Schooling for Exiled Afghan Women in Pakistan

For Afghan refugee women who escaped their war-torn homeland to the Pakistani city of Quetta, chances to celebrate personal accomplishments and independence are rare. But in September 2008, Catholic Relief Services brought together 150 women from three different urban communities for a graduation ceremony. Each had completed a year-long skills training and basic education program.

For many of the participants the event was their first-in-a-lifetime opportunity to meet women from outside their home communities.

A year before, such a gathering would not have been possible. Under tribal and religious traditions, many women found it difficult to get permission to leave their family homes, even to come learn at the CRS-established community centers in their own neighborhoods.

At the centers, women refined and adapted their traditional weaving and embroidery skills. Equally important, they received basic math and literacy education and learned how to market their products to eager Pakistani consumers.

For women like 20-year-old Rubina, CRS classes were the first opportunity for schooling of any kind. "Before, I did not even know how to write my name," she says, "but now I can write my name and calculate small sums." Rubina's home-based handcrafts business has improved now that she can write down orders and calculate costs, thereby ensuring profits and a fair price when bargaining for supplies. Now Rubina has opportunities and an independence that she never dreamed of.

Background

By demonstrating respect for and long-term commitment to Afghan communities, CRS staff worked to gain people's trust in Quetta. And when fathers and husbands began to see the benefits of their wives and daughters attending CRS classes, their doubt turned into enthusiastic support.