Last week I was able to go and speak with The Initiative to Educate Afghan Women (IEAW) 2009-10 class of incoming freshmen. If you have not been reading my blog, or have not heard of IEAW, then you are in for Great News.
Since Breathing In This Life is for me, a kind of good news network - in addition to a platform for positive change in our world, this Great News is something special to share in light of the continuing plight of Afghan women in the recent news. IEAW is an organization dedicated to do just what it says, bring young women from Afghanistan to the US to provide them with an education wherein they can then return to their country and be advocates for change.
How am I involved you say?
As a health care provider my concern is health care. The young women may be getting an education, but they need to be in good health in order to complete that education. Conditions in Afghanistan are widely variable, and most citizens, much less women, have access to any health care - much less fresh food. This situation can wreak havoc on a young woman's body and mind., leaving short and long term damage to her health. My activist work for IEAW is simple - to have every young woman that arrives in the US to complete her University education supplied with multi-vitamins formulated for women - year round for the four years of her study. What I may be able to do to enact change after that - is part of a Greater Plan which is also part of my vision.
The Afghan young women just arrived in the United States a few short weeks ago, and in the next few weeks they will begin their first year at University. In case you live in a hole, Afghan women have been denied the right to education, among many other injustices. So for a young girl to not only leave her family, but to come here to the United States to receive a fully funded education (through private donors of IEAW) via scholarship, and to earn a Bachelor's degree - is a feat that will, one woman at a time, change the future of Afghanistan in an infinitely positive way.
So last week, I was able to speak to the young women about the many benefits of taking a multi-vitamin, especially for women. I consider the alliance formed with New Chapter one of the many beginnings which will give Afghan women, especially these young girls studying in the United States, a fighting chance as they proudly return to their homeland of Afghanistan during each summer break and terminally at the end of their 4 year education.
More Good News to come....
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