Artfully Unforgotten

Love & Water International on Artfully Unforgotten

2009-11-11T06:15:00.001-08:00

Alexis Fedor, Founder of Love & Water International, interviews Heather Metcalfe about the history and work of Artfully Unforgotten. Check out her blog, where she also has t-shirt design contests to raise money for organizations creating change in the world. http://www.loveandwaterinternational.com/2009/11/interview-with-heather-metcalfe-founder.html

Artfully Unforgotten + Jess Markt for Afghan Wheelchair Basketball!

2009-11-10T17:02:00.000-08:00

Last June, Heather Metcalfe visited the Orthopedic Workshop Physiotherapy Center in Mainama, Afghanistan while working on Artfully Unforgotten's advocacy work for women and children. She was so inspired by the wheelchair basketball team whom she met at the clinic, that Artfully Unforgotten worked to find a wheelchair basketball coach for the team. Luckily, we found Jess and worked together to raise funds in order to get him to Mainama. The following is his last update on his work in Mainama and you can also hear him speak about his time at the clinic on http://www.theworld.org/2009/11/10/away-game-in-afghanistan/.

Alright folks, it's time for the dramatic conclusion to the saga of my time with the Maimana wheelchair basketball team. As with any Hollywood (or in this case, Bollywood) script, the five day training montage where the scrappy team of misfits gets a little better with every camera cut then takes on the reigning champion, we... lost. Pretty badly. Turns out the Mazar-e-Sharif team won the first, and thus far only, Afghanistan national championship a year or two ago. They were good. My guys played their hearts out, but between the pressure of playing their third game ever, the fact that there were over 100 people ringing the court cheering like crazy, and the vastly superior experience of the Mazar team, it just wasn't meant to be. Yet.

The team was very disappointed to have lost, but everyone who had seen them play before said they made tremendous strides since their last game, so I tried to impress the importance of that progress on them after the game. The point wasn't just to win the game yesterday, but to learn from it and continue to grow so they can win many more in the future. Despite a lopsided final score, they obviously have the talent to hang with a team of Mazar's

caliber. Once they move past the nerves of playing games like this and have some more time to work on their fundamentals, I'm confident they'll be a force to be reckoned within a few years. I hope the stuff I tought them this week will at least give them a start to move in that direction. Admittedly, I was also disappointed in the loss, but for a very different reason. I wanted these guys to feel the joy of accomplishing a major goal together, since that's what I feel when I think about this entire experience from my own perspective. Watching them grow while my friendships with each of them strengthened over the course of the week brought a greater feeling of accomplishment than any game result ever could have. Giving awkward man hugs and saying "Tashakur. Khoda hafez." (Thank you. Goodbye.) after the game was a difficult thing, but listening to their statements of appreciation and thanks for making the journey to work with them was incredibly fulfilling.

I arrived in Kabul today after more adventures with the Afghan military at the airport in Mazar (7 hours total travel time for a 40 minute flight. No less than 6 full dissections of all my bags). I'll be here for a couple days before flying home on Sunday afternoon, arriving back in New York on Monday. I'm hoping to meet up with a woman tomorrow who might be able to help me arrange to get some proper basketball wheelchairs to the team. That would be huge.

Thanks so much to everyone on this e-mail for your interest in this project and for all the amazing responses you've sent. Even though I haven't been able to respond to each one individually since I've had very limited e-mail access here, rest assured that I've read and smiled at every one. To all those who have asked about pictures, I'll be sending some out once I'm back in New York.

Talk soon,
Jess

Follow Up on Jess Coaching Wheelchair Basketball in Afghanistan

2009-11-03T19:48:00.000-08:00

As mentioned in the prior blog Artfully Unforgotten and Jess Markt raised funds for him to go coach wheelchair basketball at the Orthopedic Workshop Physiotherapy Center, which Heather visited in June '09. Read below to hear how it's going!

Hello again,

I only have a few minutes before heading off to our last practice this morning, so this will be shortish and sweet.

The team - 12 players plus myself, Firoz the sharp-dressing translator, and Vesa, a Finnish buddy from the IAM staff - will be leaving for Mazar-e-Sharif early tomorrow morning for the big game. They have shown so much progress this week after just four practices, I can hardly believe it. They've gone from playing as 12 individuals intent only on taking as many shots as possible and fouling the hell out of each other at every opportunity, to a reasonable facsimile of a coordinated group working together toward a common goal. It's really been amazing to watch this transformation happen each day.

