Wednesday, May 25, 2005
Athena, along with Kate, mentors Rangina.
Rangina manages more than 300 women in Kandahar who produce elegant hand embroidery which won much admiration (and a few small contracts) while she was in New York.
From Business Week: "While in New York, Rangina, 29, hopes to learn skills that will enable her to develop a comprehensive business plan, to learn more about design, and gain skills necessary to open her business to international markets for her collective's products. "With the Bpeace [program,] we can learn how to build independent businesses and stand on our two feet," she says. Although only at the beginning stage, Rangina wants to be able to help as many women as she can gain economically viable skills. Already she has seen the positive impact that women-owned businesses can make. "There's one woman working for me who has 13 daughters and one son. In our society boys are preferred. But the son is spoiled, and the husband is old and sits and does nothing," Rangina recounts. "This woman and eight of her daughters work for us," she continues. "They're able to buy food, medicine, shoes, and provide for the needs of the house. Now it's the girls who are seen as economic contributors. It increases their value in the household. This has helped the men to see that women can be providers, too."
