Silk Weaving

While in Mazar we went to what seemed a remote village, but was actually just on the outskirts of town. We saw silk being prepared. Dyed in a caldron and before being woven. We were able to purchase some local silk fabric. Our guide and business woman - Nooria, has forty plus families who are weaving silk, just as this family is, and is helping to revive the traditional Afghan silk making. The raw fiber is brought here from Herat and the rest of the process happens in Mazar and then silk is sold all over Afghanistan. Nooria shared stories about her underground business during the Taliban during which she had more than one tenacious encounter with them. She told us of one time they came after her and she donned a burqua and pretended to be the housekeeper, escaping from any situation with them. She is an amazing woman and is the head of the a group of Afghan Business Women in the north which totals more than 300.