KABUL, Afghanistan –– In a rural area of Afghanistan, where unemployment is high and many of the people lack job skills and literacy, nearly 50 women are finding new hope for their families through an independent business venture launched with Southern Baptist world hunger funds.
Ministry partners in the country recognized a need for helping people in the village develop sustainable sources of employment. Working with Baptist Global Response, they developed a plan that would help locals launch a self-sustaining business to supplement their families’ incomes.
“The problems are compounded for women, who are generally hard-working but have little opportunity to earn income because they appropriately invest their energies into their own households and children,” the project director explained. “Our aim was not to take them away from those ongoing responsibilities, but to provide sustainable supplemental income to them, income that would boost their total household income and provide some dignity to these ladies.”
The ministry partners worked with the women to begin processing and spinning camel down into yarn, which they hope to begin exporting to buyers in the United States this spring. The project initially was designed to involve 10 to 15 women, but more women came as the word of the new venture spread.
The initiative is helping the women find hope and peace so they can raise their families in confidence and have full, meaningful lives, the project director said.
“This project has provided supplemental income to poor Afghan women,” the project director said. “As it is supplemental, rather than primary income, it is difficult to know just how much of an impact it makes in alleviating physical needs. I suspect that most women use the income they earn for basic food supplies, such as potatoes, rice and flour, and children’s needs, such as clothing and school supplies.”
The husband in one family being helped had been paralyzed by a fall from a tree. After a doctor in Kabul said nothing could be done for the man, both the mother and her oldest daughter were able to join the camel down project to provide income for the family of eight.
As field partners continue to work to sell the product and develop the business, they hope to continue to provide employment to Afghan women, the project director said. He said the business venture has had a positive effect on the community.
“Afghans want to experience the freedom and dignity of earning what they work for, rather than needing handouts,” the project director said. “The surprise was not that the women enjoyed this type of relationship, but that the community also largely seemed happy about it, including those who did not directly benefit from the project.”
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Submitted by June Lucas, a collegiate correspondent for Baptist Global Response. Donations to the Southern Baptist World Hunger Fund or to BGR General Support can be made here.
