[GEO] Mazar-I-Sharif, Afghanistan
[Sara] I had an anonymous call.
[Sara] A man threatened me,
telling me not to give any more interviews.
[Sara] Even my adopted son dislikes journalists.
[Sara] But I will not be silent,
even though I'm always scared about giving interviews.
[Sara] That's why I'm feeling fear... even now.
[Sara Bahayi] A woman in Afghanistan is nothing.
[Sara] She should just sit at home.
[Sara] Women are ignorant and backward,
shut off from the world, I don't like them.
[Sara] I live and work by Islam but not even that stops people rubbishing me.
[Taxi driver] Of course, Mazar-i's no place for Sara Bahayi.
[Taxi driver] Driving in Afghanistan dangerous.
[Taxi driver] Even male drivers get killed!
[Taxi driver] It's a dangerous job, not for women.
[Taxi driver 2] If a woman drives a man,
it's not according to Islam,
but if she drives a woman, then it's fine.
[Boy] I'm praying to Allah for your car.
[Boy] May the evil eye avoid your car.
[Boy] May Allah help you,
your family, your kids and your husband to flee the evil eye.
[Boy] I bless you!
[Boy] May your car be safe from the evil eye.
[Boy] May Allah help you, your family, your kids,
and your husband flee the evil eye.
[VO] Sarah Bahayi hasn't been doing very well recently.
[VO] She was involved in an accident but she doesn't like talking about that.
[VO] This man will now remove a curse from her car and then,
Sarah will get back to work.
THE AFGHAN LADY CAB
[VO] 42-year-old Sarah learnt to drive ten years ago,
then six years ago, she bought her first taxi.
[VO] Since then, driving has been her favourite job.
[Child] Everyone in this country needs a Mum!
[Child] Everyone needs Mummy!
[Child] A mother's what everyone needs!
[Passenger] Men have always ruled women,
telling us what to do and what not to do.
[Passenger] It's men who are the problem.
[Sara] A woman doesn't wake up complaining she's cold or hot, she just goes to work.
[Sara] People don't care, they say, 'Look at the bad woman driving! She must be killed for it!'
[Passenger] Yes, exactly.
[Sara] I don't give rides to men, just women.
[Sara] It's Afghanistan, women face many dangers.
[Sara] They can't work freely in such hard conditions.
[Sara] Every day I risk my life working.
[Sara] Hello. Get in.
[Sara] How are you?
[Passenger] My eyes are swollen, I should see a mullah.
[Sara] You don't need a mullah, but a doctor!
[Sara] There's a hospital near the police station.
[Sara] A doctor will see you for 150 Afghanis.
[Sara] I'll drive you there.
[Sara] Damn! You can't be here with your cart!
[Sara] Curses on your father!
[Sara] May you get dust in your face!
[Rickshaw driver] One seat left! One more person and we go!
Of course Sara's very useful.
[Cameraman] In what way is she useful?
[Man] We have no female taxi drivers.
[Man] Sara's the only one.
[Man] She supports all the unmarried women of Afghanistan.
[Man] From the safety point of view, it's dangerous.
[Man] There's no peace in our country.
[Man] If Sara's outside the city...
...there could be problems.
[Man] For example...
...thugs might kill her to take her car.
[Policeman] Please take your vehicle from the road.
[Driver] I'm taking the last passenger and leaving!
[VO] The passenger seat in Sarah's car is more than just a business.
[VO] It's a consulting couch for women to seek help.
[VO] There are several clients who come to her in their hour of need.
[Sara] Hello.
[Sara] Sit down.
[Sara] Please close the door.
[VO] Farima was never rich but her husband was severely burned in an accident,
and now they're completely penniless.
[Farima] My husband's not old.
[Farima] He's young.
[Farima] But I still have to look after him.
[Farima] If he was old, it would be fine.
[Farima] But he's still so young!
[Farima] He has a young face and no grey hairs.
[Farima] Every day I wash his body.
[Farima] When I ask the kids to wash his face...
they refuse.
[Farima] So I have to do everything myself.
[VO] Farima's a teacher.
[VO] Because she's at home she doesn't have to wear the chador.
[VO] Once a week, Sarah visits Farima to see her sick husband.
