HGA   Geography Conference  Lessons

 

Afghanistan and The Breadwinner

Bernice Kihara and Mary Frances Higuchi

February, 2002

 

INTRODUCTION:

This unit is based on Afghanistan and the book, The Breadwinner, by Deborah Ellis.  Many ancient traders, explorers, and conquerors used the Hindu Kush mountain range located in the northern part of Afghanistan as a gateway to the Far East.  Afghanistan had been at war since 1978 when the American-backed fighters opposed the Soviet-backed government.  In 1980, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan and the war escalated.  A civil war resulted after the Soviets left in 1989.  About 3.5 million Afghans became refugees and many still live in camps in Pakistan (About 1.2 million Afghans survive in tents and mud huts and another 800,000 live in Pakistani cities.) and Iran (about 1.5 million).   War has brought destruction and clean water is difficult to find.  Fertile farmland to grow food was lost when mines were placed in farms.  Thus, many people died from poor nutrition and hunger. 

 

In September 1996, the Taliban militia, an Afghan army, took control of the city of Kabul.  Extreme laws were imposed on girls and women.  Schools for girls were closed, women could no longer hold jobs, and strict dress codes were enforced.  Music was forbidden, books were burned, and televisions were smashed.  The Taliban continued to control more of the country.  (Since October 2002, the Taliban regime was taken over.)

 

The author of The Breadwinner visited the Afghan refugee camps and heard many stories.  This book is based on these stories.  For further information, read the oral history of the daily lives of women who must survive in Deborah Ellis' book, Women of the Afghan War.

 

It is hoped that this unit will provide an awareness of how human events can change the lifestyles of people.  

 

GEOGRAPHY STANDARDS:

GCS1:  World in Spatial Terms:  Students use geographic representations to organize, analyze, and present information on people, places, and environments.

         4-5 Benchmark:  Collect, organize, and analyze data to interpret and construct geographic representations.

         Performance Standards:  The student

1.    Shows organization of collected data.

2.    Constructs a map, globe, graph, chart, model, etc., that includes collected geographic data.

3.    Explains the meanings, patterns and relationships found in geographic data.

        

GCS2:  PLACES AND REGIONS: Students understand how distinct physical and human characteristics shape places and regions.

         4-5 Benchmark:  Use physical and human characteristics to compare and contrast 0laces and regions in Hawaii, the United States, and other countries.

         Performance Standards:  The student

1.    Shows similarities and differences of the physical characteristics of places and regions.

2.    Shows similarities and differences of the human characteristics of places and regions.

3.    Applies this knowledge to draw conclusions and/or make connections.

 

GCS4:  HUMAN SYSTEMS:  Students analyze how people organize their activities on earth through their analysis of human populations, cultural mosaic, economic interdependence, settlement, and conflict and cooperation.

         4-5 Benchmark:  Compare and contrast how human events influence settlement patterns in Hawai`i, the United States, and other parts of the world.

         Performance Standards:  The student

1.    Describes how human events including social, political and economic factors influence settlement patterns in different regions of the world.

2.    Applies this knowledge to form generalizations and inferences.

 

LANGUAGE ARTS STANDARDS:

       COMPREHENSION PROCESS:  Uses strategies within the reading process to construct meaning.

         Benchmarks:

         CONVENTIONS AND SKILLS:  Apply knowledge of the conventions of language and text to construct meaning

         Benchmark:

         RESPONSE: Respond to text from a range of stances:  initial understanding, personal, interpretive, critical.

         Benchmark:

 

FOCUS QUESTIONS:  How do human events influence settlement patterns in different parts of the world?  How do the physical characteristics influence one's choice of where to live?

 

MATERIALS:

        

RESOURCES:

 

WEBSITES:

Afghanistan Online:  http://www.afghan-web.com

Afghanistan Photo Gallery:  http://www.afghanweb.com/gallery/index.html

Picture of Kabul:  http://www.afghan-web.com/gallery/kabul2.jpg

Scenery of terraced fields:  http://www.afghanweb.com/gallery/scenery2.jpg

Scenery of mountains:  http://www.afghan-web.com/gallery/mountain.jpg

Large Kabul Street scene:  http://www.afghan-web.com/gallery/Kabul.jpg

Street vendor in Kabul:  http://www.afghan-web.com/gallery/sale.jpg

Masjid in Mazar-i-Shariff:  http://www.afghaweb.com/gallery/masjidmazar.jpg

Closeup of Masjid:  http://www.afghan-web.com/gallery/mazar.jpg

Man Selling Bread:  http://www.afghan-web.com/gallery/bread.jpg

Afghan Merchant and Buyer:  http://www.afghaweb.com/gallery/merchant.jpg

 

ASSESSMENT:  Observations of worksheets, maps, graphs, charts, etc.

