Yakin Ertürk, Director, UN Division for the Advancement of Women
...The issues which widows generally face and those encountered by women in developing countries are cause for serious concern. The situation of widows should continue to be featured on the international fora until they become firmly integrated into the policy agenda.
WRI Newsletter 3rd Edition June 2005
Editorial - Visit to Afghanistan
I’ve just returned from a monitoring visit to our partners AWEC in Afghanistan . AWEC has a range of programmes supporting women and street children, providing vocational training, training women and communities in peace education and conflict resolution. WRI supports their work with widows and I visited the house which AWEC has just rented to provide a centre for the 150 widows who are currently receiving training in literacy and numeracy, reproductive health, and emotional counselling.
I met with 6 widows who shared their lifestories with me and their hopes for the future; it was very painful to listen to such terrible accounts of brutality and loss and hear the pain and desolation in the women’s voices as they talked of the loss of children, rejection by in-laws, mistreatment by Taliban. But many of them now felt a great sense of achievement – being able to read and write, to vote, to earn a modest living, to care for their children – and most expressed hope of a better life for their daughters.
These widows, all living in Kabul (although most driven there as a result of warfare) asked AWEC to find out what the situation of widows throughout Afghanistan is, so much of my time was spent working with AWEC staff on the widows’ survey questionnaire, and in discussing possible collaboration on the survey with other groups.
Although it wasn’t possible to walk about alone – nor to visit many other groups because of the need always to be accompanied by a driver and sometimes also a guard – it was very heartening to see the tremendous sense of purpose of the staff of AWEC despite all the difficulties, and their hope that slowly the country was pulling itself out of the anarchy of the past into a more stable future.
From WRI Newsletter 3 - Full copies of the Newsletter available from WRI office