What a night! Thanks so much to Caitryn, our amazing intern this summer. She did an incredible job putting together a screening of Beyond Belief at the Patriot Cinemas in Hingham, MA. We filled the house and then some. We had to turn away about 100 people and others chose to watch the film on a flat screen TV in the lobby. In addition, we raised over $5500. All of the money is going to the construction of the Dragon Valley Women's Community Center in Bamyan, Afghanistan.
I do plan on going back to Hingham since the interest was so high. If anyone is interested in helping to organize another screening, please let me know. Or, if you are interested in helping to do a screening in another city/town, please contact me.
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Monday, August 17, 2009
The Truth Behind Afghan Insurgency
By Ralph Lopez
Reprinted from the Boston Globe
ON A RECENT TRIP to Kabul for our nonprofit organization, Jobs for Afghans, Najim Dost and I made a startling discovery: There is no true Taliban insurgency.
Yes, there is a Taliban leadership, many of whom are “foreigners,’’ meaning, non-Afghans. Yes, there are many fighting-age men who fight because they are paid to do so, by the small cadre of Taliban and Al Qaeda commanders who have plenty of opium money. They fork out the excellent wage in these parts of $8 per day for “insurgent work.’’
But a die-hard, dedicated army of fighters who pledge allegiance to the Taliban ideology and cause? It’s not there. Even Vice President Joe Biden acknowledged last March, “Roughly 70 percent are involved because of the money.’’ And General Karl Eikenberry, former commander of US forces in Afghanistan, said to Congress in 2007: “Much of the enemy force is drawn from the ranks of unemployed men looking for wages to support their families.’’
The dirty little secret is that the renewed insurgency could have been avoided. The vast majority of Afghans still hate the Taliban. They remember the days of heads and hands getting lopped off in the National Stadium, and men flogged because their beards were not long enough. No one is eager to see them return. But in a nation with 40 percent unemployment, working for the Taliban is the only job in town. As the saying goes, you might not like the work, but that’s who’s hiring.
How did we get to this pass? Fighting a renewed insurgency eight years after the Taliban government was soundly trounced, to the cheers of 90 percent of the population? The first thing that happened was that, out of the relatively small amount of nonmilitary assistance that was sent to rebuild this bombed-out place, almost half wound up as profits for big contractors like Dyncorp, Louis Berger Group, and KBR. They were building substandard schools, roads, and clinics (with no doctors) when what the country needed was jobs, jobs, jobs. Not fancy jobs. Jobs paid in cash by the day or by the week, at less than $10 a day, clearing canals still clogged with debris, digging drainage ditches with shovels along miles of roads, and the countless ways men can be employed to keep their families from semi-starvation.
The UN says 35 percent of Afghans are malnourished. You can’t have business development if you don’t have stability. And you can’t have stability when you have nearly half the work force unemployed. Add to this the Taliban’s willingness to pay $8 a day to those who will pick up a gun, and the renewed insurgency becomes less of a mystery.
There are countless instances of Taliban fighters saying they will trade their guns for a job. What makes this war even more senseless is how little it would cost to provide such jobs, say, for a year, to stabilize the country and allow the free market to flourish. It would cost less than one-tenth of what we are spending now on military operations each year, which is running close to $50 billion. Why is this approach not being talked about in Congress? Call me cynical, but war is profitable. The beauty of cost-plus, no-bid contracting is hard to find in the normal business world.
A widespread, stability-enhancing cash-for-work jobs program, which would save the American taxpayer the hideous cost of war, both human and financial, can work in Afghanistan. We saw such projects on a small scale. Perhaps most telling are stories like Mahmud’s, who told a reporter in Helmand that joining the Taliban gave him a chance to save up enough money to start his own small business, buying goods in Lashkar Gah and selling them in the district “mila’’ or markets. Mahmud said, “Now that I have work, I am not with the Taliban anymore.’’
This situation is the true definition of insanity. Top commander General Stanley McChrystal just said jobs could induce many Taliban to drop their weapons. How many more of our soldiers must die before sense takes hold in the Obama administration?
Ralph Lopez is co-founder of Jobs for Afghans.
© Copyright 2009 Globe Newspaper Company.
Reprinted from the Boston Globe
ON A RECENT TRIP to Kabul for our nonprofit organization, Jobs for Afghans, Najim Dost and I made a startling discovery: There is no true Taliban insurgency.
Yes, there is a Taliban leadership, many of whom are “foreigners,’’ meaning, non-Afghans. Yes, there are many fighting-age men who fight because they are paid to do so, by the small cadre of Taliban and Al Qaeda commanders who have plenty of opium money. They fork out the excellent wage in these parts of $8 per day for “insurgent work.’’
But a die-hard, dedicated army of fighters who pledge allegiance to the Taliban ideology and cause? It’s not there. Even Vice President Joe Biden acknowledged last March, “Roughly 70 percent are involved because of the money.’’ And General Karl Eikenberry, former commander of US forces in Afghanistan, said to Congress in 2007: “Much of the enemy force is drawn from the ranks of unemployed men looking for wages to support their families.’’
