by Mary Smith
BOOK DESCRIPTION
Drunk Chickens and Burn Macaroni (subtitle) offers a remarkable insight into the lives of Afghan women both before and after Taliban’s rise to power. The reader is caught up in the day-to-day lives of women like Sharifa, Latifa and Marzia, sharing their problems, dramas, the tears and the laughter: whether enjoying a good gossip over tea and fresh nan, dealing with a husband’s desertion, battling to save the life of a one-year-old opium addict or learning how to deliver babies safely.
Mary Smith spent several years in Afghanistan working on a health project for women and children in both remote rural areas and in the city of Mazar-i-Sharif. Given the opportunity to participate more fully than most other foreigners in the lives of the women, many of whom became close friends, she has been able to present this unique portrayal of Afghan women – a portrayal very different from the one most often presented by the media.
AUTHOR BIO
Mary Smith was born on Islay, grew up in Dumfries & Galloway and worked for Oxfam in Lancashire for ten years. After this, she spent the next ten years working in Pakistan and Afghanistan, firstly for the Pakistan Leprosy Control Programme based in Karachi followed by establishing a mother and child health care project in the Hazara Jat region of Afghanistan and the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif.
After returning to Scotland she worked as a freelance journalist while writing her first book, Before The Taliban: Living with War, Hoping for Peace. This narrative non-fiction account of her time in Afghnaistan lets the reader meet some of the ordinary Afghan women and their families with whom Mary worked.
Her second book, No More Mulberries, also set in Afghanistan is her debut novel.
Mary's years in Afghanistan - often working in remote rural areas - allows her to bring a high degree of authenticity to her work.
Mary Smith is now a journalist with Dumfries & Galloway Life magazine while working on her second novel.
For more information on Mary's journalism, poetry and other projects visit her website at www.marysmith.co.uk
REVIEWS
By James Rogers
Format:Paperback|Verified Purchase
With Afghanistan so much in the news - and likely to continue so - this is a must-read book which provides an insight into life for ordinary Afghan people, providing a different perspective from the one the media provide.
Mary Smith, author of Drunk Chickens and Burnt Macaroni: Real Stories of Afghan Women, spent several years working on health projects in Afghanistan and she takes the reader to small rural villages in remote areas, to refugee camps and to the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif. Readers come to know the women, and their families, in a way no news headlines makes possible.
Despite the poverty, the hardships and the health problems, the women don't give in. The story of how the village women become health volunteers is inspiring. Along the way, there are tears, there is laughter and love and, despite all the problems they face, there is always hope.
Smith worked in Afghanistan until Taliban came to power. She later went back and the final chapters recount her return visit, meeting up with her old friends. It also provides a strong message as to why Taliban should not be allowed to return to power.
As for why the chickens were drunk - you'll have to read the book to find out.
Format:Kindle Edition|Verified Purchase
Mary smith's book is a fascinating and absorbing read. Part memoir, part travelogue, part political opinion - really too difficult to pin into a category - it held my attention all the way through. The stories Mary relates about her time as a health instructor in Afghanistan would turn your hair grey if it hadn't already fallen out in astonishment.
The job of bringing understanding to people who are by no means stupid, but who are almost to a woman entirely uneducated, is massive. Mary smith and her colleagues, including some locals, approached it with humour, intelligence and outstanding courage. As a reader I was rooting for every sick baby, every woman held back by custom and every man who came to understand. It's a job that must be ongoing. There are no simplicities in aid work. Anne
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