The Rugmaker of Mazar-e-Sharif
Best-selling memoir, The Rugmaker of Mazar-e-Sharif, traces the story of a young Afghan man’s extraordinary journey from a shepherd boy in the mountains of northern Afghanistan, to asylum seeker in Woomera Detention Centre and, finally, to owner of a successful Afghan traditional rug shop in Melbourne, Australia, and founder of the charitable fund, AusGhan Aid.
Although Mazari flees his country in 2001, this moving and poignant work, laced with a good dose of humour, continues to delight and move readers because of its recognisably universal insights into the refugee experience: the conditions that create the ‘refugee’ in the first place, the trauma and heartache as a result of leaving everything and everyone behind, the dangerous journey to the ‘promised land’, and the often hostile reception and loss of identity, purpose and even freedom, on arrival.
Mazari begins life in a mountain village where families lived a simple, contented ‘milk and honey’ life typical of so many, before the Civil War ripped that country apart. The lives and livelihood of farmers, craftsmen and small business owners and their families that had existed for centuries, were destroyed in just weeks and months.
As a member of the Hazara tribe, hated and targeted by the Taliban, Mazari was forced to flee the brutal attacks on his people when the Northern Alliance fell to the advancing Taliban insurgents; although not before he was brutally tortured by them. His dangerous, overland flight to Pakistan, from there to Indonesia, then by boat to Australia, ends with him in the notorious Woomera Detention Centre in the Central Australian desert country, where the story begins.
The Rugmaker of Mazar-e-Sharif was the first book-length account from a representative of the many refugees who have arrived in Australia since the beginning of this century; and is exquisitely captured in his own voice. From the compelling opening sentence to the beautiful and touching final chapter, Najaf’s integrity, his extraordinary optimism and his generosity of spirit wins the hearts and minds of all readers. ‘Engaging’, ‘compelling’, ‘inspiring’ are the responses of readers of the book.
$7.00 from every sale of The Rugmaker of Mazar-e-Sharif
goes to AusGhan Aid, an independent not-for-profit organisation founded by Najaf and a group of Australian friends. AusGhan Aid raises funds to improve basic health services and provide educational resources to people living in remote villages in the Balkh province, Northern Afghanistan.
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2011 | 9780980757057 | 270 pages | Paperback | 243x160mm | 0.29 kg
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refugees, displaced people, afghan, Taliban, Afghanistan, Najaf Mazari, refugee advocate, Robert Hillman, epic journeys, Rugmaker, AusGhan Aid, Balkh. Northern Afghanistan
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This book traces an Afghan refugee’s extraordinary journey–from his early life as a shepherd boy in the mountains of Northern Afghanistan to his forced exile after being captured and tortured by the Taliban, to incarceration in an Australian detention centre…and finally to freedom. A poignant and powerful, often humorous, story of suffering, injustice and survival that explores the resilience of the human spirit.
“An extraordinary account of an epic journey to freedom, told with great intelligence, humour, poetry and integrity. Even in his darkest hours of despair, Najaf clings to hope and his deep love of life and people.”
Najaf Mazari was born in 1971 in a small village near Mazar-e-Sharif in northern Afghanistan. At the age of 12, he left school and apprenticed himself to a master rugmaker. Thus began his love affair with rugs! He fled Afghanistan in 2000, ending up in Woomera Detention Centre. Read more
Robert Hillman is a Melbourne-based writer of over 60 works of fiction and non-fiction. His autobiography, The Boy in the Green Suit, won the Australian National Biography Award for 2005. Read more