VEIL OF TEARS Afghans’ stories of loss in childbirth “Veil of Tears” is a collection of transcribed audio testimonies from women, men and children, interviewed by members of the IRIN Radio production team in 2005-2009. Their stories share the pain of the loss of a child, a wife, or a mother, in childbirth. Few families in Afghanistan have not been touched by this kind of experience. The stories transcribed in this booklet were first broadcast as part of IRIN Radio’s Dari and Pashto programming in Afghanistan. Copyright © IRIN 2009. All rights reserved. IRIN contact details IRIN Nairobi HQ: +254-20-7622147 email:
[email protected] www.irinnews.org Cover Photo: Two teenage girls sewing burqas at home in Kabul, 30 September 2009 By Kate Holt/CARE International/IRIN Other Photos by: Masoud Popalzai, Kate Holt, Salma Zulfiqar Principal Reporter and Translator: Masoud Popalzai Other Story Contributors: Parwin Faiz, Mohammad Raja, Masooma Mohammadi, Sayed Mohammad Ali Minayar Editor: Louise Tunbridge Design and Layout: Jinita Shah/UNON Printing: Publishing Services Section, Nairobi, ISO 14001:2004 - certified. Copyright © IRIN 2009. All rights reserved Reproduction of excerpts from the text is permissible, other than for commercial purposes, provided the Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN) is acknowledged as the author. IRIN provides humanitarian news and analysis through on-line articles, special reports, printed publications, film documentaries and radio. IRIN is part of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) but its services are editorially independent. Its reports do not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations and its agencies, nor its member states.