New research from UCLA Health reveals that women continue to face barriers in accessing lung transplants compared to men, despite recent national policy changes aimed at making organ distribution more equitable.

“Female lung transplant candidates have historically faced unique challenges in organ allocation due to a combination of biological and social factors,” said Dr. Abbas Ardehali,  director of the UCLA Heart, Lung, and Heart-Lung Transplant Programs at UCLA Health and senior author of the study, published in The Annals of Thoracic Surgery.

Women often have a smaller body size, which limits the number of donor lungs that are physically compatible. They are also more likely to develop antibodies from prior pregnancies, blood transfusions, or autoimmune conditions, making it harder for their bodies to accept many potential donor organs. Together, these factors significantly narrow the pool of compatible donors, Ardehali said.

Efforts to reduce these disparities have been ongoing. The Lung Allocation Score (LAS) system, introduced in 2005, prioritized transplants based on medical urgency but did not fully account for biological differences that affect women. To improve fairness, the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) implemented the Composite Allocation Score (CAS) system in March 2023. The new system added variables such as height, blood type, and immune sensitivity to better match donors and recipients.

However, researchers found that even with this improved system, inequities remain. Before CAS was implemented, women were 32% less likely than men to receive a lung transplant. After CAS went into effect, women were 16% less likely to undergo transplantation.

“There was a modest improvement in narrowing the gap, but we still have a lot of work to do,” Ardehali said. “Further refinements to the scoring system are needed to ensure a fair and effective organ allocation system for all patients, regardless of gender.”

Green Prophet’s transplant-related coverage (including womb transplant):

• World’s First Turkish Womb Transplant Is A Success
• Fecal transplants “poop pills” safe for recovery after stem cell transplant
• Poo beats pills? Norway backs poop transplant as safer treatment for gut-wrecking infection
• Fecal Transplant “Crapsule” kills super bugs better than antibiotics
• 💩 Who Has the Healthiest Donor Poo? Maybe You Do.
• First pig kidney transplant in a person (xenotransplant)
• Rebuilding a life, one hand at a time: a medical first at Penn Medicine
• First whole eye transplant successful

The post Why fewer lung transplants go to women appeared first on Green Prophet.

Women in the Taliban-controlled country of Afghanistan are already banned from showing their bodies and faces in public. A new blow to dehumanizing women is the ban of the sound of women’s voices in public.

Like the regime in Iran that controls women singing in public and showing their hair, the restrictions in Afghanistan are more fierce and among them ban women from being friends with non-Muslims and from entering national parks. Women are not allowed to work at NGOs that support women. Women can’t work in any legal profession, they can’t work for the government, or go to the gym or drive.

The Taliban published a list of “vice and virtue” laws this past summer which were approved by their supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada. The vice and virtues edicts are exhaustive and oppressive:  Afghan women must completely veil their bodies – including their faces – in heavy clothing at all times in the public setting so men will not be led to temptation and vice.

Among religious Jews, women are not encouraged to sing in public so men refrain from attending women’s concerts if they so choose. But women are allowed to speak in public, even encouraged to do so. But in Afghanistan and in Iran women’s voices are considered an instrument of vice and will not be allowed to be heard talking in public under the new restrictions. They cannot sing or real aloud if it can be heard from outside their home.

“Whenever an adult woman leaves her home out of necessity, she is obliged to conceal her voice, face, and body,” the new laws state.

In some areas in Afghanistan women sneak to the gym but in head to toe hijab. 

It wasn’t always like that.

Other restrictions on women, pointed out by the US Institute of Peace (we have edited the exhaustive list):

• March 31, 2024: Taliban closed several female educational centers in Kabul for registering female students beyond 6th grade.
• April 2024: The Taliban’s Education Department of Kabul Province issued a commitment letter to owners of private schools, outlining a series of ten points to which the owners/administrators are pledging adherence. One of these points declares, “I confirm my agreement to adhere to the decision to suspend schooling for female students from grades 7 to 12…” Source: copy of the letter
• June 4, 2024: The Department of Education in Bamyan issued a letter, signed by Qari Enayatullh Sahaar, stating that in all schools where students follow both Hanafi and Jafari jurisprudence, but only use textbooks based on one of these jurisprudences, the textbooks will be replaced with books from both Hanafi and Jafari traditions. Source: copy of the letter
• March 24, 2024: The Taliban leader stated that the public stoning of women shall be enforced, and the Taliban will not bend to the pressure of the West.
• December 30, 2023: The Taliban’s Ministry of Economy issued a letter calling on local and international organizations to refrain from implementing projects focused on peace, conflict resolution, advocacy and public awareness as they are not considered a need. Source: copy of the letter
• August 15, 2024: The Taliban’s department of economy instructed NGOs to remove the word “woman” from their organizational names. Source: contacts on the ground
• February 28, 2024: The Taliban’s spokesperson for the Ministry of the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, Abdul Ghaffar Farooq, announced that women appearing on television must wear black hijab and with their faces covered only leaving their eyes visible.
• April 2024: The Taliban in Helmand verbally instructed media outlets to refrain from airing women’s voices. Source: field contacts
• April 2024: Media outlets were verbally instructed to ban women from co-hosting shows with male journalists and refrain from reporting on women’s rights and violence against women. Source: media contacts
• May 5, 2023: Banned young and unmarried women from going to health centers and shrines in Kandahar province.
• January 2024: In Farah, the governor has issued a verbal order making wearing of black color hijab, face mask and gloves mandatory. Source: contacts on the ground
• January 2024: In Logar, the religious police made announcements through loudspeakers in mosques and in public stating that women and girls should refrain from wearing white pants, and shoes when going out and that those ignoring the order have no right to complain about the consequences. Source: contacts on the ground
• January 2024: In Paktia, the vice and virtue authorities announced through mosques that women are prohibited from wearing black Arabic hijabs, as they reveal the eyes. Instead, women are mandated to exclusively wear burqa. Source: contacts on the ground
• February 14, 2024: Mullah Abdul Haq Waseeq, head of the Taliban’s General Directorate of Intelligence, has directed its units to stop organizations from taking inappropriate photos (mixed male/female) during aid distribution, and during meetings, particularly of women. Violators are instructed to be reported to the directorate for appropriate action. Source: copy of the letter
• May 26, 2024: The Taliban required couples in Herat to present their “marriage certificate” to allow them to eat together in restaurants.
• July 3, 2024: The religious police in Daikundi issued an announcement mandating that women must comply with the hijab requirement within five days. The specified hijab style must be Arabic. After the deadline, violators will face punishment and imprisonment, with responsibility falling on both the individual and her family. Source: copy of the announcement and sources on the ground
• July 5, 2024: The religious police in Daikundi issued an announcement mandating that women must comply with the hijab requirement within five days. The specified hijab style must be Arabic. After the deadline, violators will face punishment and imprisonment, with responsibility falling on both the individual and her family. Source: copy of the announcement
• July 17, 2024: The Vice and Virtue authorities in Faryab have re-issued a ban prohibiting women from visiting three parks (Khawja Ghaar, Dara Shaakh, and Dara Rang) in Gurziwaan District. The ban has been confirmed through an official letter and corroborated by contacts on the ground.
• July 31, 2024: The Taliban issued a new edict under their ‘Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice Law’, which was published in the Ministry of Justice gazette, listing previously imposed restrictions as well as additional ones, including women’s voice in public and prohibiting friendship with non-Muslims. Source: copy of the edict
• August 26, 2023: Taliban Minister of Vice and Virtue during his visit to Bamiyan announced that women are henceforth not allowed to enter Band-e Amir national parkBand E Amir National Park: forbidden for women
• March 27, 2022: Banned women from traveling abroad without a mahram (husband or guardian) and without a legitimate reason.
• January 16, 2023: Instructed travel agencies not to sell tickets to women without a mahram.

