Days of Apprehension
Farah, Afghanistan
September, 2005

We are among mystics, refugees and neglected animals. It is hot and the people are poor. Every day is full of bargaining and debate.  These are days of apprehension and apprehension creates distance.  The nights become hostile. People reveal intentions they may or may not have. The enemy is abstract but feels real. The enemy could be every one and no one. Car lights shine on rifles.  I yearn to leave this place.

This film was made in spite of this apprehension: Malalai Joya’s apprehension for her own life, our apprehension for being in Afghanistan and among people we did not know.

How does the story we choose to tell effect our society, our world?  The great “mono-narrative” has to be broadened. The world hungers for more dimensions, more voices so that the we can create our own opinions, our own sense of awareness about what is really happening in the world—especially when it comes to Islam.

This film was made to tell another story from one of the world’s most talked-about regions: Afghanistan. The stories we hear are always full of bombs, torture and terrorists, stories full of apprehension that create distance: between “us” and “them”. 

The world is not about villians who lurk outside awaiting us.  The world is more than that-- full of everyday people who fight everyday battles for their and others right to life, dream and happiness.  Muslims are not a monolithic villainous entity just like we in the West are not.  We can understand each other.  There are many who profit from making us think that we can not.  But in them we can not believe.  They create our apprehension for the world and each other, an apprehension that leads to distance.