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July 2009 E-Newsletter
THE LATEST
Welcome to WAW's Brand New E-Newsletter!
Welcome to Women for Afghan Women's inaugural issue of our quarterly enewsletter, Itihad-E-Zan. We will bring you news of our work in Afghanistan and Queens, NY, four times a year, along with a feature story about a woman or girl who has been empowered by our work. We will also include any press coverage we have received, or other organizational announcements.
Please look out for our e-news, read the stories, and forward the newsletter to your friends. Thank you for being a part of the WAW community - our work is made possible by your support.
FEATURE
Huma's Story
Our very first e-newsletter features Huma. She is also the woman pictured in our header graphic in this issue.
Huma came to Women for Afghan Women (WAW) three years ago when she was only 19 years old. When she was 14, her family arranged her marriage and a formal engagement took place. Her fiancé, Saif Allah, often visited her after the engagement. One day, he arrived with blood all over his clothes. He proceeded to take Huma to his home, even though a wedding had not yet taken place. Huma and her mother were screaming but he just dragged her off by force. He kept her there for two months, during which time he raped and tortured her. Eventually, a wedding took place. To listen to Huma recount about her life with Saif Allah is to hear a litany of terrible violence against her, her mother, sister, and even against Saif Allah’s own relatives.
Saif Allah is a Taliban fighter and an unstable sadist. Over the years he tortured Huma in unimaginable ways. He hung her up by her hair and stuck hot pokers in her body. He broke her legs and ripped out her finger nails. She has photos of the original wounds and scars. During this time the only happiness Huma knew was when she had two sons. Her love for her sons carried her through this dark time.
After one violent incident, Saif Allah’s family took Huma to the hospital. She was discharged back to her own family's home. Saif Allah’s brothers came there and asked her to return. They promised to take care of her and promised that they wouldn’t let Saif Allah repeat the terrible violence. Saif Allah also promised to begin a new life with her. Huma trusted them and went with them again. She soon realized she had made a terrible mistake because nothing had changed. Saif Allah started beating her immediately. He told her, "your mother and sister should come here right now, otherwise I will kill you." Helplessly, Huma informed her mother and she came with her younger sister. Saif Allah beat all three women within inches of their lives. Her mother and sister escaped leaving Huma to fend for herself.
Saif Allah was so furious about Huma’s mother and sister’s escape that he beat Huma to the point that she lost an eyelid, and he bit her arms. Her sister-in-law told her that Saif Ali was planning to kill her and that he and his brother had dug a grave for her body somewhere. Huma decided that she couldn’t take it anymore. She knew of an organization which was helping widows. She decided to risk her life and have a chance at safety and freedom by telling her husband a lie. She said that her mother would be at the widows’ organization waiting for her. Huma asked him to take her there. Saif Allah took her to the organization. Upon arrival, he received a phone call. He said that he had urgent work and had to leave. He instructed her to return home with her mother and sister. As soon as he left, the staff of the widows'organization asked Huma if she would like to be taken to the police station. They immediately sensed her extreme danger and saw the abuse that had been piled on her. She eagerly accepted. The Chief of the 6th Police District took Huma to a hospital. Her injuries required that she stay for 45 days. Hospital staff understood that she needed to be discharged to a safe location and she was a taken to Women for Afghan Women’s shelter.
It took almost two years for our lawyers to get Huma a divorce because Saif Allah wouldn't show up in court. He continued to make endless threats against Huma’s family, especially her mother. Like her daughter, she had to flee and leave the family village and hide in Kabul.
Huma now lives in Kabul with her mother and is trying to rebuild their lives. WAW has hired her and she now earns a respectable salary working for us. She manages the emergency shelter in our Kabul Family Guidance Center, where we house women temporarily. These women either get transferred to our secret women’s shelter or get reunited with their families, depending on their particular circumstances. Huma is famous at WAW for the boundless kindness and gentleness with which she treats all the women who stay at our Center and everyone she encounters. She never attended school before coming to WAW but is now taking literacy courses and has plans for more education or vocational training. She has not seen her sons since she ran away and may never see them again. This is the part she can't overcome and may never be able to. She becomes hysterical, even hyperventilates when she thinks of them or when anyone brings them up. In Afghanistan women must often give up their children if they leave their abusers. Divorce Courts are legislatively required to award the children to the fathers.
In addition, Huma is perpetually afraid that Saif Allah will find her. She is still a prisoner who can not go out of her home or our Center without donning the burqa. Wearing the restricting burqa has become ironic because only within its folds can she feel safe and anonymous.
Huma is always ready to talk to visitors to the Center, press for the human rights challenges of women and girls in Afghanistan, and the importance of organizations like Women for Afghan Women. We owe her so much. She is a joy and inspiration to us all.
Click here to see Huma’s interview as part of an MSNBC feature on WAW’s work in Kabul.
WAW NEWS
Update from Afghanistan
WAW has established and runs Family Guidance Centers (FGC) and women's shelters in three Afghan cities: Kabul, Mazar-e-Sharif and Kapisa. This month's update concentrates on Kabul.
After waiting 9 months, we're expecting the European Commission to sign the contract that will fund both our residence for children living with their mothers in the Kabul prison and the new FGC and shelter in Jalalabad scheduled to open in 2010. We are in the throes of renovating the property we rented for the children's residence. It consists of two houses, one for girls and one for boys. There is a huge yard between the houses for sports and other outdoor activities. The property is badly deteriorated and a lot of work remains. We expect the finished property will be very nice but will take time.
