April 14, 7 p.m.

“Rediscovering Afghanistan: Lessons from the Home” will be the subject of an illustrated talk by linguist, feltmaker, scholar and photographer Rachel Lehr at 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 14 at the Sant Bani School Library, 19 Ashram Road, Sanbornton, NH. Sant Bani School’s International United States History class will be hosting this evening event. Soraya (Samira) Afzali, a tenth grade student from Afghanistan, will prepare an assortment of traditional vegetarian foods with the help of her fellow International classmates. Some students will also dress in traditional clothing from their countries.

Co-founder of Rubia, the Afghan Women’s Handwork project, Lehr spends several months each year in Afghanistan, working and living with village women and children. Through compelling stories, brought to life by beautiful and informative visual images and a fascinating collection of domestic artifacts, Lehr takes us into the homes of ordinary Afghans. Her photographs and personal anecdotes illuminate the rich cultural heritage of Afghanistan in a rapidly changing world.

Rubia is a non-profit organization, which works to translate the heritage and skills of Afghan women into sustainable livelihoods. Lehr’s presentation includes a traveling Afghan Culture Trunk of domestic artifacts, which she has collected during her frequent stays in the villages of Afghanistan.

Lehr’s academic training (in linguistics and Persian, at Barnard College and University of Chicago) took her traveling across Central Asia during the 1970s-80s. While studying and living in Iran, Tajikistan, and Afghanistan, Rachel developed a deep interest in the culture and arts of the region, and in the lives of its women and children.

In 2000 Rachel reestablished contact with a community of Afghans then living as refugees in Pakistan. Following her first trip to Pakistan, Rachel helped found Rubia, a nonprofit organization, as a response to the critical need for economic opportunities among Afghan refugee women living in Pakistan. Through education, skills training and the promotion of their hand-embroidered textiles, Rubia, now headquartered in Afghanistan, works to translate the heritage and skills of Afghan women into sustainable livelihoods. Rubia’s embroidery project is actively involved in helping rebuild Afghanistan.

For the past six years Rachel has been principal artist/scholar for the Arts Alliance of Northern New Hampshire’s “Heart of the Silk Road” Project, bringing arts and humanities workshops, seminars, teacher institutes and presentations to communities and schools throughout the state.

Pam Hunt’s class: United States History for International Students, will host.

The presentation is funded by the New Hampshire Humanities Council. For additional information, contact Sant Bani School at (603) 934-4240.