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Dubai is opening a new cafe in 2023, Donna Cyber Café, featuring “super-model” Diana, who will serve you coffee with a smile between the valleys of her big bosom. 

She is a clone of Diana Gabdullina, the wife of Rashid Gabdullin who made the robot. He wife won a beauty contest in 2014 and Rashid wants others to experience his wife’s beauty.

With so much that goes wrong in the Middle East in environmentalism (Burj, Dubai for instance), this kind of cafe sets the woman’s movement back to the 60s. Women and girls we want to socially empower, and not sexualise, should not have their brothers, or fathers served by this demented male fantasy.

The Diana robot, is a Robo-C2, a humanoid robot that is designed to look like a human being, talk like a human, express emotions and interact with people. 

The developers of Diana believe she will give their businesses a ‘competitive advantage’ and help attract new clients. 

The Donna cafe will be open 24/7 and will include soft-serve ice-cream, a soft drink dispenser and a coffee machine with items being served to customers by Donna’s robotic arms.

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Like China  – using AI and surveillance cameras to pinpoint people breaking lockdown –  Iran’s morality police are using technology to catch women without a head covering, the hijab. Going in public without a hijab is a moral sin in Iran.

The heavy-handed Islamic extremist government of Iran is insistent that women, whether they chose to practice the religion or not must have their heads covered by the hijab. Until now morality police stopped women on the street, with recent incursions resulting in violence (see videos below). Enforcement has stepped up and Iran is now using security cameras and facial recognition to ID violators. 

Iran was once a thriving, liberal country in the Middle East and Tehran was often compared to being the Paris of the Middle East. An intolerant regime over the last 30 years has created an exodus of Iranians with the means to escape, and those without the means to live under an iron fist –– and now surveillance cameras.

What is the hijab?

In modern usage, hijab refers to headcoverings worn by Muslim women. While Islamic head coverings can come in many forms, hijab often specifically refers to a cloth wrapped around the head, neck and chest, covering the hair but leaving the face visible.

While some Muslim women chose to wear the hijab (read dispelling the hijab myth here) there are many who don’t. And not complying with the rule might land you a fine, in jail or worse.

Radio Free Europe says that authorities in Iran are planning a video surveillance campaign that will install cameras in public places such as subways and sidewalks.

Wearing a hijab in mandatory in Iran for women, even if you don’t define yourself as a Muslim. Zoroastrians, Christians, Jews and agnostic people live in Iran but the country has a bad history of persecuting other religions, its oldest religion especially.

In a video published on social media, Mohammad Saleh Hashemi Golpayegani said this new measure is based on the July 5 order by President Ebrahim Raisi to enforce the so-called hijab and chastity law. It is the first time that an official in Iran has publicly admitted the presence of facial recognition technology in public surveillance cameras. 

Special security forces have been enforcing the law on the streets for decades.

At the top of Iran’s power structure is the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who succeeded Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the father of the Iranian Revolution, upon Khomeini’s death in 1989. Khomeini and Khamenei are the only two men to have held the office since the founding of the Islamic Republic in 1979.

After a video of a woman enforcing hijab rules quarreling with a female bus rider became viral, IRGC-affiliated Fars news said the hijab violator has been arrested.
The video started circulating on Saturday, a few days after Iranian women launched a campaign against hijab. pic.twitter.com/PVOgvAYSUs

— Iran International English (@IranIntl_En) July 17, 2022

Golpayegani is the secretary of Iran’s Headquarters for Enjoining Right and Forbidding Evil, which is responsible for determining and enforcing  “proper” Muslim and Islamic models in society.

Golpayegani has previously said to the media that women who publish their pictures without a hijab on the Internet, on let’s say Instagram, will be deprived of some social rights for a period of six months to one year.

If you are judged to be non-compliant here’s what might happen to you:  you won’t be able to enter government offices, you will be denied entry to banks, and you won’t be able to use public transportation.

