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"Once in Afghanistan" - '60's Peaced Corps women tell a different story
Movie screenings:
- March 6, 3pm: Crandell Theatre in Chatham, directions
- March 18, 8pm: North Chatham Free Library, directions
- March 31, 7pm: New Lebanon Public Library, directions
The
film is followed by discussion and a small collection of artifacts from
local returned Peace Corps volunteers. Free admission at
all venues. | 
DVD Cover
download ad poster |
| In honor of the 50th
anniversary of the founding of Peace Corps, Returned Peace
Corps Voluntees of Northeastern NY will show "Once in Afghanistan," a film
about early Peace Corps volunteers who worked to eradicate small pox.
The
film transports viewers - house by house & village by village - to remote landscapes as they follow Peace Corps women inoculating tribal
women against smallpox.
Viewers get an up-close look at Peace Corps life with tribal
cultures in peaceful, pre-Soviet Afghanistan through historic
images and current interviews. |
Producer's Discussion: In 1969, the World Health Organization
made the eradication of smallpox its top priority. Young women
trained to give vaccinations by the Peace Corps joined teams of male
vaccinators in Afghanistan to help meet this challenge. They were
responsible primarily for reaching the women and girls as
Afghanistan’s traditional Muslim culture discouraged contact
between them and men outside the family. To do this, they traveled to
remote areas and worked house by house. The Afghan women’s
resistance to being vaccinated was one challenge. Another was the
harsh climate and terrain. Also, the Americans, most of whom had no
health training, were sometimes expected to help the sickest person
in the village.
In 2008, one of the women in the
group, Jill Vickers, together with a couple of filmmakers, produced a
documentary of the group’s experience in Afghanistan to celebrate
their 40th anniversary since going to the country. The DVD, recently
released, is called “Once in Afghanistan.” The film explores the
women’s often humorous recollections of adjusting to life in
Afghanistan and the profound impact being there has had on their
lives.
The film is a 70-minute documentary
with interviews from several of the vaccinators, now in their 60s,
who participated in this unique all-woman group. It includes Afghan
Project music, some old video, and still photos taken by the group
when they served from 1969–71. The documentary spotlights an
Afghanistan few know about because it is from a perspective that is
pre-Russian invasion, pre-Mujahadin, pre-Taliban, pre-9/11, and
pre-today’s American presence in the country. It was a time of
peace in a country torn by war since the late ‘70s.
In the film, the women tell of the
hospitality and generosity of the Afghans; they tell of hardship
while traveling to rural villages where no Westerner had been before;
they talk about the transformation in consciousness that occurred
through living and working in a totally different culture. Almost all
of the women had problems readjusting to American life when they
returned and many immediately packed up and left again to travel or
work in different countries. This DVD tells a story, through many
voices, that few can tell. It is a moving recollection of memories as
well as hope and insight for what now is happening in Afghanistan.
"Once in Afghanistan" is a
response to the suffering, since that time, of the Afghan people. In
an age when images and messages of hate travel faster and farther
than ever before, this is a message of understanding.
Filmmakers are Jill Vickers, a member
of this Peace Corps group, and Jody Bergedick, of Middlebury
Community Television, formerly of Children’s Television Workshop
and Broad Street Productions in New York. Camera and sound work is by
Katherine Wheatley of Middlebury Video Production Services.
All Profits from the documentary will be used for aid
to Afghanistan.
Producer's contact: Dirt Road
Documentaries, 4409 Town Line Rd, Bridport, VT 05734, Jill Vickers,
jvickers@gmavt.net,
802.759.3227. www.dirtroaddocumentaries.com
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