Taste of a new life: Afghan refugee women wield a mean ladle

With memories of a country ravaged by war and lives traumatised by lost husbands and families, four Afghan women have found solace in cooking authentic Afghani food in India which, they hope, will give them a new recipe for life.
All single mothers, who first showcased their skills at a weekend food stall at the Dastkar bazaar in 2015, have now come together as a proud food catering group called Ilham, which means inspiration or positive.
The four -- Haniya, Saaleha, Sadiya and Nafisa (their names have been changed because they do not wish to be identified) -- today organised a meet for food lovers of the city at Vasant Kunj in south Delhi, in association with Commeat, an online community of food enthusiasts.

Ilham-e-Afghan, as the festival was called, featured many special Afghani dishes, including kebabs and pilafs.
While "enjoying their profession" and managing families with their earnings, the Afghan women said they found India similar to their home, yet "substantially different" when it came to the lives of women.
"Indian and Afghanistan cultures are quite similar. The substantial difference is that the people in Afghanistan did not want women to go out and work. But here we are earning our livelihood," said 60-year-old Sadiya, who lives with her eight children in an Afghan refugee community in Bhogal in south Delhi.

Remembering the initial difficult days in the country, 28-year-old Haniya from Ghazni, who fled to India with her daughter to escape an abusive marriage, said she felt safe here, but hoped to overcome the language barrier.

"We are not able to share our ideas with others as we can't speak Hindi fluently," Haniya, who is now attending Hindi classes at a UNHCR-run training centre, told PTI.
The four, who started wielding ladles from an early age, today take pride in what they cook best.
While Saaleha is known for her Shammi Kebabs, Nafisa makes finger-licking Kabuli Pulao, a special pilaf. Haniya can cook Mantu and Ashak (varieties of dumplings) like no one else, and Sadiya excels at making Chapli Kebabs and desserts such as the milk-and-rice based firni.
The dishes figured at the Sunday event, which also offered the chicken dish Qormi-E-Murgh and Borani Banjan, eggplant in yoghurt sauce.

With help from the livelihood support group Access Development Service and UNHCR, they offer takeaway and delivery services through a mobile application. They have since received catering orders from luxury hotels and an embassy and have put up food stalls at festivals such as Jashn-e-Rekhta.
But the group stressed that while they did make money selling food, it wasn't enough to help them plan for the future.
"Our current earning is not much, though we are getting money from the UNHCR. But it is not enough to manage our household expenses, and we are still facing problems in paying rents and our children's school fees," Saaleha said.

A mother of four, Saaleha, 38, ran away when her husband was abducted and her in-laws wanted her to marry their son, who had a substance abuse problem.
Nafisa, 27, from Mazarshareef, who lost her husband in the war with the Taliban, has only one wish - to ensure that her children get good education.
"Our earnest desire is that we should send our children to private schools for quality education. We want to build their future. And these plans will come true only if we earn money. Otherwise they may remain a dream forever," she said.
Aditi Sabbarwal of UNHCR, who started the Ilham group in 2016, said events such as today's food festival strengthened their hopes and made them feel they had a place in India.

"We want them to realise that they are getting recognition here, they are even getting work here. So we are trying to motivate them with events such as these," she said.
There was a time, she said, when the women had to take medication for trauma and insomnia.
"Now with constant work they have their aims to look forward to," she said.