In her new memoir, Homeira Qaderi writes to her son Siawash. Qaderi and her son have a complex relationship. Siawash, although currently in her custody, may not remain with her for long.
The memoir, “Dancing in the Mosque” details life in Afghanistan, “the land of a death foretold.”
“We were like mice, silent and nervous, hiding in the walls from a hungry cat that could pounce on us at any time,” writes Qaderi about life under Taliban. She further explains it not only to her son, but all of the readers as well.
Homeira Qaderi to teach her son about her life and their country
Qaderi dedicated this memoir to her son, who was taken from her when he was 19 months old. At this time, Qaderi went through a divorce, owing her husband’s desire to take a second wife. After this, Qaderi could not even contact her son. In fact, she had to pretend to be just a friend, since he did not even know she was alive.
Although Qaderi currently has temporary custody, it will not last. After age 7, according to Sharia law in Afghanistan, custody will move to Siawash’s father.
Qaderi spent 985 days separated from her child. During this time she sought asylum in California and made her voice heard worldwide.
“It is my fondest wish, my son, that someday, somehow, this story I have told you about my life will help you and your children and your children’s children create and nurture a new Afghanistan,” Qaderi writes to her son.
Homeira Qaderi has always yearned to educate and be educated
Qaderi knows the value of education. In fact, she put her life at risk as a teenager to educate herself and others. At the age of 13, she was taken out of school due to her being a woman. At 15, she decided to teach younger girls who had received even less schooling than she how to read and write.
Her father would hide the family’s books in their garden when the Taliban would search people’s homes for guns. Once he realized his daughter began to write, he said “the girl who writes must read stories. I will hide the books in the cellar.”
But Qaderi also used her womanhood to her advantage. “The Taliban never count on me as a teacher and never take me seriously and don’t care about me,” she tells NPR, explaining that she was almost discovered teaching, but not taken seriously due to her being a young girl.
Recently, already a well-known author, she was expelled from Iran, despite her role as a senior adviser to Afghanistan’s Minister of Education.
Homeira Qaderi writes a combination of memories and missives
“I wrote this book for [my son] to understand how much his mother [is] suffering from this culture,” explains Qaderi. “I want from him to be a good man, a man who always protects the women of this country.”
She also says: “I can’t afford to be silent.” The memoir includes both stories of her time in Afghanistan and “missives” to her son. The memoir’s title, Dancing in the Mosque, honors the class she taught as a child in a mosque on reading the Quran. In the mosque, she got to be a child and dance with her friends among everything else that was going on around them.
Buy Qaderi’s memoir here.
