On May 12, 2002, Women for Afghan Women (WAW) celebrated Mother’s Day with close to 300 guests from the Afghan community in Queens. WAW, working with the Afghan Students Association of Queens College, brought the day to life in a huge room at the college, which they filled with pink and white balloons, flowering plants, and platters of delicious Afghan and Western food.

The celebration began with a greeting and introduction of the members by Afifa Yusufi. Alia Faiez, narrated a Mother’s Day story, Sabera Noori recited a prayer, and Freshta Amirzada read her

poem, which she wrote for the occasion. Then Masuda Sultan and Esther Hyneman discussed WAW’s mission and its vision for the future of Afghan women.

Afifa and Masuda held a brief Q&A session to get an idea of the number of women interested in participating in our community outreach program. We noticed that a group of usually timid Afghan women were outspoken about what they want, and we hope this confidence is a sign of a growing assertiveness among Afghan women everywhere to fight for the rights of Afghan women intheir homes and communities and in their native country.

Then 13 dancers from a nearby high school, adorned in traditional clothing and jewelry, dazzled the audience with an amazingly energetic and professional performance of a cultural dance. After they broke the ice, groups of women from the audience danced to variety of Afghan music, at times packing the dance floor.

The event ended around 5 p.m. Like most Afghan celebrations this day was brought to closure by the traditional dance called the atan, which almost everyone joined in. Then Renee Bergan, a special guest from California, showed her slides from a recent trip to Afghanistan. The images on the screen reminded the audience of their ethnic identity. They reawakened feelings about the country they had left behind; and the faces of smiling children, perplexed, bearded old man, and courageous Afghan women lifting their veils gave meaning to the day’s celebration.