The guys are also a much more dynamic, positive group than I was expecting to encounter. Given the myriad challenges they're facing on a daily basis living in Maimana - a town with very few paved roads and where no Afghan homes have running water - I naively assumed they would be an introverted bunch who spend most of their time at home and would need a lot of coaxing to come out of their shells. This couldn't be further from the truth. They laugh, joke, and talk trash just like any group of athletes might in America. When we scrimmage at the end of each practice, every time a player makes a shot, they look up expectantly to make sure I saw it (I referee the games). It's great to know they're getting energy from my being there and giving them positive feedback.

The team's equipment is truly horrible - at least one chair breaks per practice, which is then roughly welded back together by the next day - but they make the best of it. We leave tomorrow morning to make the 4 hour drive to Mazar-e-Sharif and, thankfully, the International Red Cross (which sponsors the Mazar team) will be loaning us some chairs for the game. It's yet to be seen how much better they'll be than what the team plays in regularly, but there's no way they could be worse.

A few players here are really talented and, given some proper instruction, could be legitimately good. They're all incredibly excited for the game - this is a huge event for them - and, though I have no idea just how good the Mazar team will be, I think we have a real shot if they can continue to exhibit the teamwork and skills we've been working on this week.

It's hard to believe this is already my last day in Maimana. The time has flown by, but I've experienced so much that it feels like I've been here for months. I'll be joining the IAM team to celebrate Bonfire Night tonight - a British tradition commemorating Guy Fawkes' attempted detonation of Parliament in 1605 by making really big fires and throwing human effigies into them - so that should be fun.

I should have e-mail access again once I get back to Kabul this weekend, so I'll let you all know how the big game ends up going. Wish us luck!!

Jess Markt

Wheelchair Basketball in Afghanistan

2009-11-01T17:12:00.000-08:00

Last June, while in Afghanistan I made a day trip to a town called Mainama. I went there to visit the Orthopedic Workshop and Physiotherapy Center, which is part of the International Assistance Mission. The clinic, led by Chris Drew, helps people who have had amputations. The staff builds prosthetics, helps in rehabilitation and they have also formed a wheelchair basketball team. It was one of the most inspiring places I had ever been. I asked Chris what I could do to help support the clinic and was told the guys would love a wheelchair basketball coach--so I aimed for that.

I returned to New York knowing nothing about wheelchair basketball and through many emails and phone calls I found Jess Markt who is a wheelchair basketball player for the Rolling Knicks. After talking over the logistics of his going to Afghanistan he signed up and together we raised the funds to get him over there--which is where he is now! However, on his way into Kabul his basketball wheelchair got damaged quite badly in the hold of the plane. Read below to learn what happened and for his most recent update!

Day 4 – Maimana
Yesterday was the first of five consecutive days of practice with the team, so job number one was trying to figure out a way to make my basketball wheelchair operational. The team was set to arrive at 3pm, so I spent the better part of the day at the Orthopedic Workshop and Physiotherapy Center working with a couple technicians, who specialize in making prosthetic limbs and other mobility devices, to figure out if the axle and wheel were salvageable. After about 30 minutes, I was 100% certain that, given the precision of the parts involved, how badly the axle was bent, and the fact that the tools available at the Center are relatively simple (I would’ve been skeptical even with a full machinist’s shop, to be honest), there was no way the chair was fixable without new parts. The lead technician, who spoke about 2 words of English – one of which was “fix” – was confident, though. After about four hours of work with nothing but a hammer, a clamp, a pipe wrench and a hand file, he had fully straightened the axle, rebuilt the moving parts inside from a large carpentry nail, and had the chair working so well that I couldn’t tell which wheel was the damaged one. It was the most impressive display of mechanical ingenuity and creativity I’ve ever seen.