Maps should reflect the performance standards:

1.    Shows organization of collected data.

2.    Constructs a map, globe, graph, chart, model, etc., that includes collected geographic data.

3.    Explains the meanings, patterns and relationships found in geographic data.

Physical/human characteristics should reflect:

1.    Shows similarities and differences of the physical characteristics of places and regions.

2.    Shows similarities and differences of the human characteristics of places and regions.

3.    Applies this knowledge to draw conclusions and/or make connections.

Human Systems should reflect:

1.    Describes how human events including social, political and economic factors influence settlement patterns in different regions of the world.

2.    Applies this knowledge to form generalizations and inferences.

 

PROCEDURE:

       1.  Discussion:

a.    Ask students, "How do human events influence settlement patterns in different parts of the world?"  Write their responses on chart paper.  Have students refer to it throughout the unit. 

b.    Ask students to think about where they live.  How do the physical features (landforms, climate, vegetation, etc.) influence the way they live?

c.    How do human characteristics (rules, education, food, transportation, housing, clothing, etc.) influence the way they live?

d.    Ask students if they lived somewhere else (city, country, mountainous area, a place with extreme weather conditions, no electricity or running water), how would their lifestyle change?

         2.  Physical and Human Characteristics:

                  Have students use a graphic organizer, "Physical-Human Characteristics," to compare/contrast similarities and differences of physical and human characteristics of Hawaii and one or two other countries, preferably those studied.  Do not include Afghanistan at this time.  Have students draw conclusions for the information they have up to this point.  Optional:  include climographs.

         3.  Mapping:

a.    Before looking at any maps, locate Afghanistan and the countries that surround Afghanistan - west, north, east, and south.  Locate various cities.  Use "Afghanistan: Land in Crisis" blank map.  Correct.

b.    Look at a physical map.  Gather information on the elevation, mountain ranges, etc.  What can you tell about the landscape in Afghanistan.  Where are the mountains?  What about the rivers and water source? 

c.    Locate and circle Kabul on your map.  Using an atlas or map, find the absolute location (approximate latitude and longitude) of Kabul.  (Approximately 34.5 degrees N and 69 degrees East)  Would Kabul be located nearer the latitude of Los Angeles or San Francisco?  What kind of physical features do you see around Kabul?

d.    Afghanistan is landlocked.  What does it mean to be landlocked?  Name other countries that you know are landlocked. 

e.    What do you notice about the north side of Afghanistan? 

f.     Based on this information, have students predict what it would be like to live in Afghanistan.  How would they adapt to living there?

4.    Reading the book, The Breadwinner:  While reading the book, students will: 

a.    Collect as much data on the physical features and add this information to the "Physical and Human Characteristics" Chart.  Refer to the background information from "Afghanistan:  Land in Crisis" and other resources.  Complete climographs with the climate information given for

1.   Kabul and Herat.  These will show two different kinds of climate in Afghanistan.

b.    Collect data on the events that take place (past, present).

c.    Construct a variety of charts, graphs, etc. to show collected data like population, language, religion, life expectancy, literacy, GDP Per Capita, exports, labor force, etc.     

d.    Construct maps to show different places. 

1.    Begin drawing a map of Kabul and the surrounding areas.   Where do Parvana and her family live?  Write brief descriptions of the significant places.  Add to your map as the story goes on.  (the marketplace - Parvana's section, baker's stall, vegetable stand, water tap, Mazar-e-sharif, prison, Jalalabad, mystery woman's house, cemetery, stadium, refugee camps)

2.    Home is Just a Room - Draw a scaled map of the room using this description. 

All the furniture they owned had been destroyed by  bombs or were stolen by looters.  They now had a tall wooden cupboard and two toshaks that were set against the walls.  A cheap matting lay over the cement floor.  Parvana could walk ten steps across one way and twelve steps the other way.  At the end of the room was the lavatory with a platform toilet.  Near the toilet was the propane cookstove with a tiny vent high in the wall.  The water tank, a metal drum, and the wash basin were also there. 

