Afghan Hands
Paula Zahn had a fascinating report on her CNN Heroes segment this evening about a man named Matin Maulawizada who employs dozens of war widows in Afghanistan to embroider items for sale in other countries. Maulawizada is a Hollywood makeup artist who returned to his hometown of Kabul, Afghanistan to start this project, which he called Afghan Hands.
As there are estimated to be over 50,000 war widows in Afghanistan when 80% of Afghan women cannot read or write, the opportunity Maulawizada is able to provide to this small handful of women makes a huge difference to those individuals. Not only are they able to earn a living for themselves, but he pays them half again as much as the average Afghan government official makes, and also ensures they learn how to read and write among other skills. Maulawizada’s hope is that these women will be able to run their own businesses in the future.
At the moment, you can watch the video of this segment online.
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