[VO] Sarah's not just a taxi driver. She has many professions.
[VO] Today, she's a physiotherapist, helping Farima's husband through a remedial exercise routine.
[VO] Farima also gives lessons in her basement.
[Farima] I use these glasses to teach the children how to count.
[VO] It helps her survive.
[VO]This is her class, and this is her dream:
to become the president of Afghanistan.
[VO] This is her kitchen.
[Sara] The kitchen in the picture is modern, and where we are is an old-fashioned kitchen.
[Sara] That's the kitchen for the rich, and that's for the poor.
[Man] This is a teacher's life in Afghanistan. There are just three potatoes.
[Man] That's my life! I have no money to buy potatoes.
[VO] It's Ramadan now. Tradition demands that the rich give money to the poor and they do it without getting out of their cars.
[VO] The trick is being able to drive away afterwards.
[VO] Poor people ask the driver to follow the rich.
[VO] We didn't dare jump a red light.
[VO] Sarah's not rich either,
but it's not like her to run after someone else for money.
[VO] Another of her businesses is bee-keeping.
[VO] With a dozen other women, she keeps an apiary.
[VO] They're all a bit like shareholders
and the beehives are on the roof of Sarah's house.
[Sara] The bees are all ruled by the queen.
[Sara] When she leaves the hive, all the other bees follow her.
[Sara] Right, it's time to finish with bees.
[VO] Bee-keeping fits in well with Sarah's ideas about feminism.
[VO] Bees obey the queen, females perform all the main functions and the males are only needed for reproduction.
[VO] It's time to finish with the bees. Apparently, it's time to go to the car wash.
[VO] There are about 1400 taxi drivers in Mazar-i-Sharif.
[VO] Sarah's the only woman among them. So these guys wash her car for free.
[Cameraman] Sara, what make of car would you like?
[Sara] What make? [Cameraman] Like Lexus or Land Cruiser.
[Sara] Oh, Lexus.
[Sara] Having a 2006 Lexus would be cool.
[Sara] A Land Cruiser would be cool too.
[Sara] But I'd really like to have an armoured car.
[Sara] So no one could harm me.
[Voice] You need a bullet-proof taxi! [Sara] Yes, that would be good!
[Cameraman] What do you think of Sara, you like her?
[Washerman] Yes, I do.
[Cameraman] Is it ok that Sara's a taxi driver?
[Washerman] Why are you asking me that?
[Cameraman] Well, she's a woman.
[Washerman] Men and women are equal.
[Washerman] Of course she can drive a taxi.
[Cameraman] You try so hard because you like her? [Washerman] Yes.
[Sara] This is a passage from the Quran.
[Sara] When you are travelling,
it guards you from accidents.
[Sara] We kiss it and pray to it.
[Sara] These bands are for the evil eye,
they keep the evil eye away as you drive.
[Sara] And this here is a leaf that's been scented.
[Sara] I'm going?
[Song] Everyone says he's crazy,
but only he knows the truth.
[Song] It's not his fault,
his heart responds with love.
[Sara] Accelerate! Brake!
[Sara] Accelerate!
[Sara] Brake!
[Sara] Accelerate! Brake! Accelerate! Brake!
[Sara] Reduce the speed!
[Sara] Don't rush!
[Sara] Now go over there.
[Sara] Turn there and do a loop.
[Student] A man's come to watch me driving!
[Student] Can I knock him over, please?
[Sara] Sure!
[Student] Boom! You're dead.
[Sara] I feel uncomfortable when I'm sitting in the passenger seat.
[Sara] When someone else is driving,
I try to steer the car as well.
[Sara] In a traffic jam, I constantly press down on the non-existent brake!
[Cameraman] Do you think it's ok if a woman drives a taxi in Afghanistan?
[Driver] Yes. [Cameraman] Really?
[Driver] What's wrong with doing that?
[Cameraman] Can she use the skill to make money?
[Driver] A woman can work with tourists,
like a guide, for example.
[Cameraman] Would you like to be a woman here?
[Driver] No, thanks!
[Cameraman] You're happy as you are, yeah?
[Cameraman] Where are you from? [Driver] Shulgareh.