3.    Summer came to Kabul.  Flowers bloomed.  Fruit was brought into Kabul from the fertile valleys, places that had not been bombed.  Peaches and plums were purchased.  Parvana saw tribal peoples from Bamiyan, the Registan Desert region near Kandahar, and from the Wakhan Corridor near China.  Sometimes the men would buy cigarettes or dried fruits from Parvana.  Other times they had something for her to read or write.  Parvana would always ask what it was like where they came from.  They told her about the weather, mountains, fields of opium poppies blooming, orchards of fruit, or of war.  Look at the map.  Find the places where the tribal people came from.

e.    Sketch pictures of different places:

1.    The Marketplace:  Sketch a picture map of what the market place would look like.  Parvana sat on a blanket with her father at the marketplace.  Customers came to have things read or written.  Most spoke Dari, the language Parvana spoke best.  Others spoke Pashtu, which Parvana could understand and speak a little.  Parvana's parents were educated at a university and believed in education for everyone, including girls. 

a.    The market was a busy place.  Men shopped for their families, peddlers sold their goods and services, small stalls like the tea shop were set up, and tea boys carried tea to customers at the stalls.  Even Parvana and her father sold their belongings like dishes, pillow cases, and household ornaments. 

b.    At the end of the day, they packed father's pens and writing paper and other things in the bag, and folded up the blanket.  Using his walking stick, father walked home with Parvana.  Father used to have a wooden leg but he needed the money and sold it at the marketplace.  (Many women had their wooden legs sold because the men said that they didn't need it any more since the Taliban forbade the women to go out.)  On their way home, Parvana sees a mountain ahead of them.

2.   The Water:  Parvana was asked to fetch pails of water.  Maryam was too young.  Mother and Nooria couldn't go out without their burqas and besides it was dangerous to go outside without a man.  She made six trips to the neighborhood tap and climbed three flights of stairs after each trip.  Finally, the tank was full and Parvana took off her sandals and hung up her chador.  Where did Parvana get the water from?  Sketch a picture.

3.   The Mystery:  On several occasions, Parvana found things on her blanket.  One day there was a small square of embroidered cloth, two inches by one inch.  On another day there was a beaded bracelet.  Parvana walked close to an open space to see if she could see in the house next to the wall.  She saw a woman's face who smiled quickly and shut the window.  Sketch a picture.

4.    Bones:  Shauzia told Parvana about a way to make money.  They walked for about an hour down streets that Parvana wasn't familiar with.  It was an area in Kabul that was heavily destroyed by rockets.  All they could see was piles of bricks, dust and rubble.  The cemetery had been bombed and white bones stuck up from the graves.  Parvana and Shauzia shovelled and piled the bones and skulls onto the blanket. They took the bones to the bone broker who weighed the bones.  Parvana made three days' wages.  She decided to keep half and give her mother half. 

a.    At first Mother was upset that they were digging up bones.  Parvana begged to do it until she earned enough money.  After two weeks, Parvana had enough to buy a tray with straps that went around her neck.  She and Shauzia decided to sell cigarettes which were light and they could buy them in big cartons and sell them by the packs.  They also sold chewing gum and boxes of matches.  Sketch a picture of the above scene.

f.     Comprehension graphic organizers - These are examples of the kinds of graphic organizers than can be used with the story.

§       "Character Traits"

§       "Compare Contrast Daily Lives"

§       "Kabul, Before and After the War"

§       "Living Conditions, Before and After the War"

§       "Malali"

§       "Summer in Kabul"

§       "The Dream"

§       "In Twenty Years"

g.    Read passages from Women of the Afghan War by  Deborah Ellis.  These were the kinds of stories that the author probably referred to when she described the stories for the magazine they intended to smuggle out of Pakistan, get printed, and smuggle back to Kabul a few at a time.

 

CLOSURE:

         Mrs. Weera wants you to create a magazine for other women that will show how human events have influenced the settlement patterns in Afghanistan and what recommendations you have for the future of Afghanistan.  Use everything that you have gathered to write your recommendations.  Include:

1.    Stories about your life in Afghanistan.

2.    Opinions about Afghanistan, supported by evidence.

3.    Maps of where places are and what the village and city may be like and what improvements you suggest.

4.    Physical and human similarities and differences between Hawaii and Afghanistan.  Use your charts, graphs, and sketches to support your information.

5.    Challenges they may encounter.