to feed all the children and to survive.

Under the chadri, with only a tiny screen for vision the young woman, Kamila would venture forth with her 14 year old brother as her chaperone to figure out what their world needed and how this group could provide it.   With the war still going on in the north, it became apparent that the women who could design and sew dresses and pantsuits which complied would get paid for their efforts.

At first the sewing needed to be accomplished by hand, because there were not enough machines and only electricity for a few hours each day.   They taught each other how.  Kamila learned to go to further away markets to obtain fabric which was more cost effective and would increase income.  They set up an apprentice program for other women in the neighborhood and they designed work schedules which would not draw attention to women coming and going from their residence.

Men not related to women were not allowed to speak to a woman and so Kamila and her young brother had to be very careful about how they worked.

I think this book elevates women all over the world.  As Kamila has gone forward to become part of the UN team and a microloan expert in assisting other women to use their skills and build their communities, her story goes on to inspire other women and draw attention to the “quiet” women all over the planet who just get busy and roll up their sleeves and figure out how to make the world a better place.

“Gayle Tzemach Lemmon, the author, is a Fellow and Deputy Director of the Women and Foreign Policy Program at the Council on Foreign Relations and a contributing editor-at-large at Newsweek and the Daily Beast.  Her reporting on conflict and post-conflict zones – including Afghanistan, Bosnia, and Rwanda – has been published in the New York Times, Financial Times, International Herald Tribune, and elsewhere.“  from the book jacket

www.gaylelemmon.com

Lemmon at TEDx

This book has been on the New York Times Bestseller List and is well worth the read to increase understanding, lift up women and inspire you to be your best.   I highly recommend the Dressmaker of Khair Khana.

“ A celebration of women in the world over.”    People Magazine

This book was sent to me for review by TLC online book tours and Harper Press
If you purchase anything from this site from Amazon (including Kindle) or Powell’s  I will receive a few beans in my bucket.

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How do you inspire others in your life?  How do you remain safe in tough circumstances?

Related Reading:
Women Wars
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
The Smartest Woman I Know
American Ingenuity or Crisis Intervention to Success

I do not think there is a war on women’s health in the United States of America.  Frankly, the politicians do not care about women’s health and as a group they do not truly care about the citizens one way or the other. The largest public display of caring is for money and for actions that indicate one has it.

Oh there are numerous people fighting on the front lines to make sure there are parades for returning soldiers and displays about getting jobs, so I would say there is a caring element in every segment of our society.  If I open my eyes wide, I have no trouble finding dedicated individuals who are working to make this world or a community a better place to live.  Education is the key.

For the noisiest segment of our society currently money and lots of it is doing most of the talking.  We are appalled when someone steps over the line like the CEO of BP over the oil leak in the gulf and Limbaugh in his disgusting bullying.  Still those folks are making lots of money, even if they must disappear for a time.

So I turned on my curiosity switches and started studying and I have been at this endeavor for over a month now focused on what is being covered up by the public noise against issues of health care.

I thought I would find information such as the following:

• -    The Massachusetts Health Care Plan is 5 years old
• -    98% of the residents are insured now   99.8% of the children are insured
• -    Only 94% of the children were covered 5 years ago
• -    70% of adults had health insurance before the mandates 97% currently
• -    There was a 1% increase in the State’s budget the first year, now it is leveled out
• -    88% of the insurance premium payments are now actually spent on health care
• -    88% of the Doctors are recording an improvement in quality of care
• -    The Emergency Rooms of hospitals are not overwhelmed with patients coming there rather than to their physicians – there is a consistent level of patients.
• -     After 5 years 2 out of 3 adults truly like their health care program and would not want to give it up.

In a very recent Huffington Post Poll of 696 people who had to purchase the mandatory insurance in Massachusetts 84% were satisfied with their coverage.
31% had to try several times to find a doctor to take their insurance and 23% had been turned down by Doctors not taking new patients.

The people who do not like the Massachusetts Health Care Plan are the Insurance providers, and the rhetorical pundits; the ignorant.  Why is the candidate who backed this program denying it now?  He does not even care about people without money.

So how does women’s health care come into this equation and the money trail?  It is women who are driving the need for health care in this country.  Quality health care, good clean food, and strong public education builds a healthy society.  It is what women want for their children and families and ultimately for themselves.

Right now in this point and time so many folks are spending huge amounts of time being entertained by the media and the Internet.  Our children get about 7.5 hours of screen time a day.  People are watching games but not outside growing their food or throwing around a ball.
There are lots of voices on the media and Internet reminding us of this, but they tend to be quieter voices – logical, teaching, and calm – not so dramatic and definitely not as fear inducing.

– WOMEN.  A mind boggling amount of money is being spent to distract women right now, and one political group is seeing an opportunity to gain control and take “moral” stances. How wonderful was the 16th century for women?

The insurance industry is now posting what they have distributed and to whom in the public arena – but that is only the surface, much of the funding is hidden in deep pathways.

Oh but Patricia!  Really I already know these things!

But this is really not the discovery that I made that truly amazed me.  What truly amazed me is that the voters are in burn out.  That’s right they are suffering from a PTSD style of over fear, over negative, over stimulated, over- taken financially until they are NUMB with fear; they are ill from avoidance.  The voters have been lied to and marketed to the extreme that they are NUMB and that is just where the money wants to be.  And that is exactly where the trend makers want the voters to be.

Women are always on the front line of recovery and healing – doing the work.  We need to start again – now.

The truly amazing thing is that in my first book review THE SHOCK DOCTRINE, I was at the same place I am now.   If 1 million plastic shopping bags leave USA grocery stores every hour of every day and the word has been out about the plastic bag island in the ocean, and places are charging for bags and the education is there, why do women just chuckle and say, “Oh I always forget my bags.”   I am no longer amused.

