Today I attended a cultural event which was the documentary, “Beneath the Vail” by Saira Shah. This documentary was a major culture shock for me and most likely everyone in the room. Saira Shah is a journalist who decides to go back to her father’s homeland in Afghanistan. Her father had always told her stories of his homeland and how beautiful it was. When she made her trip to Afghanistan it was shocking what she found. The Taliban controlled Afghanistan was completely destroyed. The women of the country are not aloud to have jobs or even show their faces in public. Past the age of twelve they are not aloud to go to school and receive an education. The Taliban has been in control of the majority of Afghanistan for four years ever since the civil war ended. The people of the country thought that the condition of their nation would improve, but it has done exactly the opposite. Everyday life for an Afghan is nothing at all like the everyday life of an American. If you are an Afghan you have to face the risk of death almost everyday because the Taliban executes people for things such as adultery, homosexuality, and murder. They use a soccer stadium for their executions. People gather around in the stadium and watch people get hung and shot. This was amazing to me that a stadium that the people of Afghanistan had helped pay for to have a soccer team was now being used as an execution site. The same thing that in American people gather to watch athletic competition is being used in their country as a place to execute people. Since the Taliban does not allow women to work, they cannot afford to feed their children. One scene from the documentary that I found especially disturbing was this woman who bought hard moldy bread that is used as animal feed, not for herself, but for her seven children. She grinded the moldy, hard bread up in a bowl and the kids took turns eating the crumbs. The woman explained that there were no boys old enough to work in the family so that was all that she could afford to feed her children. When Saira Shah finally made it to her father’s homeland it was completely different than he had described to her. He had told her it was a beautiful place with gardens and waterfalls overlooking the mountains and the capital of Afghanistan Kabul. What she found was nothing. The city had been reduced to rubble and there were no more gardens or waterfalls. It was really sad to see all of the poverty stricken people of Afghanistan with no food or shelter. The documentary really showed what the Taliban is doing to these people and this country. It really brought to my attention all of the problems that are going on over there. It is like a completely different world.