ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Monika Bulaj - Photographer
Monika Bulaj’s stunning, painting-like photographs blur religious and cultural divisions, exploding stereotypes. She is a TED Fellow.

Why you should listen

Monika Bulaj is a photographer and writer who explores -- in Asia, Africa, Latin America and Eastern Europe -- the dim areas of monotheism, where the sacred can transcend borders: Bonfires, dances, cults of the dead, possession rites. She describes outskirts and deserts, frontiers and megalopolis. And the world of the last ones: nomads, farmers, immigrants, outcasts, untouchables and impure.

Her photos and reportaging have been published by GEO, National Geographic (Italy), La Repubblica, periodicals by Gruppo Espresso and Rcs, Courrier International, Gazeta Wyborcza (Poland), Internazionale, Freundin, Teatr (Poland) and other international magazines.
She has displayed more than 50 personal exibitions in Italy, Germany, Ungheria, Bulgaria, Egypt.

Her books include Libya felix, a travel into Sufism and the world of the Tuaregh; Figli di Noè, on minorities and faiths in Azerbaijian; Rebecca e la pioggia, on the nomadic tribe of the Dinka of South Sudan; Gerusalemme perduta with Paolo Rumiz, the special correspondent of La Repubblica, on the pellegrinage in the research of the Eastern Christians; Genti di Dio, viaggio nell'Altra Europa, a synthesis of 20 years of research in East Europe and Israel, and her latest book, Bozy ludzie. 

She has screenwritten documentaries, among which is the movie Romani Rat (2002) by M. Orlandi, on the Holocaust of the Roms, with the contribution of the Shoah Visual History Foundation. She's the director, photography director, and screenwriter of the documentary Figli di Noè, about the villages of Caucasus on the border between Dagestan and Azerbaigian.

Bulaj is a TED Fellow. Read TED's Q&A with Monika Bulaj >>

More profile about the speaker
Monika Bulaj | Speaker | TED.com
TEDGlobal 2011

Monika Bulaj: The hidden light of Afghanistan

Моника Булай: Равшаниӣ нонамоёни Афғонистон

Filmed:
669,507 views

Суратгир Моника Булай симои барҷаста, пинҳониӣ Афғонистон — симои ҳаёти хонаги, расму русум, мардон ва занонро нақл мекунад. Берун аз ахборот ва сарлавҳаҳои рӯзномаҳо, дунё дар ҳақиқат дар бораи ин давлат чӣ медонад?
- Photographer
Monika Bulaj’s stunning, painting-like photographs blur religious and cultural divisions, exploding stereotypes. She is a TED Fellow. Full bio