VIDEO of women taping morality police

Women who don’t comply might also be “disappeared” and whisked away into vans. This is what has happened to the past to well-known bloggers we’ve interviewed like Hossein Derakhshan and to Faranak Farid who was beaten and tortured for trying to protect a disappearing salt lake, Lake Orumieh, in Iran. 

Guidance Patrols, or the morality police in Iran are known for becoming increasingly active and violent. The head covering worn by Muslim women became compulsory in public for Iranian women and girls over the age of 9 after the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Some “extreme” practices in Islam are also misunderstood. Read here from our Muslim writer about khitan, or circumcision in males and females.And if you missed the link earlier in the article, here is an op-ed we published that dispels the myth of the hijab as weakening women. The author of the article presents herself without a hijab.

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Despite Saudi activists going to prison for women’s rights, Saudi Arabian Airlines (Saudia) over the weekend opened the door for Saudi women to work as flight attendants for the first time.

The kingdom’s flag carrier clarified in a statement on Friday that Saudi female applicants must be high school graduates between the ages of 20 and 30, with the “required level of the English language,” that their weight be “proportional to the height in accordance with the standards of Saudi Airlines” and that they pass a medical examination.

Saudia is the third-largest carrier in the Middle East in terms of revenue, behind Emirates and Qatar Airways.

Karema Bokhary, an analyst and academic who was a candidate in Riyadh’s 2015 municipal council elections, suggested to The Media Line that in five years or so, Saudi women might have equal rights, as the society would overcome major obstacles in terms of their rights.

“Allowing Saudi women to work as flight attendants forms a very interesting topic. … I’m going to monitor who’s going to apply and their numbers as well,” Bokhary said.

She explained that historically, Saudi society had forbidden females to work in trades such as saleswomen, much less as flight attendants who were somehow considered servants. “They [Saudis] might consider it a further humiliation for Saudi women as they will have to serve, clean and deal with any requests as it will be their job.”

The decision was a good tipping point in the kingdom, as it normalized the job and made it available for all, women and men, Bokhary said. “Also, the payoff for the job is very high, especially since it opens the way for women who are not university graduates to work. At the same time, the decision will enable them to travel.”

There was great interest within the country regarding women working in new fields and their conditions and pay, “as it’s very important to enable women to support themselves and be productive members of society, rather than burdens,” she continued.

Nevertheless, it was important for Saudi Arabia to preserve its identity amid these major changes, and for Saudi women to protect their identities as well, Bokhary said.

“We don’t want to be like the Western world. I think there’s confusion now, especially since the door was opened all of a sudden and some women are using it to become famous, but eventually this bubble will burst,” she said.

She indicated that the movement to support women’s rights started during the reign of King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz (2005-2015) and made great strides under the current monarch, King Salman bin Abdulaziz. “And Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has completely opened the way for women and fully supporting Saudi women, and he’s not pulling back. The sky’s the limit for them,” Bokhary said.

A central part of the prince’s Saudi Vision 2030 program to make the kingdom less dependent on oil is for Saudi women to work across a broad spectrum of industries, whereas in the past they were limited to such sectors as education.

Riyadh has publicly committed to increasing the rate of female employment by reforming both the economy and the legal system, Bokhary said.

Hanaa’ Khayari, 20, a student at Riyadh’s King Saud University who works part-time as a hostess in a restaurant, told The Media Line she was grateful to her country and the changes that have been made for women, and that Saudi Vision played a major role in opening opportunities for females.

“I hear that a large number of Saudi women want to work as flight attendants, within certain comfort criteria drawn up by the airline company itself to help women work in a healthy environment,” Khayari said.

For Saudi women to achieve their goals and to be independent within society, they must prove themselves, she said. “It’s a huge opportunity, as women will be able to visit many countries and meet new people, in addition learning new languages and cultures.”