In our Kabul women's shelter, we currently have 40 residents. 7 are young girls who can't return home for fear they'll be sold or married off at age 9 or 10 by their families. We are sending these girls to a private school, and as soon as the children's residence opens, we'll transfer them there from the shelter. We've started a library in our shelter, purchased educational DVDs, hired literacy and life skills teachers. We have also arranged to train current and former residents in professional jewelry making. Two teachers from a women's craft association will come to the shelter to do the training. As soon as our women are competent, they'll join the professional jewelry makers at the association and start earning money. The next step will be to train women in prison, especially the mothers of the children who will be living in our residence. These prisoners will be able to earn money, and the mothers will have a vocation when they're released and reunited with their kids.
Security is always a concern. Last week we faced a serious episode for the first time . A counselor was attacked on her way to a client's village for a discussion with the family. A relative of the client's husband spotted the car and incited some villagers to attack. The counselor, Zarmina, was dragged out and pushed around violently. The driver, our gentle Zia, was badly beaten--cracked over the head, pinned down and butted in the groin. Finally they were rescued by neighbors, taken to a local school and protected until the police arrived. They are recovering and the instigator is in jail.
We never stop looking for opportunities to help women and girls, to work cooperatively with other NGOs and finally with the government (the latter goal a constant struggle). We've just arranged to accept into the shelter little girls who are picked up on the street by the police.. This will put an end to their usual long harsh journey from the police, to Ashiana (a wonderful NGO that helps street children but has no shelter for girls), then to a detention center and finally to an orphanage.
We--the FGC and shelter staff and the women we help--are grateful for every cent our supporters donate. Our growth has been nothing short of phenomenal, and we can't stop now.
Update from Queens
The WAW community center in Flushing, Queens, is buzzing with activity, thanks to the hard work and passion of three new staff members: Shakila Hamidi, Shazia Akberzai and Naheed Samadi. In the past year, we’ve seen an increase in the numbers of women and girls who come to our center. Our staff is energized by all the positive response to their work. The NY community has also become interested in us. We've received numerous invitations to events all over the city and requests to make presentations at many of them. We attended a breakfast with Mayor Bloomberg. The US State Department heard about our work and brought a group of 10 visitors from Afghanistan to the Center in Flushing. Most recently, we partnered with a Muslim women's organization called Turning Point, to do outreach at the BAM Muslim Voices Festival. We took a group of ten women to see "Afghan Star" at the Human Rights Watch International Human Rights Film Festival.
The staff has expanded the ESL classes, computer training classes, and tutoring classes for children. In the Queens office, we assist women with legal, housing, health (mental and physical), public assistance and immigration problems. We provide counseling and referrals for the many women coming to us who are in domestic violence situations. In 2009, our Queens staff have attended or arranged 23 public events (often as speakers), including an appearance on NY 1 TV, a visit by the US State Dept., and a presentation at NYU Students Association event. The NY1 TV Station named our founder, "New Yorker of the Week." WAW was also honored with the Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture's Peace Site Award in a ceremony on June 21st.
Queens staffers Naheed Samadi and Shazia Akberzai tabling at the BAM Muslim Voices festival.
The WAW Center is where many Afghan women come, if not for a class, just for peace and respite. Some regularly bring a cooked lunch for our staff members, a small gesture to show how much they appreciate the care they receive here.
Update from Afgan Women's Fund
Fahima Vorgetts, WAW Board Member and Afghan Women’s Fund Director spent May in Afghanistan. During this trip, Fahima held two important conferences to organize regional groups of women’s shoras (cooperatives) to help women pool their economic and personal strengths. Each new network is headed by amazing women leaders. We would love to hear from US women's organizations and businesses that can assist this new level of shora organization.
The individual shoras that AWF assists are also expanding. The Laghman shora has grown from 82 members last year to 200 today, and has brought income, literacy, and the support of local men previously skeptical about women’s education. The women’s shora in Mir Bacha Kot (near Kabul) is doing so well that they asked the men to start a Rotary Club chapter; Fahima attended their first meeting. Shoras in other parts of the country are similarly hard-working and successful; hundreds of additional women want to form shoras and enroll in the literacy classes.
In Logar (south of Kabul) Fahima attended opening ceremonies for the Deh Now (New Village) girls’ middle school, which AWF funds. Other AWF schools and school building are growing as donations allow. The girls’ school building in Wardak is complete, and we are working hard to raise money to pay off the $39,000 contract balance.
AWF literacy classes continue in many locations. After completing these classes teenage girls in Laghman took the bold step of asking the local men's shora to help find funding to build a girls' school. The men agreed, did find funding, and construction of the school building has begun. The men's shora is proud of this accomplishment and of the girls' continuing education. In Poz-e Eishan (Baghlan Province) women who couldn't read last year showed off their literacy to Fahima. They proudly reported that the shora has allowed them to earn their own money and provide for their families for the first time in their lives.
WAW and AWF couldn’t do it without your help! Thank you!
WAW IN THE NEWS
News Articles Featuring WAW
We've been all over the news lately- check out these links!
March 3rd, 2009: WAW featured on the front Page of the New York Times- "Afghan Women Slowly Gaining Protection"
March 30th, 2009: NY1 Covers WAW's celebration of Nowroz at the Queens Public Library- "Persian New Year Celebrated At Queens Library"
April 14th, 2009: New York Times blogger Randy Cohen quotes WAW founder Sunita Viswanath- "The Limits of Tolerance"
April 15th, 2009: MSNBC runs a feature story on WAW's Kabul Women's Shelter- "For Afghan women, home isn't where the heart is"
May 15th, 2009: WAW Founder Sunita Viswanath named New Yorker of the Week by NY1- "Local Women Help Afghan Women Adjust To U.S. Life"
May 26th, 2009: France 24 runs a feature story on WAW's Kabul shelter- "Bartered for ‘justice’, battered women seek shelters"
June 9th, 2009: WAW Board Member Fahima Vorgetts interviewed by the Huffington Post- "Women's Rights In Afghanistan Depends On Where One Lives"
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