Never having coached basketball before, I was a bit nervous going into my first practice with the team, but it was a great experience right from the beginning. The players – who range in age from about 15 to 45 – were all very eager to learn and showed some real potential. I’m being assisted by an Afghan aspiring translator named Firoz, who is 22 years old and augments his brightly colored traditional Afghan clothing with a sparkly blazer that looks like something straight out of David Bowie’s wardrobe. He speaks English quite well, is a good communicator, and I think the team understands most of what I’m trying to get across. We have four more days of practice before driving to Mazar-e-Sharif, a large northern city, to play a game against the team there. According to the guys on the Maimana team, the team from Mazar is more experienced, will have superior equipment, and likely will have favorable home town referees. The whole scenario makes me feel like Gordon Bombay coaching the Mighty Ducks. I’ll be sending along another update at some point in the next few days to let you all know how things are progressing. Jess

Heather Metcalfe, Founder/Executive Director "Artfully Unforgotten"

Heather Metcalfe Shares Afghan Stories for Veterans for Afghanistan Benefit

2009-10-21T14:10:00.001-07:00

Veterans for Afghanistan, founded by Kristen Rouse, is an organization which raises funds for Afghan orphanages through storytelling. Veterans who have served in Afghanistan, as well as civilians who have worked in the country, tell their stories at the Bellvue Lounge in Park Slope.

This past Tuesday, Heather Metcalfe, Founder of Artfully Unforgotten, shared some of the stories of the women whom she met this past June in Afghanistan. In addition, she donated and auctioned off a soccer ball made by one of the women she met in Afghanistan, on behalf of Artfully Unforgotten. The soccer ball went for $250 and helped Kristen and her group raise $1,000 for the orphanages.

Kristen is about to return for her second tour of duty in Afghanistan. We wish her the best and look forward to partnering with her again upon her return.

Artfully Unforgotten Presents "Voices of Afghanistan" at Parsons

2009-10-19T19:12:00.000-07:00

Artfully Unforgotten presented our first showing of "Voices of Afghanistan" today at Parsons The New School for Design. Voices of Afghanistan portrays the strength, courage and resilience of the women of Afghanistan. The film was directed and co-produced by Heather Metcalfe and edited by Kirsten Larvick (http://www.kirstenstudio.com/), who also served as Associate Producer.

Following the short film was a panel discussion led by Nora Krug, Associate Professor in the Illustration Department, together with Heather and Adrianne Dicker Kadzinski who served in Afghanistan in 2002. The discussion covered such topics as the women of Afghanistan, military strategies, and how Afghans view Americans. In addition, Nora spoke about the critical role of artists in their ability to convey messages about these subjects through art.

The students, all of which are part of the Illustration Design Department, will be creating art pieces based upon the presentation. The pieces will be displayed at Artfully Unforgotten's benefit on December 4th at the Best Buy Loft as part of a silent auction. Funds raised from the auction will be donated by Artfully Unforgotten to the Business Council for Peace, which works with women business owners in Afghanistan and the Mashale Noor School, located in Mazar-e Sharif.

Les Kantureck, Professor at Parsons, is also blogging about this project at http://lesconcepts.wordpress.com/2009/10/20/artfully-unforgotten-voices-of-afghanistan/

Come Hear Stories from Afghanistan

2009-10-15T05:27:00.000-07:00

Join Veterans for Afghanistan founder Kristen L. Rouse as she hosts the third installment of the tremendously successful AFGHANISTAN STORIES!! We'll have a new lineup of stories told by veterans and civilians (including one by Heather Metcalfe) who have served in Afghanistan.

Get past the politics and news taglines by listening to our stories about real life and real human experiences in the Afghanistan that we know and care about. And support a fundraiser that will send 100% of all donations to the Afghan Child Education & Care Organization (AFCECO), an Afghan-led nonprofit with a proven track record of sheltering, caring for, and educating children who would otherwise never have a chance at life.

The last event raised a total of $600, all of which went toward purchasing firewood that will help sustain three orphanages through the winter in Kabul. See http://www.veteransforafghanistan.org for photos of the children helping to pick up and deliver the wood!