The dirty little secret is that the renewed insurgency could have been avoided. The vast majority of Afghans still hate the Taliban. They remember the days of heads and hands getting lopped off in the National Stadium, and men flogged because their beards were not long enough. No one is eager to see them return. But in a nation with 40 percent unemployment, working for the Taliban is the only job in town. As the saying goes, you might not like the work, but that’s who’s hiring.
How did we get to this pass? Fighting a renewed insurgency eight years after the Taliban government was soundly trounced, to the cheers of 90 percent of the population? The first thing that happened was that, out of the relatively small amount of nonmilitary assistance that was sent to rebuild this bombed-out place, almost half wound up as profits for big contractors like Dyncorp, Louis Berger Group, and KBR. They were building substandard schools, roads, and clinics (with no doctors) when what the country needed was jobs, jobs, jobs. Not fancy jobs. Jobs paid in cash by the day or by the week, at less than $10 a day, clearing canals still clogged with debris, digging drainage ditches with shovels along miles of roads, and the countless ways men can be employed to keep their families from semi-starvation.
The UN says 35 percent of Afghans are malnourished. You can’t have business development if you don’t have stability. And you can’t have stability when you have nearly half the work force unemployed. Add to this the Taliban’s willingness to pay $8 a day to those who will pick up a gun, and the renewed insurgency becomes less of a mystery.
There are countless instances of Taliban fighters saying they will trade their guns for a job. What makes this war even more senseless is how little it would cost to provide such jobs, say, for a year, to stabilize the country and allow the free market to flourish. It would cost less than one-tenth of what we are spending now on military operations each year, which is running close to $50 billion. Why is this approach not being talked about in Congress? Call me cynical, but war is profitable. The beauty of cost-plus, no-bid contracting is hard to find in the normal business world.
A widespread, stability-enhancing cash-for-work jobs program, which would save the American taxpayer the hideous cost of war, both human and financial, can work in Afghanistan. We saw such projects on a small scale. Perhaps most telling are stories like Mahmud’s, who told a reporter in Helmand that joining the Taliban gave him a chance to save up enough money to start his own small business, buying goods in Lashkar Gah and selling them in the district “mila’’ or markets. Mahmud said, “Now that I have work, I am not with the Taliban anymore.’’
This situation is the true definition of insanity. Top commander General Stanley McChrystal just said jobs could induce many Taliban to drop their weapons. How many more of our soldiers must die before sense takes hold in the Obama administration?
Ralph Lopez is co-founder of Jobs for Afghans.
© Copyright 2009 Globe Newspaper Company.
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Ice Cream Social at Whole Foods
Thanks to everyone who came to Whole Foods on Wednesday to support Beyond the 11th.
From beginning to end - it was a wonderful evening. From the the ice cream - to the music (thanks to Plugged In) to all the people who stopped by to chat. A special thanks to Whole Foods. I've always been a fan of the store but now even more so.
Not only did we raise money for Beyond the 11th, I think we were able to enlist a few more cyclists for Beyond the Bike...
Monday, July 20, 2009
U.S. Commitment To Afghan Women
VOA, 6 July 2009- “Women in Afghanistan are critical to progress and stability in their war-torn country.” So said U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s issues Melanne Verveer [meh-LAHN ver-VEER]. “We know,” said Ms. Verveer, “that no country can prosper if half its people are left behind.” And as President Barack Obama said in his Cairo speech, “we recognize that our daughters can contribute as much to society as our sons.”
The truth is, said Ambassador Verveer, “that countries that repress women also tend to be backward economically, and are more likely to be failed states.” That’s why United States is intensifying its efforts to help Afghan women participate more fully in society. One example of this is a new twenty-seven million dollar U.S. funded program of small, flexible, rapid response grants targeted to empower Afghan women-led non-governmental organizations at the local level. Programs range from economic development, literacy training, skills training, and healthcare.
Political participation is critical to empowering Afghan women. Currently, Afghanistan is in the midst of an election campaign for both president and provincial councils. There are two women running for president and more than one-hundred running for council seats. The U.S. has called for a campaign that is credible, inclusive, and secure, where men and women candidates can participate with no restrictions on their freedom of movement and be assured of protection.
An ongoing concern for Afghan women is security. Violence against women and girls, said Ambassador Verveer, is endemic and much remains to be done, including access to institutions of justice, civic education, and prosecution of crimes. More girls are in school, but the Taliban have eroded some of the progress. Last year alone, they burned or shut down more than seven-hundred schools, and thousands of girls are now without access to formal education.
As Ambassador Verveer made clear, “Progress in Afghanistan must be measured not just in military terms, but also in terms of social, political, and economic participation of women in rebuilding Afghanistan and in the safeguarding of their human rights.”
Jasteena Dhillon,
jasteenadhillon@yahoo.com + 1 757 215 8231 / skype - jasteenadhillon /
info@zolazen.com/+1 416 8281486 / www.zolazen.org
The truth is, said Ambassador Verveer, “that countries that repress women also tend to be backward economically, and are more likely to be failed states.” That’s why United States is intensifying its efforts to help Afghan women participate more fully in society. One example of this is a new twenty-seven million dollar U.S. funded program of small, flexible, rapid response grants targeted to empower Afghan women-led non-governmental organizations at the local level. Programs range from economic development, literacy training, skills training, and healthcare.
