WHAT TOMORROW BRINGSJessica6302020-10-28T01:09:31+00:00
WHAT TOMORROW BRINGS
“We opened a school for girls in Afghanistan to help break the cycle of poverty through access to an education in a very poor area. By providing these girls with an education, we are giving them a ray of hope to protect them from the vicious cycle of poverty, malnutrition, and hunger.”
– Razia Jan Founder, Razia’s Ray of Hope Foundation
Award-winning WHAT TOMORROW BRINGS goes inside the first girls’ school in one Afghan village for an education that goes far beyond the classroom. The girls, their teachers, and school founder Razia Jan confront what it means to become a woman in a rigidly patriarchal society, and how they can achieve their dreams despite the obstacles they face. Remarkable changes happen when a community skeptical about girls’ education learns to embrace it. Sill, threats that girls face – from forced marriage to Taliban attack – loom large.
Director & Producer: Beth Murphy Editors: Mary Lampson, Kevin Belli, Nathan Tisdale Cinematography: Kevin Belli, Elissa Bogos Mirzaei, Beth Murphy Executive Producers: Charles Sennott, Debra McLeod Co-Producer: Nathan Tisdale Associate Producers: Ashima Duggal, Peter Norton
When I first met Pashtana, she was a 15-year-old in the seventh grade — the oldest student in her classroom. She was caught in the awkward moment between being a girl and becoming a woman, and not quite comfortable in either role. But she was an eager class clown.
With holes in her clothes, and borrowed shoes that didn’t quite fit, Pashtana launched into a classroom standup routine before the teacher arrived. She grabbed her long braid and held it up to her face, mimicking an older man who was courting her friend.
“Hey!” she yelled. “This is what your fiancé looks like!”
Then, Pashtana turned the joke on herself. “My fiancé is tall with a giant head! I try to hold his hand, but I cannot reach!”
The girls laughed; it was a familiar scenario to them all.
Drought is drying up farms across Afghanistan, threatening the only way of life the majority has ever known. It’s in the fields where a new war is being waged between two forces the people can’t control: climate change and terrorism. But, as special correspondent Beth Murphy of The GroundTruth Project reports, some are seeing greater reason to let their daughters be educated.
