APRIL 2007
Core Council
Danica Anderson
Alean Haider
Stephanie Hiller, Director
Diana Young
Advisory Circle
Angela Dolmetsch
Leslene della Madre
Danica Anderson
Riane Eisler
Ingrid Kepler-May
Joan Marler
Camila Martinez
Vicki Noble
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Six women start businesses through the Afghan Women's Empowerment Project
Suraia Parlika (left), director of the Women's Peace Circle, with other members of the Circle, displays beautiful handmade products. Photo by Marsha MacColl, March 2007.Funded by donations received from American women, six women in the Afghan Women's Peace Circle, Kabul, have received loans of $1000 and have used the money to start small businesses.
The first five women to receive loans granted in August 2006 are: Zenab Ibrahimi, Torpaky Navaby, Shema Sadat , Jantab Mohammad Kazim, and Khadija Sherbaz. Two are jewelry makers, one embroiders and makes women's clothing, one is a weaver, and one makes handicrafts.
The women were selected by Ms. Perlika after review of their applications with the assistance of Alean Haider, Afghan representative to the AWEP. Now a senior at Montclair State University in Montclair, New Jersey, she had agreed to help administer the program while she was home in Kabul for the summer. Ms. Haider, who speaks excellent English, communicated our guidelines to members of the Peace Circle and kept us informed of the progress of the Project.
Alean writes, "I am soooooooooo glad to receive the first report and so excited that everything is going well. While I was in Kabul I noticed that the women who received the loan are very expert in their fields and hopefully they will do well in their businesses."
As the loans are repaid, new loans are awarded.
The $5000 seed money to launch the project was raised through a series of fundraisers. The most recent was held last January 9, 2006, when Alean traveled to the Bay Area with her friend Dewa to address a gathering of influential Sonoma County women who call themselves the No Name Group. Inspired by the presentations by the young women, members of the group were generous in making donations to the fund.
The Weavers Guild of Sonoma County provided $500 for a loan to an Afghan weaver, thanks to a matching gift offered by Janet Rodina, who owns Silk Moon, a shop which imports beautifully crafted textiles from Laos and Vietnam. Janet, who is a member of the AWEP, is interested in selling Afghan textiles in future.
The women are designing their products for the Afghan market, but WBW's goal is to develop markets for them in the United States.