Kristen L. Rouse, founder of Veterans for Afghanistan, is a regular contributor to the nationally broadcast NPR show, "The Takeaway," and recently appeared on MSNBC with anchor Contessa Brewer to discuss Veterans for Afghanistan. She served in the Army's 10th Mountain Division for twelve months in Afghanistan and will return for a second tour early next year.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
7:30pm - 9:00pm
Belleville Lounge
332 5th St (at 5th Ave)
Brooklyn, NY

Civilian Goals Largely Unmet in Afghanistan

2009-10-13T10:10:00.000-07:00

Yesterday The New York Times had an article titled "Civilian Goals Largely Unmet in Afghanistan." The article explores the deterioration of the country's infrastructure and the corruptness of the government who is responsible for distributing aid money. The article quotes Henry Crumpton, an informal advisor to General McChrystal as saying, "Our entire system of delivering aid is broken, and very little of the aid is getting to the Afghan people." This is incredibly unfortunate. If the people of Afghanistan are given the resources they need to rebuild their country, as well as the security to do so without being hurt, or killed by the insurgents--they would happily do so.
In the next few blogs I will showcase some of the women whom I met in Afghanistan who are facing these dangers and are already are in the process of rebuilding Afghanistan.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/12/world/asia/12civil.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=civilian%20goals%20afghanistan&st=cse

Heather Metcalfe, Founder/Executive Director "Artfully Unforgotten"

Advocacy Through Art

2009-10-11T20:11:00.000-07:00

I, together with board members of Artfully Unforgotten and NY artists have advocated for Joshua, Kamanze and Christoph, as well as the other orphans of the Gisimba Memorial Center Orphanage through artistic exhibits. Now I am working with artists Danielle Savin, Julia Blaukopf and Kirsten Larvick in creating a video and book that will connect Americans with the women of Afghanistan. We are hoping to bring alive their stories of living under the Taliban, rebuilding their lives and of striving for gender equality.

I recently met Catherine Filloux, a NY playwright, who has written about the holocaust, the Rwandan genocide and the genocide of Cambodia. Her words ring true with our efforts in telling the stories of those in need. She stated in an interview recently, “I have been listening to survivors...My own journey has been to ‘never forget’ and to uphold the promise of ‘never again’ through my work. We can change the world through compassion and through the understanding of suffering. Waking up every morning one might say, ‘This kind of violence cannot go on for anotherday.’ And so, writing might leave a trail...”

Heather Metcalfe, Founder/Executive Director "Artfully Unforgotten"

Voices of Afghanistan

2009-10-08T21:21:00.000-07:00

"Voices of Afghanistan" is the name given to Artfully Unforgotten's book and video that sheds light on the women of Afghanistan. I am developing the book together with an amazing group of artists, Danielle Savin and Julia Blaukopf and the video together with the very talented Kirsten Larvick. My goal in creating these materials was to portray not only the women of Afghanistan, but the men, children and the country as well in a light that is often not portrayed by our media. The media is prone to only showing us the worst. By all means this is necesary and it is unfortunately a truth; however, there is another side of Afghanistan that portrays 'hope' and 'resilence.' We never are allowed to see that and it is an injustice to only portray the people, mostly the women, of Afghanistan as merely 'victims' who are hopeless and helpless.

What I found during my trip to Afghanistan is that 'yes' the women have been through more than I ever could imagine; however, I did not find one woman who perceived herself to be a victim. In addition, I did not come across one woman or one individual who had given up hope on their lives in Afghanistan.

We hope that our video and book will convey to our audiences that the people of Afghanistan are most deserving of our support and that they are eager for a new future, which they are committed to rebuilding.

Heather Metcalfe, Founder/Executive Director "Artfully Unforgotten"

The Purpose of Story Telling

2009-10-08T21:16:00.000-07:00

I recently was fortunate to hear James Orbinski speak about his past work with the international President of Médecins sans Frontières (MSF). While he is a doctor and has seen and lived through far more than I likely ever will, his point as to the purpose of stories is what we aim to do at Artfully Unforgotten through art... The below excerpt is taken from book "An Imperfect Offering."

"Stories, we all have stories. Nature does not tell stories, we do. We find ourselves in them, make ourselves in them, choose ourselves in them. If we are the stories we tell ourselves, we had better choose them well. This book is a series of stories. I ask again and again, "How am I to be, how are we to be in relation to the suffering of others?" It is a question that has preoccupied me for much of my life. This book is a personal narrative about the political journey I have taken over the last twenty years as a humanitarian doctor, as a citizen and as a man. I have witnessed famine, epidemics of preventable diseases, war and its crimes, and genocide. I have witnessed politics fail and I have witnessed the struggle to be fully human when it does. I have witnessed an endless catalogue of terrors, and in them I saw myself, knowing that I might be merely a spectator to these, that I might suffer these, collaborate with these or inflict them on others. It is not a dispassionate story. I do not pretend to be outside of the events and circumstances I describe. I have lived and live in them, between them and through them. For me, these moments have been bigger than the smallness of time itself. They are personal moments, political moments or moments when there is no difference. Nor is this a sentimental story that meets victims with pity and paternalism or worthy of aid only so long as they are not a source of fear. It is about a way of seeing that requires humility, so that one can recognize the sameness of self in the other. It is about the mutuality that can exist between us, if we so choose. " (Emphasis added)

