RAWA Final Appeal
The Fredericton Peace Coalition, University Women’s Centre, NBRebELLEs and CUSO-VSO have surpassed their donation goal and raised a total of $2,362.10 for the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA). Most of those donations were raised at the 2009 3rd Annual RAWA Benefit in Fredericton (Photos, Gumbooting Video) while other donations were sent to us from folks far away as British Columbia. Thank you all who donated your money, time and energy to this year’s contribution to RAWA.
We would like to make one final appeal before sending our donations to RAWA. We are extending the deadline for donations until Friday, May 15. We will be sending the donation on Monday, May 18.
The reason for extending the deadline stems from recent tragic news involving women in Afghanistan. Women of Afghanistan are under attack for courageously fighting the new rape law. Sitara Achazai, a women’s rights activist and politician in the Kandahar Provincial Council was murdered in a target assassination on Sunday, April 12. On March 8, 2009, International Women’s Day, Sitara led a nationwide sit-in of 11,000 Afghan women in seven provinces who gathered to pray for peace.
When RAWA formed in 1977, RAWA was focused on involving an increasing number of Afghan women in social and political activities aimed at acquiring women’s rights and contributing to the struggle for the establishment of a government based on democratic and secular values in Afghanistan. Despite the suffocating political atmosphere, RAWA very soon became involved in meeting the basic needs of Afghans. RAWA runs schools, literacy courses, orphanages and health clinics. They help prostitutes and refugees. They take part in reconstruction of villages and aid in food distribution and income generation. RAWA is featured in the film “A View from a Grain of Sand“. You can order a copy online or borrow a copy from the Fredericton Peace Coalition.
If you would like to send a donation before May 15, please reply to this email or send an email to info@frederictonpeace.org and we will let you know how to drop off/send your donation.
Posted: May 8th, 2009 under Afghanistan, Women.