Stories of brave women fighting for their rights against all odds.
Bibi Aisha
Zarbobo
|
Zarbobo's Story
Updated March 18, 2010
Zarbobo is about 40 years old. From the day that she got married 15 years ago, her husband beat and tortured her. Once he was so angry that he even shoved a stick inside her. Zarbobo had four children. Her husband killed two of them. He threw one of them in the tandoor (a fire pit that Afghans bake bread in) and the other one died because her husband refused to take him to the doctor. Two years ago, her husband killed his brother and married his sister-in-law. Since then, Zarbobo was locked up in a little room in the house. Every evening, her husband would throw a piece of bread in the room for her to eat. About 2 months ago, when her husband and his second wife weren't home, Zarbobo ran away barefoot and with practically nothing on. She went to the police who referred her to WAW. Two weeks ago, we took the police with us to his house so that we could take her two remaining children from him. There was a shootout between the police and her husband. The villagers told our lawyer to leave before someone was killed. The villagers also told us that her youngest child had died a few days ago. We are still trying to find out if this is true, and what happened. We failed to get the children on our first attempt, but will try again soon, this time with the district police chief.
We have referred this case to the Violence Against Women Unit at the Attorney General's Office for prosecution. |
 |
UPDATE: ABC NEWS COVERAGE OF BIBI'S STORY
Update on Bibi Aisha
March 17, 2010
Bibi Aisha arrived at our shelter on November 15, 2009. She was sold at the age of 10 by her father to a married man, a Talib. He kept her in the stable with the animals until she was 12 (when she got her first menstrual period). At the age of 12 he married her. From the day that she arrived in his house, she was beaten regularly by this man and his family. Sometimes she was beaten so badly that she couldn’t get up for days.
Six months ago before she came to us, she was beaten so badly by her husband that she thought that she was going to die. She ran away and went to the neighbor’s house. The neighbor took to her to the police.
Since Uruzgan doesn’t have a women’s prison, the police took her to Kandahar and kept her in jail because she had run away from home. |
 |
She spent four months in the Kandahar women’s prison. After four months, her father came and took her out of prison. He took her back to Uruzgan and gave her back to her husband.
Her husband once more beat her to the brink of death, and then he cut her nose and ears off. He did this because she had brought shame to the family by running away. Then he took her to the mountains and left her there to die. She was rescued by the U.S forces. They kept her in the military clinic for 2 months until her wounds healed. Almost everyday, her father came to the American base and wanted to take her back with him.
An Afghan-American woman working in the PRT in Uruzgan took the initiative to bring Bibi Aisha to our Center in Kabul. This same woman mentioned to us that not one girl is going to school in Uruzgan. She had been there for eight months, and hadn’t seen a single woman outside.
Since we have outreached far and wide for support for Bibi Aisha, the response has been tremendous. We have had several offers from doctors and medical professionals in the United States for free travel to the United States, surgery and care for Bibi Aisha. There have also been Kabul-based doctors who have offered to do her surgery for free. The generous outpouring of offers of help has been moving for all of us, particularly for Aisha.
Aisha has been recovering these past months from the unimaginable trauma she has suffered. She has brought criminal charges against her father for giving her away in the illegal practice of “baad.” She would like to also bring charges against her husband, but since he is a Talib in Uruzgan, he is unreachable.
Aisha has decided after weighing all the options before her that she would like to come to the United States for her surgery and post-operative care. Just as important as her surgery, will be the support system we organize for her recuperation. We are currently engaged in setting up that support system for Aisha.
There are also logistical hurdles we have been addressing: Aisha’s passport which the PRT in Uruzgan got her had the incorrect birthdate, and we have spent a few months getting this error corrected. Now that we have her passport, the next step is to get her visa. Three factors have contributed in a delay in Aisha’s visa: she is from the South of Afghanistan; she does not have her husband's or father's permission to leave the country; and she does not have an Afghan I.D card (the equivalent of a birth certificate in the U.S). However, Ambassador Eikenberry’s wife, Ching Eikenberry, has taken a personal interest in Aisha’s case, and has promised to help us get her visa expedited.
Bibi Aisha dreams of the day when her reconstructive surgery is behind her, and she can begin to build a new life.
Any donation you can make, small or large, will help us fund Bibi Aisha's travel to the United States.
|
|
|
