Camerawomen set to make a difference

For the first time ever in the history of Afghan television, women are being trained to use video cameras in the capital, Kabul. Under a one-year training programme at the AINA media and culture centre set up by primarily French journalists in Kabul, 20 women will be taught how to use a digital video camera and film for news, magazine programmes and documentaries. Some of the women are journalists working for the Afghan media. Mehria Azizi, aged 17, a children's presenter on Kabul TV said she wanted to be a good all round journalist. "I want to be able to film my own stories about children," she told IRIN. "We have a lot of problems in our society, and I want to show the world what we face every day," Mahari, aged 23, told IRIN, during a training session at the centre. To ensure they are also fluent in English, they will attend classes at the centre and receive computer training to bring them up to date with the latest technology. "We want them to be of the same ability as international video journalists and work for international organisations in Kabul," AINA's video project manager, Florent Milesi, told IRIN at the centre. "I hope the first women to qualify will be hired to make Afghan films," he added, saying that it was in the interests of foreign journalists to employ Afghan women in the country as they had better access to certain areas that men could film for cultural reasons. The women attend training sessions four days a week and are paid US $100 a month so that they remain focused and are not forced by their families to work in other areas to earn a living. "We started paying them in September. This was two months after the course started, so we know that they did not join just for the money," Milesi said. "We believe that after this training most of them will be able to find a job without any problems," he added. As part of the course, the women will be asked to produce two 50-minute documentaries in the Dari language. The first will be an oral history of more than 100 Afghan women from all over the country. "We hope this film will be finished in time for International Women's Day to be held in March," he explained. The second film will focus on Afghan women in politics, in the hope that both documentaries will be sold and broadcast. One of the biggest challenges facing teachers at AINA is convincing families to allow the girls to travel, report or film on their own - all generally prohibited for cultural and historical reasons. "Up until March the women will be accompanied by Bridget, our camera journalist, and our cameraman, Habib, and then we will reassess the situation," Milesi said. "These women are very courageous and very talented and they will do well." Polly Hyman, a British freelance camerawoman filming a documentary in Kabul, read about the training course and offered her spare time to help train the women. "There is a lot of potential here and it is just a question of practice," she said. In addition to this, a photojournalism course funded by a Dutch NGO is also being run at AINA. Participants meet three times a week at the media centre for theoretical and practical training. Of the 20 students, 12 are men and the rest women. "We are really excited about the women's unit, because they will hopefully be doing things that have never been seen before," one of the project coordinators, Ana Coyne Alonso, told IRIN in Kabul. There was a rigorous procedure in selecting the students, based on the answers they gave in a questionnaire. "We asked them what they could tell us about photography, literature or arts, which showed a lot about them," she said, adding that potential candidates were also quizzed on what freedom of the press meant to them and why they wanted to be photojournalists. "The ones we took were the most unique," she added, pointing out that the educational levels between men and women on application forms were astounding, as females had been so deprived of opportunities in Afghanistan for so many years. "Those who had the desire, were persistent and got through the roadblocks, [they] were the ones who got through," she said. One of the lucky ones was a young Tae Kwon Do martial arts champion in Afghanistan. "He came in to see us and brought all of his medals and showed a lot of enthusiasm, saying this was his dream job. We think he'd be a great candidate for sports journalism," Alonso said. The photojournalists will have opportunities to work on publications being produced at the media centre, as well as in other areas. One of the camerawomen has already been asked to work for the United Nations Children's Fund part-time to help produce videos. "Part of our whole structure is to get them connected to others, because there are no real trained Afghan photographers," she observed. Although the project is up and running, it too is short of funding and resources. It is funded by the International Organisation for Migration and the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, but there is still a shortfall of $45,000. "We only have funding for nine months, so we need to raise the extra in order for the course to be completed," Milesi said. Alonso stressed that the project was in urgent need of used cameras, computers and any other equipment that could be spared. "We need continued support from the outside world too."