Laila Haidari

Laila Haidari (born 1978) is an Afghan activist and restaurateur. She runs Mother Camp, a drug rehabilitation centre she founded in Kabul, Afghanistan, in 2010. She also owns Taj Begum, a Kabul cafe that funds Mother Camp. Taj Begum is frequently raided because it breaks taboos; the cafe is run by a woman and allows unmarried men and women to eat together. Haidari is the subject of the 2018 documentary film Laila at the Bridge. She was recognized as one of the BBC's 100 women of 2021.

Biography

Early life, marriage, and education Haidari was born to an Afghan family in Quetta, Pakistan, in 1978. While an infant, her family moved to Iran as refugees.

When her husband permitted her to take religious classes, Haidari secretly began studying other subjects. She earned a university degree in filmmaking. Per Islamic law, the children remained with their father.

Career and activism Haidari moved to Afghanistan in 2009. In Kabul, she found her brother, Hakim, living under Pul-e-Sokhta bridge with hundreds of other drug-addicted individuals. The centre was named Mother Camp by its first clients. and for providing a space in which married and unmarried men and women can socialize together, a cultural taboo in the local community.

Haidari has spoken out against the Taliban's presence in Afghanistan, including the threats it presents to women's rights in the country. She has criticized the Afghan government for not including women in the peace process for the ongoing war in Afghanistan.

She was recognized as one of the BBC's 100 women of 2021.

Laila at the Bridge Haidari is the subject of a documentary, Laila at the Bridge, directed by Elizabeth and Gulistan Mirzaei. The film won the FACT:Award for investigative documentaries at Copenhagen's CPH:DOX film festival in 2018.