The Woman Who Knows Everyone

Ayscha.

Farah, Bpeace Associate Rangina who was visiting from Kandahar and Khatera.

Malalai Wassil, Sarah Takesh, Wendy and Ladan.

Kabul's Woman in the Know In every city and town around the world there is always a key "connector" who knows the movers, shakers, VIPs and talented new people in town. For Kabul, that person is Ayscha Hamdani. We first met her a year ago, and she has been substantially helpful to Bpeace in linking us to people and partners who can help Bpeace and our Associates. Several nights ago she opened her lovely home to the Bpeace mission team and invited a who's who of accomplished women.

One of Ayscha's friends is Seema Ghani who supports 25 orphans, including 8 in her own home, who she adopted. One of the orphans is a 14-year old girl our Masuda Sultan rescued from a Kandahar prison 4 years ago. Lina has now grown into an 18-year old woman who recently won a judo competition in Norway, and teaches judo at a girls school in Kabul. When Lina came to Seema, she had no schooling and has studied so hard she has advanced two grades a year. Seema hopes one day to get her a scholarship to an overseas university. (Lina quite liked Norway.) In the meantime, friends of Bpeace, Seema needs judo uniforms. These can't be sewn in Afghanistan because the uniforms need special stiff-collars. If you can help us source a donation of these uniforms please email: donate@bpeace.org so we can contact you with the number of uniforms and sizes.



Also at Ayscha's soiree in our honor, was Katrin Fakiri, who is a Bpeacer but most importantly operates Parwaz, a successful microfinance organization she founded; Sarah Takesh, the pioneer in producing high fashion made by Afghan women. Her brand Tarsian & Blinkley is sold through trunk shows in the US and through her storefront in Kabul; Drana Nezam, an Afghan-American fashion and interior designer, who has been training disabled women, mostly victims of war, in fashion production over the past four years; Mina Wali, who returned from America to help and support the people of her village Surgh Road in Jalalabad by founding Hope of Mother, an NGO that helped the community in building a school and training centre for both girls and boys and who puts special attention to disabled children in their teaching approach; Malalai Wassil, a legal adviser to the Ministry of Energy & Water, who carries the interest of her people at heart and supports various projects that help the poor and disadvantaged in this country and Ariane Mahmud-Ghazi, a psychotherapist (the Ecology of Being Human), who is currently working on a community development project that aims at creating better working environments through trauma counseling. Before we arrived in Kabul, we thought security concerns would keep us hotel-bound in the evenings. Thank goodness Ayscha's invitation lured us out.