We’re £2,511 away from our funding goal. Can you help us get there?
Maryam’s phone buzzes all day long.
Women’s rights activists living under Taliban rule in Afghanistan are messaging her. They’re old colleagues and friends.
They update her on the latest decrees that further restrict their lives. They tell of the abductions and punishments of those who have spoken out. They share how Taliban bureaucracy is trying to halt the work of women’s organisations that have managed to stay afloat.
Maryam has been working with these activiststo find ways of working around the restrictions so we can continue supporting women and girls.
One of the few ways we can reach Afghan women under the oppressive Taliban regime is through skills training programmes.
Women are permitted to train for work that the Taliban sees as functional ‘women’s work’, such as making clothes, weaving jackets, etc. This occupies their time and provides a chance of some financial independence.
But most importantly, it gives women an opportunity to come together.
Within closed rooms, at trainings, women can give each other much-needed moral support.In a world where you’re excluded from education, employment, and participation in society, you can see what a lifeline this could be, can’t you?
This August, to mark four years since the Taliban regained control of Afghanistan, we’re raising £10,000 in support of activists and organistations that are carrying on despite the odds.
We’ve £2,511 left to raise. Will you help us get there?
The Taliban’s morality police are everywhere. The severity of the restrictions and how they are enforced vary from province to province. Dire economic pressures are driving local people to act as spies on behalf of the Taliban.
The result is a pervasive sense of fear. Of being surveilled. This has led to distrust among the community, a breakdown of the social fabric, and a further sense of isolation for women who are resigned to their homes most of the time.
But women across Afghanistan are not giving up. They are risking everything to meet and support each other. To use the community networks established by women’s rights organisations over the last 20 years to find ways to survive.
