Part 2 : Afghanistan, Chapter 1: Welcome to Pippa’s Afghan Tales

I first went to Afghanistan in 2008, travelling to Kabul by invitation from Turquoise Mountain – an arts charity started by King Charles and Hamid Karzai to revive traditional craft in Afghanistan. I went to work with a workshop of jewellers and have been going back at least twice a year ever since.

In 2021, with a change of government in Afghanistan, our partner in Kabul got in touch and said we really need to do something about training women in livelihood skills. We began raising funds to start Zindagi Now, “A New Life”, which is a fantastic program in Kabul, and now Badakhshan as well. Zindagi Now trains women in silversmithing, gem-cutting, business skills, literacy where needed, and marketing. Zindagi Now has trained hundreds of women, and we’re seeing 60-80% of them go on to get business licenses. Our dream is to keep growing Zindagi Now; we’d love to offer women training in Bamiyan and other parts of the country.

The people, the relationships, the friendships – these are what keep me going back to Afghanistan. The beauty of the landscape and the joy of the craft –Afghanistan is the sort of place that, once it has your heart, that’s it.