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

00:15
My travels to Afghanistan
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Сайёхати ман ба Афгонистон
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began many, many years ago
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чанд сол пеш аз
00:21
on the eastern border of my country,
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сархади шаркии давлати ман,
00:24
my homeland, Poland.
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ватани ман, Полша огоз ёфт.
00:27
I was walking through the forests
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Ман дар чангалхои
00:29
of my grandmother's tales.
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аз хикояхои бибиям сайру гашт мекардам.
00:33
A land where every field hides a grave,
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Дар замине, ки дар хар як сахро кабр пинхон карда шудааст,
00:38
where millions of people
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чое, ки миллион одамон
00:40
have been deported or killed
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ё депортатсия шуда буданд,
00:43
in the 20th century.
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ё дар асри XX кушта шуда буданд.
00:46
Behind the destruction,
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Аз паси харобихо
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I found a soul of places.
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ман чои рухро ёфтам.
00:51
I met humble people.
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Ман бо одамони одди шинос шудам.
00:53
I heard their prayer
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Ман дуои онхоро шунидам
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and ate their bread.
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ва нони онхоро хурдам.
00:57
Then I have been walking East for 20 years --
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Баъд ман 20 сол ба шарк рафтам —
01:02
from Eastern Europe to Central Asia --
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аз Аврупои Шарки то Осиёи Маркази —
01:05
through the Caucasus Mountains,
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бо куххои Кавказ,
01:07
Middle East,
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Шарки Наздик,
01:09
North Africa,
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Африкаи шимоли,
01:11
Russia.
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Руссия.
01:13
And I ever met more humble people.
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Ва ман хеч гох одамони аз инхо оддитар надида будам.
01:17
And I shared their bread and their prayer.
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Ва ман дуо ва нони онхоро таксим кардам.
01:20
This is why I went to Afghanistan.
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Ана барои чи ман ба Афгонистон рафтам.
01:23
One day, I crossed the bridge
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Як бор ман купруки
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over the Oxus River.
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аз болои дарёи Ёксуро гузаштам.
01:29
I was alone on foot.
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Ман танхо будам ва пиёда мерафтам.
01:31
And the Afghan soldier was so surprised to see me
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Ва аскари афгон чунон дар таачуб монда буд,
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that he forgot to stamp my passport.
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ки хатто мондани мухрро дар шиносномаи ман фаромуш кард.
01:36
But he gave me a cup of tea.
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Вале вай ба ман чой рехт.
01:38
And I understood
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Ва ман фахмидам,
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that his surprise was my protection.
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ки таачуби вай барои ман мухофизати ман шуд.
01:43
So I have been walking and traveling,
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Инак, ман бо асп, кутосхо,
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by horses, by yak, by truck, by hitchhiking,
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автомобилхои боркаш, автостоп,
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from Iran's border
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аз сархади Эрон
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to the bottom, to the edge of the Wakhan Corridor.
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то поён, то охири Дахлези Ваханск рафтам ва сайёхат кардам.
01:56
And in this way
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Ва бо чунин тарз ман
01:58
I could find noor, the hidden light of Afghanistan.
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нур - равшании нонамоёни Афгонистонро ёфтам.
02:05
My only weapon
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Яроки ягонаи ман
02:07
was my notebook and my Leica.
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дафтари ёддошт ва Leica-и ман буданд.
02:12
I heard prayers of the Sufi --
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Ман дуои суфиён —
02:14
humble Muslims,
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мусулмонхои одди,
02:16
hated by the Taliban.
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бадбинони Толибонро, шунидам.
02:18
Hidden river,
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Дарёи нонамоёне,
02:20
interconnected with the mysticism
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ки бо тасаввуф пайвасткунанда
02:22
from Gibraltar to India.
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аз Гиброалтар то Хиндустон.
02:25
The mosque where the respectful foreigner
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Масчидхое, ки дар онхо хоричиёнии боиззат
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is showered with blessings
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дуои хайрро пош дода,
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and with tears,
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бо чашмони ашколуд онхоро
02:35
and welcomed as a gift.
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мисли тухфа кабул мекарданд.
02:39
What do we know
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Мо дар бораи давлат
02:41
about the country and the people
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ва одмоне,
02:43
that we pretend to protect,
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ки чуръати мухофизат мекунем,
02:46
about the villages
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дехахое,
02:49
where the only one medicine
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ки дар онхо доруи ягона
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to kill the pain and to stop the hunger
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аз дард ва гуруснаги
02:53
is opium?
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ин афюн мебошад, чи медонем?
02:55
These are opium-addicted people
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Ин одамони мутеи нашъа
02:58
on the roofs of Kabul
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дар бомхои Кобул
03:01
10 years after the beginning of our war.
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10 сол пеш, баъди саршавии чанги мо.
03:05
These are the nomad girls
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Ин духтарони кучманчие,
03:08
who became prostitutes for Afghan businessmen.
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ки барои сохибкорони афгон фохиша шудаанд.
03:12
What do we know about the women
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Мо дар бораи занхои баъд аз
03:14
10 years after the war?
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гузаштани дах соли баъди чанг чи медонем?
03:16
Clothed in this nylon bag,
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Бо чунин халтаи нейлонии
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made in China,
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дар Хитой тайёр кардашуда,
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with the name of burqa.
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бо номи фаранчин пушонида шуда.
03:24
I saw one day,
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Ман як бор
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the largest school in Afghanistan,
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мактаби калонтарин дар Афгонистон,
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a girls' school.
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мактаб барои духтаронро дидам.
03:31
13,000 girls
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13 000 духтарон
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studying here
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дар ин чо
03:38
in the rooms underground,
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дар таги замин,
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full of scorpions.
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пур аз каждум мехонанд.
03:44
And their love [for studying]
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Ишки онхо ба хондан
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was so big that I cried.
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чунон калон буд, ки ман гиристам.
03:52
What do we know
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Мо дар бораи
03:54
about the death threats by the Taliban
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тахдидхои марг аз Толибоне,
03:57
nailed on the doors
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ки ба назди дархо омада,
03:59
of the people who dare to send their daughters to school as in Balkh?
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ба одамоне, ки чуръат карда духтарони худро ба мактаб мефиристанд мурочиат мекунанд, ба мисли дар Балх?
04:05
The region is not secure, but full of the Taliban,
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Минтака бехавф нест, вай аз толибон пур аст,
04:08
and they did it.
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вале барои онхо фарк надорад.
04:10
My aim is to give a voice
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Ман кушиш мекунам
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to the silent people,
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ба одамони хомуш овоз дихам,
04:15
to show the hidden lights
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то ки рушноии нонамоёни
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behind the curtain of the great game,
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аз паси пардаи бозии калон,
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the small worlds ignored by the media
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дунёхои майдае, ки Воситахои Ахбори Омма
04:25
and the prophets of a global conflict.
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ва «пайгамбарони» ихтилофи глобали ахамият намедиханд нишон дихам.
04:27
Thanks.
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Ташакур.
04:29
(Applause)
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(Карсак)
Translated by Nekruz Ismoilov
Reviewed by Sheroz Ismoilov

