![Fragile but unbroken, Afghan glassblowers refuse to quit](https://www.americanmarconiwirelessnews.com/media/shared/articles/bf/75/16/Fragile-but-unbroken--Afghan-glassb-184192.jpg)
-
Harris, Trump target swing states after fierce debate
-
Ten Hag hits back at Ronaldo criticism over Man Utd ambition
-
Oscar hopefuls to bookend US French film festival
-
UN chief calls for 'courage' ahead of Summit of the Future
-
French rugby federation blames 'poorly managed' supervision for youth player drowning
-
Movie producer Harvey Weinstein indicted on new charges: US media
-
Ex-Scotland captain Hogg to miss Montpellier match after bail release
-
'Historic': Bad weather slashes wine harvest in France's Jura
-
ECB rate cut boosts European stocks, euro
-
Piastri not 'pulling over' for Norris at every race
-
'Energised' Tebogo looking to close season with Diamond League bang
-
Millions in SE Asia battle floods, death toll passes 250
-
Fiat 500 electric production pauses for one month
-
London Fashion Week opens with Charli XCX party and second-hand runways
-
ECB cuts rates again, Lagarde backs EU reform call
-
Storm Francine downgraded but still drenching US south
-
Everton say 'work to be done' on Textor takeover
-
Shelling kills 3 Red Cross workers in E.Ukraine
-
Shelling kills 3 Red Cross workers killed in E.Ukraine
-
Iran president makes 'historic' visit to Iraqi Kurdistan
-
Brigitte Macron awarded damages over false trans claim
-
ECB rate cut boosts Europeans stocks, euro
-
Deadly Israeli strike on Gaza school draws global condemnation
-
Russia recaptures part of Kursk region
-
Bike-loving Dutch grapple with 'fatbike' phenomena
-
Ahead of Champions League warm-up, PSG are soaring and Brest slumping
-
ECB cuts rates again as inflation slows
-
Denmark's von Trier to direct a new film
-
Arteta agrees new Arsenal deal
-
Jon Bon Jovi helps woman standing on edge of US bridge
-
SpaceX makes history with first spacewalks by private citizens
-
England's Livingstone 'feels like a kid again' after injury setbacks
-
Brazil urges EU to suspend 'punitive' anti-deforestation law
-
Myanmar residents flee deadly floods in boats and on makeshift rafts
-
Power struggle and chaotic player trading: What's going at Chelsea?
-
Blinken seeks common cause in Poland after Ukraine jitters
-
Stocks rally on cooler US inflation, before ECB rate call
-
Spanish PM meets Venezuelan opposition figure amid tensions
-
McLaren set to introduce team orders to support Norris title bid
-
Tottenham's Bentancur charged with misconduct over remarks about teammate Son
-
UniCredit CEO says Commerzbank takeover an option: Bloomberg
-
Pogacar aims to conquer Canada before cycling worlds
-
UK military urged to stop using bearskin hats on cost grounds
-
New Queen Elizabeth II statue panned in Northern Ireland
-
Ireland launches EU privacy probe into Google AI development
-
Irish skipper Tom Dolan wins Solitaire du Figaro sailing race
-
Boats carry terrified children to safety in Thai floods
-
Tropical Storm Francine batters US state of Louisiana
-
Arteta agrees new Arsenal deal: reports
-
Iran president arrives in Iraqi Kurdistan on day two of visit
RBGPF | 4.7% | 59.81 | $ | |
CMSC | -0.32% | 25.16 | $ | |
CMSD | 0.32% | 25.21 | $ | |
SCS | 0.6% | 13.42 | $ | |
BP | 0.89% | 31.57 | $ | |
NGG | -0.44% | 69.015 | $ | |
GSK | -1.3% | 43.21 | $ | |
BCC | 2.23% | 124.87 | $ | |
RIO | 0.69% | 61.635 | $ | |
RYCEF | 1.56% | 6.4 | $ | |
JRI | -0.08% | 13.17 | $ | |
BTI | -0.66% | 38.865 | $ | |
RELX | 1.08% | 47.665 | $ | |
AZN | -2.18% | 78.81 | $ | |
VOD | -0.2% | 10.02 | $ | |
BCE | -0.23% | 35.11 | $ |
![Fragile but unbroken, Afghan glassblowers refuse to quit](https://www.americanmarconiwirelessnews.com/media/shared/articles/bf/75/16/Fragile-but-unbroken--Afghan-glassb-184192.jpg)
Fragile but unbroken, Afghan glassblowers refuse to quit
Seated in front of a searing furnace, Ghulam Sakhi Saifi teases forth sinews of molten blue glass -- the guardian of an Afghan glassblowing trade refusing to break with tradition.
"This is our art, our inheritance. It has fed us for a long time," he told AFP, resting from the work that has singed his knuckles and calloused his palms.
"We are trying to make sure it is not forgotten. If we do not pass it down, it will disappear from the whole world," said Saifi, who guesses his age is around 50.
Glassblowing in Afghanistan's western city of Herat is an ancient craft. Saifi says it has run in his family for about three centuries.
The last two furnaces in the windswept metropolis near the border with Iran are in his family home and a mud-and-straw shed with a holey roof in the shadow of Herat's citadel.
- 'Slow suffocation' -
Saifi now lights one of the furnaces only once a month -- eking out around $30 from his stock of cups, plates and candleholders after expensive wood for fuel, dyes and other raw materials are accounted for.
He attributes the dramatic downturn to the exodus of already low numbers of foreign customers during the Covid-19 pandemic followed by the 2021 Taliban takeover, which saw many diplomats and aid workers pack up and leave.
Cheaper Chinese-made imports have also dented demand.
"There have been times when we haven't worked for three months -- we sit at home forever," he said.
"Locals have no use for these products, for the price they would first think to buy two loaves of bread for their children."
But when the furnace is lit, Saifi is in his element.
With a crude kitchen knife and a blowpipe he pulls glowing globs of glass out of the mud furnace and inflates them into household wares.
Unlike in the past, when they used quartz, the glassblowers now use easier-to-findrecycled bottles shattered into shards and superheated back into their liquid state.
The green and blue pieces cool into charmingly imperfect shapes, shot through with air bubbles, and are sold from clattering piles in shops in Herat and the capital Kabul for around $3 each.
Outside the shed it is already 36 degrees Celsius (97 degrees Fahrenheit) but stepping over the threshold is like being gripped by a sudden fever.
"Sometimes we really feel the heat, I think I am being slowly suffocated," Saifi said. "But this is our inheritance, we are used to it.
"Today is a bad day, but maybe it will get better in the future. Maybe the day after tomorrow, we hope to God."
- 'Craft needs to endure' -
A gaggle of boys and teenagers assists Saifi in his work, but it is growing hard to tempt the younger generation into a trade they view as a dead end.
His eldest son became an expert in the craft only to abandon it for migrant labour over the border in Iran.
Two cousins who learned to blow glass also saw no future and downed their tools.
His middle son, 18-year-old Naqibullah, vows he will continue the trade, though it's not clear how.
Before the Taliban takeover there was still enough demand for three days of work a week -- a distant prospect for the young man who shares shifts with his father on the rare occasion they light the furnaces.
"We hope that there is a future and that day by day things will get better," Naqibullah said.
"Even if we're not making much money the craft needs to endure," he added. "The art of making things by hand needs to be preserved. We can't let this skill disappear."
M.Fischer--AMWN