[Cameraman] Are there many Taliban fighters?
[Driver] Not many.
[Cameraman] If they caught Sara, what do you think they'd do?
[Driver] They'd wait till Ramadan's over...
[Cameraman] And then what?
[Driver] Then rape her.
[Mechanic] Start the engine!
[Song] If I'm to be killed,
let it be...
by the hands...
of my own people.
[VO] We're going clothes shopping.
[VO] The range of clothes is quite surprising for Afghanistan.
[VO] In many Islamic countries, weddings take place in two parts, one for men, the other for women.
[VO] And so it is here, all these outfits are for female weddings.
[Sara] Can I see that shoe?
[VO] They also sell children's clothes.
[Sara] Wow, they magnify everything!
[Sara] Looking through these makes everything seem so big and long!
[Seller] You should wear them on top of your head!
[Seller] Great! You look like a star!
[Sara] Ok, and how much are they? [Seller] 50 dollars.
[Sara] 50 dollars?!
[Sara] I make five dollars a day,
and I think that's a lot!
[VO] The blue mosque of Mazar-i-Sharif is one of the main sacred places for Shia Muslims,
thousands of pilgrims travel here.
[VO] During Ramadan, Islam forbids eating or drinking during daylight hours
and Evening prayers signal the end of the ban.
[VO] A communal dinner begins with the first sounds of prayer.
[VO] Free food is handed out;
everyone is welcome to a helping of traditional soup with a flatbread.
[VO] Not a single poor person is allowed to go hungry during a Ramadan evening.
[VO] Sarah's working day ends with the setting sun.
[VO] Islam doesn't allow women to work when it's dark.
[VO] Her car's outside. Once someone tried to steal it, so Sarah went to the market and bought herself a gun.
[VO] Now she's armed, she feels safer.
[Sara] No, I didn't manage to catch anyone.
[Sara] But I saw the thieves trying to do something to it.
[Sara] I scared them off and they ran away.
[Cameraman] Sara, why don't you have a family and a husband yet?
[Sara] When the Taliban killed my sister's husband,
I decided never to get married myself,
and that I'd provide for my mother,
and for my sister's and brother's families.
[Sara] That's why I don't get married.
[Sara] I am in love... but with God.
[Sara] I don't need anyone.
[Sara] I don't have time to love anyone else.
[Sara] I'm responsible for my whole family.
[Sara] I had no time to fall in love...
with anyone but God.
[VO] Sarah is a media person.
[VO] Photographers often want to take her picture, she appears on local TV and several foreign crews have come to film her.
[VO] She speaks openly about her work and women's rights in Afghanistan.
[VO] In fact, there's only one topic she'd prefer not to discuss.
[Abdul Khalil, Victim's Father] It happened three years ago.
[Abdul Khalil] I had sent my wife to take my daughter,
away for the weekend,
to visit her grandmother.
[Abdul Khalil] There's a place called Korte Mamuri,
near my parents' house. They sell ducks there.
[Abdul Khalil] That was where the car that Sara was driving...
...ran over my daughter.
[Abdul Khalil] I got a call from the hospital,
and was told to come quickly.
[Abdul Khalil] When... I finally got there,
my daughter was already dead.
all we could do...
...was collect her body,
and take it away from the hospital.
[Cameraman] Can you tell us about the accident?
[VO] Sarah refuses to talk about it.
[Abdul Khalil] Sara came to me.
[Abdul Khalil] She said, 'We can't change what's happened'.
[Abdul Khalil] She asked me, 'What do you want?'
[Abdul Khalil] I replied, 'We don't want anything from you.'
[Abdul Khalil] It wasn't her fault.
[Abdul Khalil] It was an accident.
[Abdul Khalil] Everything was done according to Sharia law.
[Abdul Khalil] I left it for God to judge.
[Abdul Khalil] We don't need anything.
[Abdul Khalil] I told her to go.
[Song] It's good when mothers are kind,
and brothers like fruit,
that grow on the same tree.
[Song] People, let's respect each other,
learn more about each other,
one day we'll die and lie in a grave.
[Song] If you leave your country, it'll be hard, you'll miss your homeland.
[Song] My love, be more like a flower for me.
[Song] You're my only one.