It was important to encourage Saudi women to apply to join the airline’s cabin crews, by focusing on the benefits and the advantages the job would provide females. “For instance, by explaining how women can evolve and grow in the field, she said.

“I thank King Salman and the Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for the number of girls who will benefit from this great opportunity,” Khayari said.

Prof. Widad al-Jarwan, who specializes in political sociology at King Saud University, told The Media Line people should bear in mind that Saudi women were living normal lives, just like everyone else in the kingdom, as they joined the educational system more than 70 years ago and many had graduated as teachers and physicians.

“And the door was opened for them more than 15 years ago in terms of studying abroad …, the same as for men in all fields,” she said.

The whole world was undergoing many changes and passing new laws, as even in the most developed countries some obstacles stood before women in some matters, and not only in Saudi Arabia, Jarwan explained.

“Now there are new changes and transformations that include radical reform of legal, social and civil affairs in terms of women, under Riyadh Vision,” she continued. “Women are half of society, and the options for empowering women are increasing regarding their type of work and specialization, and obtaining all of their family, social and legal rights.

Women formed the most important part of society, as mothers, wives and the ones raising the next generation, she said. “They protect the country and produce for it.

“Saudi women have exceptional talents and mentality that enable them to combine education, work and their families. Saudi women are strong, capable and productive women for their country,” Jarwan said.

If one compared the Saudi woman to other women around the world with transparency, pragmatism and sincerity, the results would show that females in the kingdom were better off in terms of living conditions, she said. “Education is available to her in all specializations. Work is available for her in all fields. Financial social support is available for her and in exceptional cases as well, such as disability and widowhood.”

Saudi society in general, by virtue of the religious, societal and governmental norms, respected, valued and sympathized with women, Jarwan emphasized. “We have a very, very high percentage of women in education and work and in senior positions. In our country, we are keen to contain all aspects that would put women in the best condition.”

Major steps have been taken in the past three years toward granting equal rights to Saudi women, including lifting the ban on female drivers, and granting them the freedom to leave the home without a male guardian and to attend public events such as soccer matches.

Saudi women also now have the right to, without male guardian permission, register births, marriage or divorce, live apart from their husbands, travel overseas and obtain family records. Moreover, they can register as a co-head of household, along with their husbands.

____

This article was first published by the Middle East News Service, The Media Line

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Muslim women face varying amounts of oppression from men depending on where they live. In some regions like Lebanon, Turkey, Morocco, Israel and the UAE, women are relatively as free as the men to drive, work — and yeah work out. While some women may dream of going to a post-workout Starbucks in Lululemon hot pink workout pants  – in Afghanistan women are fighting for the right to work out at all.

In a post-Taliban city of Kahandar, Afghanistan Muslim women are sneaking into a new gym to secretly work out. Though I am not sure how secret that may be now that the story was covered in the New York Times.

Some women say they faced depression and health problems and felt joining the  gym – founded by a women’s rights activist Maryam Durani (who survived two suicide bombings and death threats) was the only thing they could do for their well being.

Even Muslim women walking around outside in certain villages in the Bedouin society in Israel is not considered acceptable. So given the restrictions there aren’t a lot of creative ways for every Muslim woman to exercise. I have noticed a growing number of Muslim women walking in conservative workout gear in Jaffa, something I hadn’t seen let’s say 5 years ago. So times are changing, even in Afghanistan. And while women in America fought to wear pants in the 1930s, Afghani women are fighting for the treadmill. 

The gym was started last year in a basement, guarded by security, and away from prying eyes. 

While there is a health club for women in the city of Kabul, some areas like Kandahar are extremely conservative. 

In my city the Muslim women enjoy a day at the gym every other day of the week at the Jewish Arab Community Center, which is sensitive to Muslim modesty needs. That’s women on one day, and men on the other.  There is a beach in North Tel Aviv which operates for the same reasons one day men, one day women, but for Orthodox Jewish families who practice similar modesty laws by choice. 

I support any society that wants to be modest, but not the ones enforcing the rules that clearly dehumanise others. 