I hope you will share this post many times.  I cannot even begin to tell you all the incredible things I discovered in my research, and I am going to put on my work boots and get back into my community and work at educating and relieving fear to the best of my ability.

How do you counter balance fear?

If you purchase anything from this site from Amazon or Powell’s   I will receive a few beans in my bucket.  Thank you

Related Reading:
The Shock Doctrine 
Freedom
The Gifts of Imperfection
Move Your Money

Here are some great reads that I wanted to share with you because I enjoyed them.  None of these books are on easy topics, but they are all valuable story lines and explore the concept of experiencing trauma and discovering recovery.

1. The Girl Who Fell From The Sky  by Heidi W. Durrow  Based on the author’s own  adapting to prejudice towards being a biracial individual as she relocated  to the United States.  The author premised the book around an incident she read in the newspaper soon after she arrived in the USA.  A gentle story of a young girl figuring out who to be after the death of her mother. Appropriate for young adult readers.

2. ROOM  by Emma Donoghue  This story is told by a five year old boy about how he experiences his life and his mother’s role in keeping him healthy and strong in the worst of circumstances.  I thought I did not want to read this story, but then Delia of RealDelia described it as a WOW and the next thing I knew I was hooked.  Very well written book – I would not recommend this book to  children – it is adult reading.

3. Imperfect Birds   by Anne Lamott    I read everything Lamott writes and I use her How to Write Book as my writing guide – Bird by Bird .   This story does not disappoint and it was hard to put down and go do something else.   This is a contemporary story about how dabbling in drugs helps to mask a teen’s emotions and confusions; those experiences which can enable them to mature and problem-solve. The story is told both by the mother and the daughter as they push against each other and sort out how best to encourage their growth.  Lamott’s ability to create the web of lies involved in covering up is just wonderful, and I wish I had read this story when I had an omitting teenager in my daily life.  The cues and words are all right there as a parental guide book for those with “good, smart kids.”

4. Apologia to My Second Child (Psychology Today article)  by John Hodgman – you know the PC guy on all those funny ads and often a commenter on The Daily Show .   This is an essay from Psychology Today, that made me laugh and brought me to tears as he shares with his yet to be born male offspring.  It is pure pleasure to read – just a joy to discover.

5. Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder This is the story of Dr. Paul Farmer’s  quest to cure the world; focused on the cure for Tuberculosis (TB) and particularly antibiotic resistant TB.

I could not put this book down.  I was so impressed with this fellow’s work and efforts that I just sat down and almost did not move until I had read cover to cover.

Not only do I honor this man for the work he does and the change he is bring to our global community, but I wish to encourage you to read this story and figure out a way that you can connect with his efforts or share his story with others.

Whereas I do not think my actions will take me to South America  any time soon, I am so grateful for the work that he is pursuing  I wanted to give this story a Shout Out right here and now.

What books are you most grateful for having read?  What books have inspired you? Here’s a spot to shout out your favorite good reads…..look forward to your suggestions.

Feel free to share this list by using the share buttons.

I did not receive any copies of these books and was not asked or paid to review them. If you order these books and purchase new books from Amazon or Powell’s, I will receive a few beans in my bucket.

What are you reading these days?   Have you discovered any of these books already?  What did you think?    Let me know your thought about Hodgman’s essay – please.

I would like to just add that I do not review, recommend, or write about books that I do not like or did not find some level of enjoyment – I have made 2 exceptions.

Related Reading:
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Breakfast With Buddha

The Highest Tide

The Help

I just want to say a few things today – keep it simple.  My life is too complex right now and I am preparing my income taxes, which are very difficult for me to do; I must do them right.

Last night I had a dream that reoccurred numerous times.  I was meticulously folding colored paper into a mask of a horse face.  The dream was full of my hands working and the stunning beauty that the paper was taking on in forming the different sections of the face.  The horse was a reddish brown color with a very dark brown, almost black, mane and there was a small white oval shape between the eyes and the darkening section of the mussel.

I was amazed at how the curve of the nostrils blended well as I tried and then discovered how to fold the paper to get the visual results I wanted.

My mask was deemed a masterpiece and found to be a highly prized sculpture – original and yet soft.

IT Girl and one of my friends are both exquisite at paper folding art.  My neighbor did a whole manger scene for her church one Christmas that just took your breath away.  IT Girl uses more color, but can make the paper perform in creative ways.   Library Girl can also do some interesting things with paper, and we are all surprised by her gift wrapping creations.

I have thought of this dream all day and decided it was important that I remembered it so vividly.  I think this is because I am quitting a medication that has ceased working for me and it is taking time to leave my system.  Then I thought I should look up the symbolism of a horse in my book:

“A horse symbolizes strength, power, endurance, majesty, and virility.  Riding a horse suggests one is in a powerful position.”

I started to think about horses in terms of how I am going to set goals for this next third of my life.  Since my original bucket list is either completed or cast off right now I seem to be in a space of opportunity to create – something of strength, power, endurance, and majesty – alive.   But what should I choose to do?

I vacuumed the whole house on this thought –

As I write this now, I am thinking the paper is simple and my hands are knowledgeable, whatever I decide it will endure majestically…

What do you think I should do and add to my bucket list?
Do you interpret the symbolism and dream in a different way?
Looking forward to your ideas and comments.  Thank you.

If you purchase anything from Amazon  or Powell’s   from this site, I will receive a few beans in my bucket.

Discover our words at Biking Architect or subscribe to our occasional newsletter at WiseEars.

Related Reading:
The Idea Factory
Move Your Money
Walter’s Muse
Unfinished Business

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