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Shereen, a Woman Empowered

A nongovernmental organization shows how microfinance loans can help rebuild lives in Afghanistan

Lives Rebuilt Shereen Gul (right) weaves carpets to rebuild her family’s life in Afghanistan
Photo by ChildFund Afghanistan

For 4 years during the height of Taliban rule in Afghanistan, Shereen Gul and her family lived in a refugee camp in Pakistan. In 2002, they returned to their village in the district of Qalaizal, Kunduz Province, only to find that their house had been destroyed. With no material possessions, Shereen maintained her most powerful asset: a burning desire to rebuild her family’s life in the place they so loved.

Since December 2001, the Christian Children’s Fund (CCF) a nonprofit, non-sectarian development agency working to secure the rights of children, has been working in northern Afghanistan. CCF, which works in 31 countries and assists more than 13.2 million children, families, and communities worldwide, is currently helping over 300,000 children and family members in northern Afghanistan. Working in Afghanistan as ChildFund Afghanistan, CCF initially opened 80 centers for children, providing informal education for 13,600 children and helping children return to their normal activities and heal the emotional wounds of war.

Working with Women

ChildFund Afghanistan has forged positive relationships with women’s grassroots associations through literacy and education programs for young girls who live too far from government-run schools to attend regular classes. ChildFund Afghanistan has started building the capacity of these women’s associations to assess the needs of vulnerable women, to form groups of skilled women to work on a particular trade, and to form self-help groups with the goal of attracting financial support.

Shereen is a pioneer—one of the first women to have organized self-help groups for women in Qalaizal and to have received skills training and mentoring assistance from ChildFund Afghanistan. Shereen’s first loan was $150, and with this money she was able to weave two carpets that she sold for $400. Shereen repaid her loan and used part of her profit to start rebuilding her home, a particularly vital task given Qalaizal’s unforgiving weather conditions. Qalaizal sees highs of up to 50oC in the summer and lows reaching –20oC during the winter.

A Weaver of Hope

Shereen now is on her eighth loan cycle. She continues to weave carpets, selling them in Kunduz city, the provincial capital. She says she no longer worries when her daughters or other family members get sick because she can afford to buy medicine for them. She has money to send her daughters to attend ChildFund Afghanistan’s literacy and skills training programs, and with the profits from sales of her carpets her husband has started farming again.

Shereen is very positive about her family’s future. She and her husband both bring food to the table, and they enjoy it very much when their daughters read books and stories to them. Someday, she says, she hopes her daughters will become teachers or writers so they can share their family’s story and bring hope to their compatriots, many of whom still face difficulties. •