Shaemah is one of the Afghan widows who made dolls for Rising. She had two daughters and two sons; she was too young when her husband was taken from the family. When Shaemah joined the Nadera Doll Project, she looked too nice. Unlike the other widows, who look too depressed and sad, Shaemah was a healthy and young woman. It was hard to believe that she was a widow. Shaemah would laugh all the time and talked openly.

Sadly, two weeks after our Rising Team was able to interview Shaemah at her home in Kabul, we learned she unexpectedly died from a heart problem. While Shaemah is no longer with us, we have her story to share, and in her place her eldest daughter has taken on the responsibility to care for the family and sew dolls to sell with Rising International.

She shared her life story like this:

I was in secondary class eight of school when my family engaged me to my husband, Ahmad. After one year, we celebrate our wedding party, and in accordance with Afghani tradition, I stayed at home and I couldn’t continue my studies. But I was too happy in my own family. Our economic situation was good. My husband could afford a home and a lot of property.

Then the Mujahideen government came to power. My husband’s cousins, who left Afghanistan during the communist times, came to Kabul. Because my husband had much land and many properties, the cousins would come from time to time to our home and would talk with my husband. They seemed like very close friends, but after a few months, they threatened my husband and told him, “You were a Communist because you lived in Capital of Afghanistan (Kabul)!”

My husband never told me that his cousins threatened him. Then, one day, when I was busy in the kitchen my husband came and asked me to give him one pot with which to bring some vegetables from our garden. I gave him a pot, and he went away. Five minutes later, I heard our gardener shouting, “Ahmad was killed by a person who had stood above the garden’s wall and shot Ahmad.”

We all ran to the garden. He was laid out on the soil, and his blood filled all the ground, the gunshot ripped through his head. My small children and I shouted a lot, but there wasn’t anyone to help us. All of my husband’s relatives lived in Pakistan, and there wasn’t anyone in Kabul to bury him. My eldest son, who was 14 years old, called our neighbors and they helped us make a grave him… We couldn’t keep his body because there was simply too much blood.

After my husband was killed, our dark life began. My husband’s cousins arrogated our lands. They stole from our home and shops. They took many things. These events made me look for a job, but because I didn’t graduate from school, I couldn’t find a good job. I started taking a typing course, and when I passed my typing courses I found a suitable job in one of the governmental ministries. Unfortunately, my income is too little and it is not enough for us. Because of this I make cotton dolls.

When we asked Shaemah about the benefits the Doll Project has had on her life, she said, “In every round of doll’s I sew, I make about 3000 - 4000 afghani, and it helps me to pay for my children’s course fees. My salary from the government is only 2500 afghani per month. I am thankful for this doll’s project. It has improved my life economic.”