Afghan refugee camps on the Afghanistan-Pakistan  border

   Our travels to the Afghan refugee camps in northern Pakistan were incredibly rewarding – the population there had certainly never seen anything like us or our performances. People told us their cheeks hurt from laughing because they so rarely have cause to laugh.  Basic survival in the face of extreme poverty is the focus of daily life in the refugee areas and everyone – men, women and even children – work constantly to eke out a living.  Never entirely accepted in Pakistan, refugees live as second-class citizens.

     The Afghan culture in the camps is very conservative: women are completely covered, men and women never mix, and all entertainment (music, television, film, dance) is  frowned upon or actually forbidden. Waves of refugees have gathered here over the decades -- from the Soviet invasion 20 years ago, through the mujahideen wars, and up to the flight of the Taliban into the camps during the US bombing.

    So how did they accept us coming into the schools with music and stilt-dancing? And clown routines with acrobatics, slapstick, and outlandish behavior?  We were so different from anything they had ever seen, we were almost beyond rules.  Also, thanks to our partners, Afghanistan-Schulen, a German organization, we were performing in the safety of the refugee schools where “cross-cultural” behavior could be viewed as educational.  Outside of the schools, our presentations would have been impossible. 

     I am sure that we made an amazing impression on the children and on the adults too!  Everyone was enthralled by the show and thrilled to learn the skills in workshops.  To see something so amazing as stilts and then to try it yourself was a kind of miracle.  The little girls, who are so shy and reserved, just came to life – all smiles and maybe their first feelings of self-confidence.     

     A nice surprise to start the New Year, Daniel Simpson’s excellent article about Bond Street Theatre’s artistic-humanitarian work in the Balkans and the Afghan refugee camps appeared in The New York Times Arts Section on January 1st, 2003.