Ay Kash / ای کاش / If Only ONLINE

AN ONLINE EVENING OF READINGS OF TEXTS BY AFGHAN YOUNG WOMEN
“And how painful it is when you open your eyes and see how vibrant the world is, but you are condemned to live a life of darkness”

#standwithafghanwomen #spotlightonafghanwomen

Under the Starry Afghan Sky are eleven young women aged between living in Afghanistan under Taliban rule. The collective evolved out of the work of Herat Online School founded by the Afghan educational activist Angela Ghayour and is facilitated by Rachel Karafistan of Cosmino Productions who has been working with the young women virtually from their bedrooms, since September 2022.

AY KASH / کاشکی / IF ONLY ONLINE is our upcoming event, taking place on Zoom on Saturday 20th July 2024 at 17:00 CEST. We invite YOU to join us. The event will feature an introduction by Angela Ghayour, founder of Herat Online School and then a programme of both live and recorded readings of texts read by actors and non actors alike, in a variety of languages (with English subtitles), written by members of Herat Online School and the Under the Starry Afghan Sky collective in Afghanistan.

Our goal is to be heard. Women and girls in Afghanistan have been forced to stay quiet for years but through this event we are hoping to bring change and shed light on our day to day lives. We are forbidden from enjoying life’s simple pleasures; working, travelling going to the park and even from pursuing their education after the age of 11.

Your assistance and presence on this journey have the power to create a change and spark hope in the lives of Afghan girls and women.

Your attendance at our event, your solidarity, your belief in the power of storytelling, are the key to unlocking a better future for these girls, allowing our voices and stories to be heard across borders. The reality is that it is too dangerous for us to read our texts ourselves so we need your help to bring our voices to the attention of the world.

The goal of our event is to raise awareness about what is happening in Afghanistan not through how the media want to portray us, but with the real words that come from the bottom of our hearts.

We started at the height of despair and still we fight and rise.

We now urgently need your support to fight this terrible injustice. The world has forgotten about us. Your presence is our only hope to heal the unforgettable wounds of this land.

Thank you immensely for considering our call, for extending your heart to the screams of the silenced, and for standing with Afghan women.

Together, let's be advocates for those who have been silenced for far too long.

With deepest gratitude and hope,

The eleven young women of Under the Starry Afghan Sky based in Afghanistan

Angela Ghayour, Herat Online School

Rachel Karafistan, Cosmino Productions

LINKS:
Project website: www.underthestarryafghansky.com
Animation trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnMghNmfOBQ&t=39s
Show trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8cTnvqyTaI&t=89s
Instagram: @underthestarryafghansky / @HeratOnlineSchool / @cosminoproductions

AY KASH is funded entirely by public donations.
You can visit our Go Fund Me page here: https://gofund.me/9f8418f0