STYLING A LIFE OF FREEDOM AUTHOR BRINGS A NEW SKILL TO THE WOMEN OF KABUL.Byline: Semhar Debessai Staff Writer Hairdressers can change the world. That was the sentiment when Deborah Rodriguez, author of "Kabul Beauty School: An American Woman Goes Behind the Veil," visited the Paul Mitchell For other persons named Paul Mitchell, see Paul Mitchell (disambiguation). Paul Mitchell (born Cyril Thomson Mitchell on January 27, 1936 in Scotland) [1] School in the Sherman Oaks Galleria Sherman Oaks Galleria is a shopping mall and business center located in the Sherman Oaks neighborhood of Los Angeles, California at the corner of Ventura and Sepulveda Boulevards in the San Fernando Valley. Locals colloquially refer to the mall simply as "the Galleria. last Friday. Paul Mitchell was one of several major beauty companies to send truckloads of supplies to Rodriguez when she decided to open a beauty school in war-torn Kabul in 2003. So Rodriguez was in town to show her gratitude, share her book and raise even more money as the Paul Mitchell students offered haircuts for donations. "It's been a wild ride," explained the flame-haired author, wearing eclectic jewelry and a two-piece outfit with a sea-inspired pattern reflecting her grand and colorful personality. Still wide-eyed with amazement and bubbling with energy as she toured the spacious Sherman Oaks school -- open since November -- Rodriguez took mental notes of the latest items she hoped to bring back to Kabul. Rodriguez's story started almost immediately following the events of 9/11. She had left her hometown of Holland, Mich., to escape a nightmare of a marriage, opting to join a relief organization that would be traveling to the most unlikely of places for refuge: Afghanistan. Since the Christian aid Christian Aid is an agency of the major Christian churches in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It works with local partner organisations in over 60 countries around the world to help the world's poorest communities. group seemed rather clueless clue·less adj. Lacking understanding or knowledge. clueless Adjective Slang helpless or stupid Adj. 1. about where to place her (at one point they gave her the task of praying), Rodriguez found herself in high demand as a professionally trained hairdresser. Hair salons were banned under Taliban rule, she learned, and many Afghan women admitted to having risked their lives just to get a perm Perm (pyĕrm), city (1990 est. pop. 1,090,000), capital of Perm Territory, NE European Russia, on the Kama River. It is a transfer center for rail and river traffic and a major producer of machinery in the Urals industrial region. . Rodriguez soon realized she could do the most good imparting her skills to local women who would then gain a means to earn money and rebuild their autonomy. "A salon is one place a man can't get into," Rodriguez said, and "(men) can't take the skill away from (the women)." Under an already established women's aid Women's Aid is a group of feminist charities across the United Kingdom. There are four main Women's Aid Federations, one for each country. Its aim is to end domestic violence against women and children. organization called Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation rehabilitation: see physical therapy. Support for Afghanistan, Rodriguez was one of two women to formally establish the Kabul Beauty School. Fellow volunteers who helped were recorded in the 2004 documentary "The Beauty Academy of Kabul." To understand Rodriguez's commitment, you must understand the women who work within the school's walls. Rodriguez introduces them, one by one, in her memoir about this unexpected love affair with a country she now calls "home." The women include a bride who must fake her virginity Virginity See also Chastity, Purity. Agnes, St. patron saint of virgins. [Christian Hagiog.: Brewer Dictionary, 16] Atala Indian maiden learns too late she can be released from her vow to remain a virgin. [Fr. Lit. , the wife of a Taliban opium addict Noun 1. opium addict - someone addicted to opium opium taker drug addict, junkie, junky - a narcotics addict , a shut-in who hasn't left her house in eight years and a woman who removes her burka and must shield her eyes from the sun for the first three days. Even with the book, the documentary and previous donations, "money's always an issue," Rodriguez explained. But she keeps pressing forward, reminding herself that it was a little more than five years ago that she called an 800 number on the back of a Paul Mitchell bottle and left a long, rambling message. The response blew her mind. "John Paul The name John Paul might refer to: Full name
Some women who've graduated from Rodriguez's school have moved on to open their own salons or returned to teach an incoming class. Rodriguez said in some cases, students were able to increase their family income by as much as 400 percent. Now back in the States for less than a month, Rodriguez already is anxious to return to Kabul. In addition to the school, she also has a new salon, which helps to finance some of the school's expenses. And she has a new Afghan husband -- whom she married in a spontaneously arranged union she agreed to only half-confidently four years ago -- awaiting her return. "I don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. what I was thinking," she says of the marriage, "(but) he's great." While she's here, Rodriguez is out to spread the message that hairdressers can, indeed, change the world. Her proof lies in the women of Kabul Beauty School, who are diligently perming, trimming and highlighting their way toward a better life. Still looking around the bustling Sherman Oaks facility, Rodriguez pointed to the "Color Bar color bar n. See color line. Noun 1. color bar - barrier preventing blacks from participating in various activities with whites color line, colour bar, colour line, Jim Crow " as a must-have for her much smaller, generator-run Afghan academy. Then, with her trademark humor humor, according to ancient theory, any of four bodily fluids that determined man's health and temperament. Hippocrates postulated that an imbalance among the humors (blood, phlegm, black bile, and yellow bile) resulted in pain and disease, and that good health was and imagination, she added: "In my bar, I'll have color and margaritas." And maybe some electricity. To learn more about the Kabul Beauty School or to donate, visit www.kabulbeautyschool.com. Semhar Debessai, 818-713-3665 semhar.debessai@dailynews.com CAPTION(S): 2 photos Photo: (1) "A salon is one place a man can't get into, and (men) can't take the skill away from (the women," says Michigan hairdresser Deborah Rodriguez, who went to Afghanistan in 2001 to teach the vocation, an experience she chronicled in the book "Kabul Beauty School." (2) Rodriguez signs her book at the John Paul Mitchell Beauty School. The company donated money and supplies to support her Kabul effort. John Lazar/Staff Photographer |
|
||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion