Laura Mosedale
Laura's page
Fundraising for Afghanaid
Story
The marathon is run, I survived with toenails and faculties intact and, more importantly, I hit my target of raising £15,000 for Afghanaid. I don't want this to discourage anyone from giving, though--this page will stay open for a while.
Thanks to all who have so generously supported this effort. In the early summer, I hope to meet with the director of Afghanaid here in London to talk about how the money raised will be spent, and I will keep you posted on the outcome. With luck, I may even be able to visit some of Afghanaid's projects in September.
Afghanaid has been working tirelessly and continuously in Afghanistan for over twenty-five years, from helping refugees fleeing the Soviet regime to addressing the roots of rural poverty today. It focusses its efforts in remote areas where eighty percent of Afghans live, giving Afghans the tools to build better lives. Afghanaid's 400 staff is 98 percent Afghan, 89 percent of the money raised goes directly to fund projects, and the people there know Afghanaid is there for the long haul.
Thanks to all who have so generously supported this effort. In the early summer, I hope to meet with the director of Afghanaid here in London to talk about how the money raised will be spent, and I will keep you posted on the outcome. With luck, I may even be able to visit some of Afghanaid's projects in September.
Afghanaid has been working tirelessly and continuously in Afghanistan for over twenty-five years, from helping refugees fleeing the Soviet regime to addressing the roots of rural poverty today. It focusses its efforts in remote areas where eighty percent of Afghans live, giving Afghans the tools to build better lives. Afghanaid's 400 staff is 98 percent Afghan, 89 percent of the money raised goes directly to fund projects, and the people there know Afghanaid is there for the long haul.
I have been especially inspired by how Afghanaid addresses the needs
of girls and women in a country where it is not easy to be born female.
Eight years after the fall of the Taliban, the tenuous gains made by women are under serious threat. According to a recent report by Human Rights Watch, resurgent Taliban forces have destroyed girls' schools and threatened and murdered women in public life in Afghanistan. The commitments to women's rights made by the supposedly moderate Karzai government and its international backers have not been kept. This disastrous. Recent books such as Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortensen and Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide by Nicholas Kristoff and Cheryl WuDunn show convincingly how educating girls and empowering women is key to a country's development.
Afghanaid has
trained some 500 female health workers. In areas where maternal mortality
and childhood death rates are among the highest in the world, these workers have
been able to save lives and pass on knowledge that will save countless
more.
Afghanaid's peer groups have helped girls
like Maida Gul, who at 14 was facing the prospect of a forced marriage to a
35-year-old man. Her group confronted her parents and enlisted local community
leaders and the local mullah to convince the parents that it was against the law
and their daughter's best interests. She was allowed to refuse the marriage and
stay in school.
Afghanaid's women's resource centers are
giving girls and women who've been denied basic education lessons in literacy and
health, as well as vocational training in carpet-weaving, embroidery and
tailoring. Afghanaid's micro-enterprise programs are helping women set up their
own businesses, providing them with market links and valuable business and
leadership training.
Afghanaid's programs are not expensive. Forty-five pounds can buy a food processing training kit for a women's resource center. One hundred pounds can provide materials to set up a carpet-weaving business. Two thousand pounds can run a women's resource center for a year. By contrast, it costs an estimated $1 million to deploy one U.S. soldier for a year in Afghanistan.
Feel free to
contact me with any questions or visit the Afghanaid website: www.afghanaid.org.uk
Thanks again,
Laura