GHAZNI – For decades, many women were invisible and not expected to be anything more than housewives and caregivers. This year, Khawja Omari district women actively engage in educating themselves and learning new trades.
Polish members of Ghazni PRT and Humanitarian Assistance for Development of Afghanistan, a local non-governmental org., created a venue for the women who live in the villages of Deh Duelet and Deh Dunet to learn trades and skills.
The vocational program was created for the women to help build self-esteem, while enabling them to contribute to their home budgets, said Katarzyna Wojtusik, a civilian working for the Polish army as the social matters expert for Ghazni PRT. “When the project started, elders and villagers asked HADAF to increase the number of participants and teachers, so we had to build an annex,” Wojtusik said.
The village elders choose which women to attend the program. In order to be considered, the women had to be illiterate, a widow, an orphan or poor. The original plan for the program involved 160 women, but due to the program’s success it was expanded to accommodate an additional 40 women. Women involved in the program range in ages 12-40.
The training is conducted 5 days a week for 3 hours a day. Two of those hours are dedicated to vocational training and one hour is for literacy. “The women are taught subjects like health awareness, economics and animal species during the literacy hour,” Wojtusik said. “These courses are designed to assist with even the most basic things like reading prescriptions, shopping in the city, or writing letters to their relatives.”
The vocational portion of the program teaches them handicrafts such as crocheting and tailoring. The handicrafts are then sold at bazaars, with the money from the sale going back to the women. “I also built the program so the women could have fun,” Wojtusik said. “This gives them the opportunity to come together and strengthen relations. The people in small villages aren’t as socially active as we'd like to think.”
There are 10 schools located in the district. Four of them are for boys and girls, and 2 schools are strictly for girls. “These 2 villages were chosen for the program because they are very progressive,” Wojtusik said. “The women are treated very well here compared to other districts.”
“It was nice to see girls in school. They were outgoing and not shy like other girls I’ve seen throughout the prov.,” said Tech. Sgt. Rebecca Corey, combat photographer assigned to the PRT. “They smiled and seemed really happy.”
After checking on the program’s progress, the team was offered locally grown fruit, and a chance to socialize with the participants. One woman holding her small child asked Tech. Sgt. Corey if she had children at home. “The mother allowed me to hold her baby, even though I was wearing my full battle gear and looked like any other soldier,” Corey said. “She trusted me. I looked at that as a big step in securing confidence between CF and the Afghan people in the area.”