I love the last two sentences as I feel they speak the utmost truth when working with others who live in circumstances which are different than our own. It is this 'sameness' which we aim to show through our videos of Rwandan orphans and Afghan women, through our art, and through our book.

Heather Metcalfe, Founder/Executive Director "Artfully Unforgotten"

Artfully Unforgotten Partners with Parsons The New School for Design

2009-10-08T20:47:00.001-07:00

Artfully Unforgotten is thrilled to announce that we will be partnering with students from Parsons The New School for Design for our upcoming exhibit on December 4th. Upon viewing Artfully Unforgotten's video about Afghan women and hearing from a panel about the role of women in Afghanistan, the students will be creating artwork that is inspired by Afghan women. The pieces will be displayed and auctioned off on December 4th at the Best Buy Loft in order to raise funds for the Business Council for Peace ("BPeace") and the Mashale Noor School, located in Mazar-e Sharif, Afghanistan.

Previously, we partnered with Parsons in the creation of GISIMBA: Understanding Through Art, a multi media exhibit presented at Best Buy's Loft in Soho in December 2008. The exhibit was composed not only of Artfully Unforgotten's "GISIMBA" video, but consisted of approximately 80 pieces of art created by the students of Parsons The New School for Design and the youth of The Children's Village. The benefits raised from this event raised funds for the Gisimba Memorial Center Orphanage, located in Rwanda.

Check http://www.artfullyunforgotten.com/ in the next couple of weeks for more information about Artfully Unforgotten's work with the students of Parsons.

Heather Metcalfe, Founder/Executive Director "Artfully Unforgotten"

What is Artfully Unforgotten All About?

2009-10-08T20:34:00.000-07:00

Artfully Unforgotten was created with the idea of using art as a means to advocate and raise resources for vulnerable communities. Since its inception in October 2007, Heather Metcalfe, Founder/Executive Director has traveled to Rwanda and Afghanistan. In Rwanda, Heather spent time getting to know the children of the Gisimba Memorial Center Orphanage. In Afghanistan, Heather spent her time interviewing Afghans about the lives of women in Afghanistan. In both places she obtained photos, film and interviews from which Artfully Unforgotten has produced short films, exhibits and a soon to be released book.

Our work on behalf of the Rwandan orphans was the basis of the "GISIMBA" exhibit which debuted at New York Law School and then moved to The Soapbox Gallery. GISIMBA then grew to include the artwork of students, youth and NYC artists--each of which had created art pieces that 'advocated' for the Rwandan orphans. The latter exhibits were titled "GISIMBA: Understanding Through Art" and "Artists for Gisimba" and were presented at Best Buy's Loft and Hello Living. Through these exhibits we have raised funds to: cover the educational expenses for eleven children of Gisimba; hired an art and dance instructor for Gisimba; and collected clothes and school supplies for the children of Gisimba.

Our work on behalf of the women of Afghanistan is being produced in the form of a short video and a coffee table book. Stay tuned as the video "Voices of Afghanistan" will be premiered at Best Buy's Loft on December 4th.

In essence, Artfully Unforgotten's mission is to advocate and raise resources for vulnerable communities throughout the world through the production of artistic exhibits, theatre and artistic materiials. We do this in the following way:
1.) Develop relationships with communities in need and listen to their stories and concerns
2.) Bring their stories back to the States in various mediums and create videos, plays, exhibits and materials that portray communities and its members with dignity;
3.) Partner with individual artists and art institutions in the creation of more work that serves to advocate for the community;
4.) Present our videos, plays, materials to a wide array of community groups and educational institutions;
5.) Spotlight organizations that are working directly with the communities; and
6.) Assist in building relationships between the communities in need and US based organizations.
We look forward to sharing more of our work with you!
Heather Metcalfe, Founder/Executive Director "Artfully Unforgotten"