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Afghanistan is a country of approximately 27 million people. Five years of severe drought, 25 years
of war and destruction and five years under Taleban rule have left Afghanistan one of the poorest countries in the world.

Only 17% of this drought-laden country has access to safe drinking water and only 10 % have access to adequate sanitation, leading to increased disease. At least 23,000 Afghans died of tuberculosis in 2003, of which 65% were women.

CERT International - Educating the Women of Afghanistan

The Soviet invasion of 1979 caused 1.5 million deaths and forced 2.5 million to live as refugees. Eighty percent of the refugees were women and children. In 1996 the Taleban forced inhumane restraints on the women of Afghanistan for the next five years. Afghan women were:

FORBIDDEN access to health care.
FORBIDDEN to work outside their home.
FORBIDDEN freedom of association or the right to assemble.
FORBIDDEN to leave their homes without a close male relative.
FORBIDDEN education… (FORBIDDEN even to know how to read and write).
FORBIDDEN to go in public without the bondage of wearing a burqa. (Many caught lifting their veil were/are beaten in public).

Afghan women have suffered domestic and other types of violence over 25 years. Decades of economic poverty, mass loss of loved ones and constant oppression have pushed emotional misery and increased suicide on the women of Afghanistan. Listed below are just a few of the consequences and results of their despair:

• 95% of Afghan women are illiterate.
• Malnourished due to traditional preferences to feed males and children first.
• A physician’s survey revealed 97 % of the women in Kabul are clinically depressed.
• Women once part of the working class, can now be found in prostitution and street beggary.
• Only 15% of births receive health care attention and 90% of all births occur in the home, giving Afghanistan the second highest maternal mortality rate in the world.
• 54% of girls under the age of 18 are married. Many were forcibly sold to the Taleban as young as seven to support and feed their families.
• Life expectancy for an Afghan woman is 40!

Healing the deep emotional scars and learning to read and write are long-term challenges facing the women of Afghanistan. But for the first time in many years they see hope of a brighter future. Schools for girls are being reopened and women are trying to return to former jobs and professions. However, the economic poverty, drought related troubles and unsanitary conditions keep them in jeopardy. If forgotten and left to their own devices, reform could take decades, if it happens at all.

There is fear in the heart of practically every Afghan because there still is no rule or law. The women still live in constant fear, for oppression is far from gone. And the worst fear of all, the Taleban is alive and angry. They are behind most uprisings and plan to thwart national elections and any civil government. They have been forced into hiding by American troops. But they are gathering their forces and planning another takeover. Imagine living this nightmare all your life!

The women and girls of Afghanistan know their deliverance from poverty lies in education. They also accept responsibility for their oppression – they speak openly about their lack of education making it possible for the likes of the Taleban to take control over them. They do not want it to happen again. They know something we take for granted: Truly, “the pen is mightier than the sword.”

CERT International, in cooperative efforts with Rescue Task Force, is planting schools and training teachers. Our purpose is to stamp-out illiteracy. This is an excellent opportunity to “go and preach the good news” with a lost and broken nation. The door is open so we must go now. After they learn how to read and write; a gift from you, the hands of God, we can then introduce them to Jesus and the Bible, giving them freedom to choose for themselves whom they will serve.

How Can You Help?
We pray you also feel the desperate need to help improve the lives of women and girls born into chaos. Would you like to help young girls and women learn to read and write? Would you like to help build a brighter future for the less fortunate? If your answer is yes, please follow the plan in hosting a “Dinner for Healing Hearts”, a campaign designed especially for “Women Helping Women”.

Hosting a “Dinner for Healing Hearts” is simple, fun and extremely rewarding. As host, invite nine friends, asking each to bring a covered dish and a tax-deductible contribution. If you do not have nine people you feel comfortable asking, ask your friends to bring one or more. Ten people are not a limit, just a number.

It only takes $20 dollars to support one student for a year. The goal is $60 per person. Some may give more, or less. Attaining the goal educates 30 girls for an entire year. Please do not let the financial appeal discourage you or your guest selection. It’s amazing what God can do when we simply… ask, (“For everyone who asks receives…”) Matthew 7:8. Women helping Women for the glory of God…

100% of your tax-deductible contributions will support the “Educating the Women of Afghanistan” program. If you are prepared to take a stand in changing girls and women’s lives click here to begin, and start stamping out illiteracy today.

Click here to learn how you can get involved now, or feel free to call us at (931)-707-9328 or toll free at (888)-299-8502 anytime between 8am and 5pm CST.