In Bedouin towns in Israel such as Rahat women are not allowed to have free movement including going to work, and walking around the village, so it really depends more on village and town customs, and how men from the families enforce their religious observance, more than a country-wide oppression. 

Over in Afghanistan social media posts are calling the gym ‘a house for whores, so women can make themselves look better for men’. Women who visit the new gym have been threatened outside and hit with stones and death threats should they return –– a barbaric response to a basic human need to feel fit.

We need a little more Rumi

Even though the Taliban have left the city the women face the same control by men exerted over them as though the terror group never left, they say.

Afghanistan wasn’t always so repressive towards women. Neither was Iran. Repressive and oppressive regimes have turned both countries into backwater states, with barely a hint of their former selves.

My husband’s great-grandfather was born in Balkh, previously Persia and now Afghanistan, the same town where Rumi, a Muslim Sufi came from. I consider Rumi to be one of the world’s biggest spiritual guides, teaching humility, love for nature, love for god. Years ago his town and region was a mystical and cultural magnet from which the West met the East in much more than trade of goods, but where spiritual ideas looking for the truth and god collided.

Sadly the god of the bullies has taken over and we need to help the women in these impoverished places rise up – one sit up at a time. And remember even progressive-looking women can be married to despots. Read our story about Bashar al Asad’s London-born wife Asma al Asad. And the fiasco with Vogue. 

Fuel progressive thinking, and read more stories from Afghanistan and Iran

How about the Girls of Skateistan? 

Or when we covered Surfing in Iran? 

Or the All-women Afghanistan Cycling Team?

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Last September, the conservative religious kingdom of Saudi Arabia issued a decree granting women the right to drive, the result of years of activism and appeals both from within and outside the Gulf nation. That new “freedom” will not come into effect until in June next year.

Apparently this anonymous athlete doesn’t have the patience to wait.

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Esraa Al Hagan wearied of extended family tirelessly toiling to match her with a mate. The 27-year-old, self-described as happily single, refused their efforts, choosing to remain independent.  No easy task in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, where women cannot vote, work alongside men, and only recently have permission to drive a car (albeit with restrictions).

In a bold show of independence, Al Hagan –  who comes from an Egyptian family – decided to walk through the streets wearing an elaborate wedding dress, but without a husband by her side. Her “wedding” was a celebration of her productive single life, attended by a crowd of close friends who cheered the idea. They maintain steadfast in the face of negative social media commentary that since her actions are not religiously forbidden and cause no one harm, her groomless wedding march was neither controversial nor wrong.

“I’m rewarding myself for my hard work,” Al-Hagan said in an interview with Al-Nahar TV. “I live by the motto: ‘Reward yourself after a long productive day’. I haven’t rewarded myself in a long time, so I decided to do so in a unique way.”

“A dress is not necessarily a representation of happiness,” Al Hagan said. “Countless women wore dresses and then ended up being divorced.” She explained that she wanted the “Bride-zilla” experience of being beautifully dresses and the focus of admiration and attention while sending a message to people that “happiness has no limits.”

Her photographer friend Mohammed Essam volunteered to record the big day. “When she told me about the idea, I was surprised at first but then I said ‘if you’re crazy, I’m crazier so let’s do it’ and we did the photoshoot,” he told Arab News.

Onlookers did wonder where the groom was, and the friends playfully advised that he was occuppied in a toilet. Al Hagan stressed that she “couldn’t care less what people think,” and instead is spreading a message to single women everywhere to care about themselves and their own happiness.

Essam defended his rebellious friend, saying, “What’s the big deal? The only difference is that she wore a white dress. No one would bat an eye if she wore a red dress and took a photoshoot. Color is the only difference.”

Al Hagan admits her family was not thrilled. “I did what I did despite my family’s objection. I’m an independent woman and have always made my own decisions,” she said.

According to a study quoted by the Egypt Independent, the average age of marriage in Egypt is 20 for women and 26 for men.

