Afghan actress Strorai Mangal, 51, firmly believes that women and
the arts can play a central role in the reconstruction of
Afghanistan.

Ms. Mangal, one of the female Afghan experts selected under
IOM’s Temporary Return of Qualified Nationals (TRQN)
programme, arrived in Kabul last August and completed a six month
assignment with Radio Television Afghanistan (RTA).

Funded by the Dutch Government, the TRQN programme assists
qualified Afghans residing in the Netherlands to return home and
helps to place them in key positions within government, ministries
and the private sector. IOM works closely with the Government of
Afghanistan to identify positions that are important to the
country’s reconstruction and sustainable development plans,
but which cannot be filled by nationals already living in
Afghanistan.

In today’s Afghanistan, experienced actresses like Strorai
Mangal are certainly few and far between. She started her career as
a voice actress some 25 years ago and starred in a popular series
which the RTA continues to air.  She was also active in
directing plays, and her poetry recitals on various radio
programmes won her such a mass following that it was once difficult
to find an Afghan radio listener nationwide who was not familiar
with her unique, translucent voice.

But in the summer of 1998 during the Taliban regime her voice
also proved her undoing. Like other professional women she was
banned from working and when police officers recognized her voice
in the street, despite the fact that she was wearing a burqua, she
knew that it was time to leave. “My life was in danger and I
had no choice but to escape,” she says.

After fleeing Afghanistan, Ms. Mangal was granted refugee status
in the Netherlands, where she continued her work as an actress,
mainly for Afghan audiences. She teamed up with other Afghan
artists and produced plays, films, dramas and magazines. Some of
them were educational products designed to teach Afghan children
about the culture of their homeland.

According to the Ministry of Education, an estimated 11 million
Afghans are illiterate. It is commonly agreed that the best way to
educate the adult population in Afghanistan is not through the
books and newspapers, but through other means such as broadcast
media. Despite her achievements, Ms. Mangal found life in the
Netherlands a struggle, mainly due to limited knowledge of the
Dutch language. “It is very difficult to work for Dutch TV
without speaking the language fluently and I am too old for that.
When I found out about the IOM

programme, I was so happy and applied immediately. I realized that
I would be able to work again. It was like I finally found what I
had lost in my life,” she says.

Back in Kabul, Ms. Mangal started work on a TV drama about one
of the most famous figures in Afghan history - Mirwais Nika. He
overthrew the governor of Kandahar in 1709 and successfully
defeated the Persians, who were attempting to convert the local
population of Kandahar from Sunni to Shia Islam. “Learning
about Mirwais Nika is important for all Afghans as he is like a
father of the nation and a symbol of unity and solidarity for
solving the problems of the Afghan people through Jirga (a
traditional assembly of elders),” says Ms. Mangal.

Strorai Mangal not only directed the drama, but also played the
roles of four different female characters. This was not to show off
her excellent acting skills – it was because finding suitable
actresses, allowed to work by their families, is one of the most
difficult things about producing films in Afghanistan.

“This has been my complaint against Afghan men all this
time. Why do they not allow their wives to work? Islam does not say
that women should be kept at home. On the contrary, the acquisition
of knowledge is compulsory for both men and women,” says Ms.
Mangal.

Ms. Mangal is convinced that TV and radio programmes can only be
successful if they include female characters.

“As we reconstruct the country, we need to also
reconstruct our minds and re-educate families for a better future
– a future in which women participate,” she says.