City Talk is Network Chicago's member publication (Channel 11, public television).  They ran an article on Dara Tribal Village on February 15, 2001 as we began to collect clothes and food for our Afghanistan Aid effort.  The article is re-typed below.

Finding Beauty in Relief Effort

by Kevin Davis

Abdul Wardak remembers a verdant landscape where fruits and vegetables grew plentiful, a peaceful place where he rode horses in nearby mountains, played soccer on grass fields and lived a good and happy life.  This was the Afghanistan of his youth.  "It was," he says, a wonderful country."

The landscape began to change with the Soviet invasion in 1979 and the destruction wrought by years of war, internal discord and drought.  Forests were denuded for fuel, farms were lost or abandoned, towns and villages crumbled and thousands died from bullets and bombs.  When he sees images of his country on television, Wardak, who now lives in Arlington Heights, does not recognize the land of his childhood. 

There are reminders of the old country, however, packed on shelves and on the walls of his business, Dara Tribal Village, a multi-ethnic gallery and craft store which he and partner Rachel Biel opened on Chicago's near West Side in January 2001.  They sell crafts, artwork, rugs, jewelry and clothing from Afghanistan, much of it made during more peaceful times.

Wardak, trained as an accountant, left Afghanistan more than 20 years ago to escape the communist regime, and has spent much of his life working to help his family get to the United States.  He frequently visited Pakistan, where they lived as refugees, and gave them money.  He was doing well as a financial planner and wanted to give something back.  So during his trips Wardak also began buying things from Afghan refugees to put a few dollars in their pockets.  he bought woven rugs, jewelry and crafts to decorate his home.

"Every time I went, I ended up buying things from the refugees- to help the people and to make my house look like a bit of Afghanistan," Wardak says.  "I think I have the largest collection of Afghani things in Chicago."

His passion turned into a business as Wardak made more and more trips and began selling imported crafts and art in Chicago.  Dara Tribal Village, his latest venture, is filled with beautiful carved wooden chest, painted bowls, hats, and robes from Afghanistan.  some of the carpets are believed to be 100 years old.  Wardak shows off a rack full of colorful robes embroidered and festooned with beads and metalwork from the Zazzi and Pashtoon tribes.  He has dozens of "rebel hats", wool caps from Nooristan popularized by Northern Alliance soldiers, but originally created in Pakistan.  "They are unique and a part of history," he says of the crafts.

Wardak still feels an obligation to help his homeland.  He has grieved as he watched his people suffer during the war with the Taliban.  "How can you leave your country behind when there is war, death and suffering?"

Not long after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 and the subsequent war, customer and friends asked how they might help those hurt or displaced by the fighting.  Based on information from relatives and news reports, the people of Wardak's native country need a lot, especially basic necessities.  People in remote villages have resorted to eating grass for lack of any other food.

He and Biel decided to organize an Afghanistan relief effort at the store and are seeking donations of food, clothing and tools.  Wardak's goal is to fill a shipping container and send it to a single village where it would be distributed by the Red Cross or another official relief agency.  He estimates it will take five to six months for a container to get there and cost about $3,000 to ship.

Wardak and Biel are asking for donations of nonperishable foods (no pork or products containing lard because Muslims do not eat pork or its by-products). clothing and simple tools such as hammers, screwdrivers, saws, nails and screws.  No power tools, however, because not all areas have access to electricity and the voltage requirements differ.

Though it will take time, Wardak pictures a restoration to the Afghanistan of his youth, a place that will again grow with life, plants and hope.  His goal is to someday give vacationers tours of his country, and perhaps he will build a small hotel.  "It's a little dream of mine," he says.  "I'd like to take them to the remote areas to see the real Afghanistan."