Kabul Beauty School by Deborah Rodriguez

With the help of corporate and international sponsors, the Kabul Beauty School welcomed its first class in 2003. Yet she soon found she had a gift for befriending Afghans, and once her profession became known she was eagerly sought out by Westerners desperate for a good haircut and by Afghan women, who have a long and proud tradition of running their own beauty salons. Surrounded by men and women whose skills-as doctors, nurses, and therapists-seemed eminently more practical than her own, Rodriguez, a hairdresser and mother of two from Michigan, despaired of being of any real use. Thus began the most unlikely story of a Western hairdresser in Kabul, who helped build a beauty school for women and a life of her own amidst the rubble.Soon after the fall of the Taliban, in 2001, Deborah Rodriguez went to Afghanistan as part of a group offering humanitarian aid to this war-torn nation. I had no idea I’d still be there five years later doing spiral perms and introducing the art of hairdressing. I felt like I had stepped back in time, everything seemed broken - buildings, roads, homes, families and individuals but I fell in love with a people and a country. After training in disaster relief and volunteering at ground zero in New York City, I deployed with a team to Afghanistan in May 2002. Years of traveling around the world prepared me for the biggest and most pivotal moment of my life.

I could experience the world and not hide from those less fortunate. With a little bit of planning and huge suitcases full of medical supplies, I was able to satisfy my lust for travel and feed the compassion of my heart. This was the moment that I decided to 'vacation with a purpose.' I spent the week visiting her, bringing diapers and groceries-and that’s where I felt content. She invited me to her home where we ate soup made with not much more than fish bones. On a memorable trip to Jamaica, I grabbed a bus into town and met a twenty-year old mother with five kids.

My explorations were always fascinating, and I would see a country that was not accessible from my fancy resort. I loved it, but I’d quickly found myself bored with the tourist destinations, and after my fill of jet skis and margaritas on the beach in the manicured resort compound, I would wander off and see how the real people lived. When they have been in one place too long, they demand to walk on new soil.

Kabul Beauty School by Deborah Rodriguez