Remember a few months ago when I told you the story of the Christmas party Jeff and I went to that was a Duxbury Rotary Club fundraiser to build a girls’ school in a small town outside of Kabul? We talked about the culture of Afghanistan and how most don’t see the need to educate girls since the greatest ambition for women is to “be quiet.” We also talked about how the school hoped to open in March and really couldn’t open before that since it is too cold and the building won’t be heated or have electricity. Well, they opened on time on March 30th and here is a video of the ribbon cutting and opening-day festivities. The woman who spearheaded this campaign in Duxbury is the woman in the middle wearing glasses. Her name is Razia Jan–she’s the International Projects Chairwoman for the Duxbury Rotary Club–you might remember my telling you about her as the woman Jeff offered a glass of wine to much to my embarrassment. Jeff was only being polite…who remembers why his offer was such a faux pas (something that is considered good manners in one culture, but is inappropriate in another culture)?
At school embedded video won’t show up…use this link to view the video and check out the story and more pictures on the Duxbury Clipper blog (see the link in “What I’ve Been Reading Lately” in the right side-bar).
9 responses so far ↓
1
Kelsey Dwyer
// Apr 23, 2008 at 11:23 am
The woman was from Afghanistan, and people from Muslim decent are not allowed to drink wine or alcohol.
2
anniemyrick
// Apr 25, 2008 at 2:41 pm
The woman with the glasses is Muslim and people in that religion aren’t allowed to drink alcohol.
3
Pat Buell
// Apr 26, 2008 at 9:56 am
That woman is muslim and for some strange reason muslims are forbidden to enjoy even a single sip of any kind of wine. My father is insensitive to ALL religion. That is why he offered her some.
-Patrick Buell
4
kevinw
// Apr 27, 2008 at 12:14 pm
Like Kelsey and Annie said, the woman practices Islam as a religion and Muslims cannot consume alcohol, therefore there was faux pas.
5
dmillen4
// Apr 27, 2008 at 1:56 pm
It is against Muslim culture to drink any form of alcohol. They feel that it is hurtful to their religion.
6
vmurphy
// Apr 28, 2008 at 7:50 pm
Like everyone else said Muslim culture forbids drinking any form of alcohol.
7
Sam Barrows
// May 1, 2008 at 8:54 am
It was a faux pas because Muslim people arn’t allowed to drink alcohol.
8
ryan hennessey
// May 1, 2008 at 9:03 am
i cant believe Muslims aren’t allowed to drink alcohol.
9
Becca
// May 27, 2008 at 5:51 pm
it was a faux pas because muslims aren’t allowed to drink alcohol.
They feel it is a discrimination against their religion.
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