Hope for Afghan Children

I guess I should get the ball rolling, as I am the one who has built this site.

My name is Rose and I've been an AFCECO sponsor for about a year. I started by sponsoring a 7-year-old girl, Madinah, in Mehan Orphanage. Somehow that quickly blossomed into sponsoring three other girls, all in Mehan: Sara, Farzana Masoom and Farzana Nori. I love having the chance to build a relationship with these children/young women and I feel privileged to be able to contribute in a small way to building a better future for young Afghan people. I am learning so much through this process.

My original impetus for sponsoring was when I met Zoya, an Afghan woman and member of RAWA who spoke at the 10th anniversary V-Day in New Orleans. I was so impressed by her bravery and commitment and so overwhelmed by what she and other women like her are attempting to do in Afghanistan. I asked her what was the one thing I could do that would make the most difference to the country's future, and she said "Help us to educate our children."

There are many other reasons I am committed to sponsoring. As an Australian living and working in the USA and with the Australian and US military both present on Afghan soil, I feel it is important to reach out to the people of Afghanistan and show my support. I also feel that creating connections between Muslim and non-Muslim people, especially after 8 years of the Bush adminstration (and the Howard government back home in Australia), is essential.

When I'm not working on this site, I work for Sister Helen Prejean, author of Dead Man Walking, doing anti-death-penalty work. I am also a freelance computer writer and have a site called Geekgirl's Plain English Computing, which I never have enough time for.

I'm passionate about social justice, the language of music, the music of language and making a difference. And I'm very keen to get to know other AFCECO sponsors.