Fieldnotes on Humanity

I was really worry for the last 48 hours because the hosting blocked my account and the host service was Iranian. I am always afraid of reality and this time i had doubt would have my data back. Thanks for your supporting and thanks for my friend Roohollah who was enthusiastically striving to revive back my Farsi blog . Thanks for Esra and all friends of who had concern on this issue.

I am quiet excited now, the prize for freedom of expression will be given to me today in Siena , it is early morning and i am in Athena Hotel in Siena. The ceremony will be started at 11, so I should get ready sooner. Last night i slept at 2:00AM, it is 6:30am now but I have to shave and have my breakfast very soon. Last night we were invited by ISF (Information and Safety for Freedom). I was excited to hug my great friend Pino Scaccia last night. There are 6 Afghan students, five female and one male who are also invited to this ceremony. Emal Naqshband the brother of Ajmal Naqshbandi who was beheaded by Taliban in 2006 is also in the group. Will write you more about this in next posts

------ A young man who was repatriated from Turkey while he was intend to cross the border to reach Europe. After spending several months in prison in Turkey he repatriated to Iran border and Iranian police border caught him and put him jail. After 6 months he repatriated to Afghanistan. He became addicted in Iran and now he is in Russian Cultural Palace among hundreds of other addicts who wriggling with their wounded bodies in the darkness of corridors. These addicts who are staying inside the Russian Cultural Palace told that they became addict while they were in Iran and working. According to the most recent UN figures in 2005, there are about one million addicts in a country of about 30 million people, one in 30 Afghans are addicts.

-------- It is not easy to meet Sayed Parwiz Kambakhsh in prison. He is condemned because of blasphemy and any one who dares to meet him, has the perspective of being questioned or followed by police man, inside the prison. "Visitors who are visiting Kambakhsh will be followed by police because they are controlling Kambakhsh's relations outside of the prison". I was already told that by a friend of mine, who is a police officer. It was almost 11:00AM, at least one hour left to meet the prisoners; I had to meet Parwiz Kambakhsh to let him know that he is the winner of the Freedom of Expression award in Italy. Standing in line for minutes where hundreds of people waited just the same to meet their relatives, imprisoned. At the gate of the prison a police man with a board marker signed visitor's hands, next door the visitors have to deliver their mobiles phones and knives. Before approaching the meeting room for the prisoners, there are two check points, one where stamp...

------ As some of you may know that I came in Italy. Right now I am in Turin and last night was one of the first programs which were scheduled, the rests are in coming week. Last night’s program was organized by the mayor of Almese “Bruno” and Valeria, Ignazio, Silvia and Meri who doesn’t like her name appear here. I appreciate them deeply for the efforts they did. Lots of questions rose, among the questions a teenage girl asked me: “Why Taliban don’t allow children to go to school”. This is question that even Afghans couldn’t find the answer; it’s like unanswerable question for us because we can’t find the reason why Taliban burn the schools, killing the teachers, burning the books, very recently men squirted the acid from water bottles onto three groups of students and teachers walking to school in Kandahar. The only thing I remember to answer to this teenage girl “Francesca” was they don’t like the children go to school to study science but religious school to train the new generati...

------ Today, early morning when I opened the news pages on Internet, I read "Obama became the next president of USA" I became excited and suddenly stood and shouted. I couldn't control myself and I said "Greeting Obama! Oh great man in which the dream of Martin Luther King became true now. The people who were close to me they laughed at me but I couldn't control myself, while I was shedding tears I came out from the net café. When I arrived home I wept fully, but tears from happiness. However I don't believe to pray but I was praying for him to win, this was my hope and today I am the witness that my hope turned real. Obama is the one who wants to change. He turned the dreams of millions of people to reality, millions of people who were hoping fall off the walls. Now, he is the winner and turned into the hero of his nation and the people in his country. He is the one who said, once there was a great man in US history who told his people: "I have a drea...

------- This is the picture of our young people, our noble children. I am proud of them, two days working with them i believe they are so strong to stand up against enemy, against Taliban and strangers who are against our nation. I am so glad and proud today to see the National Army of Afghanistan getting so strong. Before Mujaheddin and starting civil war, Afghanistan had the most powerful Army. This is was a threat to neighboring countries. As i see and the interests among people who are joining to army day by day i am sure that they will be strong again.

------- From The Guardianweekly Despite decades of civil war, marauding Taliban and deadly military air strikes, Afghans have experienced some changes for the better over recent years. Health facilities, schools and roads have improved, and a fledgling media industry is finding its feet. Bloggers are off to a fast start, with Nasim Fekrat , also known as Afghan Lord, leading the way. This 25-year-old ethnic Hazara knows all too well the dangers of self-expression, but believes freedom of speech is vital if Afghanistan is to leave its bloody past behind. Friday October 17th 2008 Signs of change are visible across Afghanistan. Photograph: John Moore/Getty Images When I was 11 years old my father pushed me to pray and I would not pray. One night my father raised his hands to the sky and said: "Please god, take Nasim. Kill him, take him back – I don't want him." He did this in front of me and my siblings and nobody said anything. That evening I couldn't sle...