mehmani
mehmani is the first empowerment project by Afghan women for Afghan women in Hamburg.
This is the largest European agglomeration of Afghan women in exile and until now there have been no spaces where Afghan women could meet and exchange ideas. The events are conceptualised and moderated by the political educators Zara Momand and Fanus Ghorjani.
mehmani
Use of the term
mehmanis are a core element of Afghan culture. In this context, there are gatherings that demonstrate the norms and values of Afghan hospitality.
This term was chosen to reach Afghan women from diverse social classes, linguistic competences, religious and ethnic affiliations and histories of flight and migration. The diversity of the Afghan population can be united using this term, as this form of collective gathering is a core element of cultural practice in the Central Asian region.
The project emphasises the similarities, while the differences should serve as bridges and not as obstacles. We want to bring together the love, closeness, vulnerability and strength that linger within us and for which we rarely find outlets.
Project Management
Zara Momand
Zara Momand is a prospective psychotherapist, political educator and freelance author. From 2016 to 2024, Zara worked with refugees in various contexts, including as an interpreter in asylum procedures and in the administration and psychological counselling of a psychosocial counselling centre for refugees. Since 2021, she has dedicated herself to educational work in the (post)migrant and psychological context, including in the form of online psychoeducation and workshops to make academic knowledge accessible, highlight and counteract structural disadvantages in the care system. She also runs empowerment workshops that integrate political education. Her focus is on individual empowerment and collective resistance, particularly through cultural preservation, self-efficacy and targeted resource utilisation.
Zara identifies as a Woman of Colour and describes herself as an Afghan socialised in Germany. She speaks German, English and Pashto.
Fanus Ghorjani
Fanus Ghorjani is a political scientist and aspiring data scientist. She is concerned with the coloniality of data and the resulting global knowledge asymmetries that are developing as a result of the ongoing accumulation of data.
As a political educator with a focus on anti-discrimination, she establishes an interdisciplinary link between academic practice and her culturally creative role as project manager at mehmani. She describes herself as a Hamburg Afghan and speaks German, English and Dari/Farsi.