Memory boxes capture Afghans’ pain of war, attempt to heal
KABUL — It was an evening like many others. Faisal teased his mother Adila before leaving for the Kabul pharmacy where he worked to earn enough money to pay for math and English classes. The 17-year-old dreamed of becoming a doctor.
After kissing his mother goodbye and telling her he loved her, he left the home for the last time. Moments later — in a scenario that has played out in similar fashion throughout Afghanistan for years — a suicide bomber detonated his explosives nearby, killing Faisal and his 15-year-old cousin Ahmadullah, as well as three others.
“He ran out the door. He was laughing. Then just five minutes later I heard this big explosion,” Adila Hamidi said of her son’s last moments in a recent interview, choking back tears.
War and death have dogged Afghans like Hamidi and her family for the past four decades, giving birth to a project known as the Memory Box Initiative, designed by the Afghanistan Human Rights and Democracy Organization. The project pays tribute to the millions of Afghans killed and wounded in 40 years of relentless war and to help heal the wounds of the living, said Salim Rajabi, project organizer.