A lovely young girl, with a pink veil draped loosely over her head and shoulders, was watching me from near a crumbling wall. She appeared to be no more than eleven or twelve years old.
I smiled at her, and her face lit up in response. She beckoned me to follow her between the whitewashed mud houses to a large, walled enclosure. Inside were women of various ages, most garbed in shapeless black, some old and bent and others with young children and babies in their arms...I took out my camera, and the women hesitated for a moment, glanced at each other warily, then nodded permission. I took several photos of groups inside the women's quarters before Firzana caught my eye, pantomiming taking photos and shaking her head no as a warning signal to hide my camera. I stuffed it back in my bag just as her father and uncles entered."
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