AFGHAN FEMALE STUDENT OUTREACH

This month has seen a profound realignment of America's priorities domestically and overseas, with far-reaching implications for everyone working to improve the status of women around the world. AFSO has not been directly affected, but several of our partners—notably the American University of Afghanistan and the Asian University for Women—have seen their programs eviscerated. As I write, AFSO is practically the only alternative for Afghan university women seeking to build a future for themselves and their country.

 

Our executive director, Amran Fatih, and I returned from California with renewed confidence in partnering possibilities with Stanford and Dominican universities as well as individuals and organizations like CARE, Roots of Peace, and MIIED. Alternatives for our students who still lack high school diplomas are beginning to take shape.

 

At the same time, the combined pressures of increased applications and students' need for guidance counseling call on AFSO again to seek funding for our mission. This winter has seen marked success in placing students in universities with full scholarship support. Behind those successful students are several dozen others who are building their academic capacity and attaining distinguished scores on language tests. It's now urgent for us to guide them toward institutions of higher learning, not just in the U.S., but in Europe, the U.K., the Far East, and elsewhere.

 

Amid the dark fears sparked by recent events, this development at AFSO brings renewed hope, and so we are shaping our campaign around the ideas of spring and rebirth that attend Ramadan (Feb. 28 – March 29), Nowruz (March 20, the spring equinox), and International Women's Day (March 8). Our hope is to raise funds for guidance counseling and wraparound support for students making realistic, concrete plans to complete their education. We have chosen as our slogan the first line of Emily Dickinson's poem:

 

A light exists in Spring

Not present on the year

At any other period

When March is scarcely here . . . .

 

In other words, you know spring is coming before buds burst into bloom, just from the light you see rising at the horizon. That's what's happening at AFSO, now, and we welcome all of you to help our students step into this next season in their lives.

 

With thanks for all you do,