Rod Nordland Bücher

Für ihre Liebe riskieren Zakia und Muhammad Ali alles. Sie laufen davon und heiraten heimlich. Doch in Afghanistan droht ihnen dafür der Tod. Zakia und Muhammad Ali waren als Kinder unzertrennlich. Auf angrenzenden Feldern im afghanischen Bamian halfen sie ihren Eltern. Aber seit sie vierzehn ist, darf Zakia mit keinen anderen Männern als ihrem Vater und ihren Brüdern sprechen. In Afghanistan gehören Frauen erst ihren Vätern, dann ihren Ehemännern. Doch es gelingt Muhammad Ali, im Verborgenen um sie zu werben. Seine offiziellen Heiratsanträge lehnt Zakias Vater ab. Zakia und Muhammad Ali entschließen sich zur Flucht – ein Mullah traut sie heimlich. Zakias Familie und die Polizei aber sind längst hinter ihnen her. Werden sie gefunden, droht ihnen der Tod. Es beginnt eine gefährliche Jagd quer durch Afghanistan – von Höhle zu Höhle, von Versteck zu Versteck.

The story follows Zakia and Ali, two young lovers from different Muslim sects in Afghanistan, who elope to escape familial and cultural constraints. Their journey unfolds amidst the challenges of seeking safety and acceptance in a society that opposes their union. Journalist Rod Nordland, who previously shared their plight in the New York Times, feels compelled to assist them but realizes the limitations of his ability to ensure their safety. The narrative explores themes of love, sacrifice, and the struggle against societal norms.

Facing a terminal brain tumor, a seasoned war correspondent reflects on his life filled with adventure and tragedy. While confined to a hospital bed, he reconnects with estranged children and mends a long-broken friendship, discovering humility and generosity in the process. His journey reveals the profound beauty of life, even in the face of death. This memoir serves as a testament to the resilience of the human spirit, illustrating how confronting the unknown can lead to transformation and a deeper appreciation for life's fleeting moments.

A riveting, real-life equivalent of The Kite Runneran astonishingly powerful and profoundly moving story of a young couple willing to risk everything for love that puts a human face on the ongoing debate about womens rights in the Muslim world. Zakia and Ali were from different tribes, but they grew up on neighboring farms in the hinterlands of Afghanistan. By the time they were young teenagers, Zakia, strikingly beautiful and fiercely opinionated, and Ali, shy and tender, had fallen in love. Defying their families, sectarian differences, cultural conventions, and Afghan civil and Islamic law, they ran away together only to live under constant threat from Zakias large and vengeful family, who have vowed to kill her to restore the familys honor. They are still in hiding. Despite a decade of American good intentions, women in Afghanistan are still subjected to some of the worst human rights violations in the world. Rod Nordland, then the Kabul bureau chief of the New York Times, had watched these abuses unfold for years when he came upon Zakia and Ali, and has not only chronicled their plight, but has also shepherded them from danger. The Lovers will do for womens rights generally what Malalas story did for womens education. It is an astonishing story about self-determination and the meaning of love that illustrates, as no policy book could, the limits of Western influence on fundamentalist Islamic culture and, at the same time, the need for change

Zakia bola Tadžička, Ali bol Hazár, ona sunnitská moslimka, on šiitský moslim. Odmala vyrastali ako nerozluční priatelia v odľahlej provincii Bamján, ich priateľstvo sa postupne zmenilo na lásku. Zakiina rodina mala však s dcérou iné plány, a tak sa mladí odvážne vzopreli tradičným afganským zvykom a islamskému právu. Zakia utiekla do ženského útulku, no nemohla sa vídať s Alim. Zaľúbenci sa opäť ocitli na úteku, neustále prenasledovaní Zakiinou rodinou. Rod Nordland ich príbeh zverejnil vo svetových médiách a rozhodol sa im pomôcť. Po mesiacoch života v jaskyniach a v domácom väzení sa mladý pár s pomocou Roda a finančných darov pokúšal utiecť do Tadžikistanu. Zakiina rodina ich po nútenom návrate do Kábulu naďalej prenasledovala. Nordland ponúka pútavý príbeh o tom, aké zložité je vybojovať pre Zakiu a Alia základné ľudské práva, aj napriek podpore zo Západu. Dokumentuje aj hlboké zakorenenie krutých praktík v afganskej kultúre. Modernizovaný súdny systém zohľadňuje práva žien, no mnohé zvyky pretrvávajú. Mladí manželia dnes vychovávajú dcérku a dúfajú, že z krajiny raz uniknú. Ich príbeh je o nezlomnej sile citov a túžbe po dôstojnom živote v represívnej kultúre.