Political participation is critical to empowering Afghan women. Currently, Afghanistan is in the midst of an election campaign for both president and provincial councils. There are two women running for president and more than one-hundred running for council seats. The U.S. has called for a campaign that is credible, inclusive, and secure, where men and women candidates can participate with no restrictions on their freedom of movement and be assured of protection.
An ongoing concern for Afghan women is security. Violence against women and girls, said Ambassador Verveer, is endemic and much remains to be done, including access to institutions of justice, civic education, and prosecution of crimes. More girls are in school, but the Taliban have eroded some of the progress. Last year alone, they burned or shut down more than seven-hundred schools, and thousands of girls are now without access to formal education.
As Ambassador Verveer made clear, “Progress in Afghanistan must be measured not just in military terms, but also in terms of social, political, and economic participation of women in rebuilding Afghanistan and in the safeguarding of their human rights.”
Jasteena Dhillon,
jasteenadhillon@yahoo.com + 1 757 215 8231 / skype - jasteenadhillon /
info@zolazen.com
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Register for Beyond the Bike
Oops. I forgot to put a link to register for Beyond the Bike
To register, please go to: http://www.firstgiving.com/beyondthe11th
Beyond the Bike - Fundraiser
Please join us as we raise both money and awareness for widows in Afghanistan.
Beyond the Bike
Date: Saturday, September 12th
Time: 9:00 am
Distance: 100K (62 miles)
Start & Finish: 38 Ellicott Street Needham, MA
Fundraising commitment: $500 minimum ($1000 recommended)
Questions: Call (781) 465-6464 or email info@beyondthe11th.org
Beyond the Bike is specifically raising money for construction of the Dragon Valley Women's Community Center in Bamyan, Afghanistan.
Beyond the Bike
Date: Saturday, September 12th
Time: 9:00 am
Distance: 100K (62 miles)
Start & Finish: 38 Ellicott Street Needham, MA
Fundraising commitment: $500 minimum ($1000 recommended)
Questions: Call (781) 465-6464 or email info@beyondthe11th.org
Beyond the Bike is specifically raising money for construction of the Dragon Valley Women's Community Center in Bamyan, Afghanistan.
This center will include:
* laundry facilities
* shower room with a latrine
* tea room/lounge
* classroom
* community garden
* job training
* laundry facilities
* shower room with a latrine
* tea room/lounge
* classroom
* community garden
* job training
Any one of the above resources would better the lives of women, but combined, the center will truly be life changing for the women who become a part of the community.
More Information on the Dragon Valley Community Center:
Few places in the world are less hospitable to women than Dragon Valley. With a climate dominated by a frigid winter, and no central heat, plumbing or electricity in homes, women rarely if ever manage a reprieve from grueling household chores and childrearing. Work for income is rarely an option. A life expectancy of 46 is far too easy to imagine for women in this village cradled by the northern mountains of Afghanistan.
For a growing number of area women, however, the nonprofit Arzu, which means “hope” in Dari, has delivered opportunity by revitalizing the ancient art of rug weaving. Many women had the skills but no looms or quality wool. Arzu delivered both, cultivated a market for the beautiful rugs in the United States and beyond, and in addition to a generous wage that could be earned from home, provided desperately needed health care and education opportunities for rug weavers and their families. Now, Arzu will increase work opportunities and address quality of life issues for local women through construction of the Dragon Valley Community Center.
Beginning in November, rug weavers, many of them widows, will have access to a warm, safe facility where they can take classes, do laundry, bathe, use a flush toilet, collaborate with other weavers in a bright, spacious loom room or just sit for a moment in a chair and sip a hot cup of tea. For the women of Dragon Valley, these are unimaginable luxuries. The Community Center will give women who are among the poorest in the world a sense of value and will provide the chance to improve their weaving skills or train for additional life-changing job opportunities.
Video on Afghan Widows
Please take a moment to view this heartwrenching video about the lives of widows in Afghanistan. I think it sums up why we at Beyond the 11th continue to work so hard for these women.
http://video.nytimes.com/video/2009/04/15/world/1194839517084/a-mans-world.html?emc=eta1
http://video.nytimes.com/video/2009/04/15/world/1194839517084/a-mans-world.html?emc=eta1
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About Me
- Susan
- MA, United States
- My husband, David, was killed on September 11th. At the time, we had two small children and I was pregnant with our third. Learning about the plight of widows in Afghanistan, I felt that I needed to reach out to them the way so many had reached out to me and my family. Decades of conflict and strife ravaged Afghanistan, leaving tens of thousands of women without husbands to provide for them, a cultural necessity in Afghanistan. In the fall of 2003, I co-founded Beyond the 11th. Our mission is to help provide financial and emotional support to Afghan widows and their children and to give them hope for a better future. Beyond the 11th’s grants are geared toward programs that help widows gain the skills necessary to generate their own income. We believe strongly that this is the best way to create lasting social change.