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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Monika Bulaj - Photographer
Monika Bulaj’s stunning, painting-like photographs blur religious and cultural divisions, exploding stereotypes. She is a TED Fellow.

Why you should listen

Monika Bulaj is a photographer and writer who explores -- in Asia, Africa, Latin America and Eastern Europe -- the dim areas of monotheism, where the sacred can transcend borders: Bonfires, dances, cults of the dead, possession rites. She describes outskirts and deserts, frontiers and megalopolis. And the world of the last ones: nomads, farmers, immigrants, outcasts, untouchables and impure.

Her photos and reportaging have been published by GEO, National Geographic (Italy), La Repubblica, periodicals by Gruppo Espresso and Rcs, Courrier International, Gazeta Wyborcza (Poland), Internazionale, Freundin, Teatr (Poland) and other international magazines.
She has displayed more than 50 personal exibitions in Italy, Germany, Ungheria, Bulgaria, Egypt.

Her books include Libya felix, a travel into Sufism and the world of the Tuaregh; Figli di Noè, on minorities and faiths in Azerbaijian; Rebecca e la pioggia, on the nomadic tribe of the Dinka of South Sudan; Gerusalemme perduta with Paolo Rumiz, the special correspondent of La Repubblica, on the pellegrinage in the research of the Eastern Christians; Genti di Dio, viaggio nell'Altra Europa, a synthesis of 20 years of research in East Europe and Israel, and her latest book, Bozy ludzie. 

She has screenwritten documentaries, among which is the movie Romani Rat (2002) by M. Orlandi, on the Holocaust of the Roms, with the contribution of the Shoah Visual History Foundation. She's the director, photography director, and screenwriter of the documentary Figli di Noè, about the villages of Caucasus on the border between Dagestan and Azerbaigian.

Bulaj is a TED Fellow. Read TED's Q&A with Monika Bulaj >>

More profile about the speaker
Monika Bulaj | Speaker | TED.com