Green Prophet wonders where she went on her honeymoon. Meanwhile, check out our tips on ways to green up your own wedding.

Images by Mohammed Essam via social media

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Restaurants and cafes in Jeddah have posted signs warning women that if they want to be served sheesha, their mahrams (male guardians) must be at their side.

The message – which comes from the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (Haia) – also requires that sheesha only be sold to customers over age 18. Fair enough, that bit. But the ban has Saudi women sheesha lovers steamed.

“I don’t want to drag my husband or my son to a café in order to have sheesha,” said businesswoman Alaa Daani.

“What if I want to go to a women-only gathering where we don’t want men with us,” she told Arab News, “I don’t see the need of a male guardian for this. This has nothing to do with gender mixing or anything against the rules of Islam.”

Complicating the issue is the fact that many women keep their love of sheesha secret from their mahrams. “No one knows I smoke sheesha, this is why I don’t smoke at home because my family doesn’t want me to do anything that harms my health,” said college student Hayat Ali. “I go with my friends once a week to any café to smoke sheesha and have a good time. There is nothing else to entertain us here but shopping and smoking sheesha. What are we going to do now?”

The new ruling comes on the heels of an indoor sheesha smoking ban and coffee shop owners say this might further harm their businesses. “We lost a lot of money and many clients after the regulation of serving sheesha only outdoors, which led us to rent more space and expand the café to the rooftop in order to serve it,” said café manager Jameel Mohammed, “I guarantee our business is going to lose a lot and we might have to shut down the café.”

Social media grabbed the news and ran with it – both sides of the argument weighing in loudly. “I am totally supporting this idea because it is sad when I see young women smoking sheesha in public,” said Ahmed Al-Shammari on Twitter.  In his judgement, sheesha smoking makes “them look cheap and easy.” Sheesha’s popularity is at least partly attributable to the fact that it (unlike the women who like it) is so cheap and easy to access.

This is one smoking regulation that will likely trigger some intense heat.

Image of female sheesha smoker from Shutterstock.

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Many do-gooders go to countries like Afghanistan, where culture prohibits girls from certain activities common in the west, in an effort to save them, but Australian skater Oliver Percovich took his mission one step further by consulting with the local community and government to establish a facility that fits in with the prevailing cultural ethos.

Although girls are not permitted to ride bicycles in Afghanistan (like Saudi), skateboarding is considered a perfectly modest activity.

So when Percovich first showed up on the streets of Kabul with three skateboards and found himself surrounded by happy faces eager to learn what to do with them, he faced few obstacles upon opening a skateboarding school.

“I always like to go high on the ramps,” said Hanifa, a 14 year old Afghan skater. “When I’m up there I feel free, like I’m flying. I like that feeling a lot.”

In fact, the Afghan National Olympic Committee donated the 5,428 square meters of land on which the first school was built, though certain cultural exigencies have to be observed, such as keeping girls and boys classes separate, and girls have to be instructed by females only.

In addition to teaching skateboarding, the facility offers educational classes, including environmental science, so that children between the ages of 5 and 18 are developing their minds along with their confidence and physical dexterity.

It is the first international development initiative to combine skateboarding with educational outcomes, according to its website.

Several years down the road, Skateistan has uplifted hundreds of children. Roughly 40 percent of them are girls, and 50 percent of them are either street kids or refugees. And after experiencing such great success in Kabul, they opened two more branches – first in Cambodia and most recently in Mazar-e Sharif, Afghanistan’s fourth largest city. 

They have also established a grassroots street-level program in Pakistan.

“The students themselves decide what they want to learn – we connect them with a safe space and opportunities for them to develop the skills that they consider important,” according to Skateistan.

Since many of the children live in dangerous areas, the school even provides transport to ensure they are able to attend classes safely. Even so, a few children were once killed in a bombing attack, underscoring the devastating context in which this beautiful program uplifts our precious youth.

:: Skateistan

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