Part 9 (1/2)

As for Mr. and Mrs. Sidiqi Mr. and Mrs. Sidiqi, they continue to live in the north, enjoying the beauty of Parwan and relis.h.i.+ng visits from their eleven children and dozens of grandchildren. Mr. Sidiqi remains among the most ardent and articulate supporters of girls' education I've ever met. As he often says, ”It is much better to earn a living with a pen than with power,” and it is a never-ending source of pride to him that all his daughters have been educated. The youngest of his nine girls is now finis.h.i.+ng her college studies in computer sciences.

Kamila's brothers also succeeded in their studies. Both men completed university degrees that were funded by their sister's work, and each expresses tremendous grat.i.tude for his sister's encouragement and support-emotional as well as financial-over the past fifteen years. As Najeeb told me, ”Besides being my sister, Kamila is my friend and a leader in our family.” also succeeded in their studies. Both men completed university degrees that were funded by their sister's work, and each expresses tremendous grat.i.tude for his sister's encouragement and support-emotional as well as financial-over the past fifteen years. As Najeeb told me, ”Besides being my sister, Kamila is my friend and a leader in our family.”

Afghanistan's future remained very much on the minds of Kamila and her family as they finally began to look ahead in our conversations, after so many months of looking back. Their belief in their country's potential is powerful, unflagging, and often, I found, beguilingly contagious. Kamila continues to dream big, working to grow Kaweyan and to become one of the nation's leading entrepreneurs. Each day she defies the many setbacks that face her and others who are trying to make a difference in Afghanistan: escalating violence, rising corruption, and an increasingly anxious international community whose work is now regularly aborted by security lockdowns and intensifying threats to its safety.

Women I have met want nothing more than peace. But they fear that the world is growing eager to reach a deal in which their rights will be part of the price of security. And they worry their country's problems will be balanced on their backs once more. Neither they nor the men I have interviewed in the past two years believe that an abandoned Afghanistan will remain an isolated problem for long.

With grace and dignity the individuals to whom this story belongs push forward each day. They believe, as they always have, that something better is possible.

I, for one, hope they are right.

Kamila Sidiqi with Condoleezza Rice [image]

After years of working with Afghan women as an entrepreneur and community leader, Kamila was invited to Was.h.i.+ngton, D.C., to address the U.S. Global Leaders.h.i.+p Campaign's 10th Anniversary Gala Dinner. (U.S. Global Leaders.h.i.+p Campaign) (U.S. Global Leaders.h.i.+p Campaign)

Acknowledgments.

This story grew out of reporting I began in 2005 during my first and second year of MBA study following nearly ten years in daily news. I believed then and believe even more strongly now that the stories of women entrepreneurs, particularly in countries fighting to recover from conflict, are worth telling. Not only are these courageous women working each day to strengthen their families and grow their economies; they are also serving as role models for the next generation of young men and women who can see firsthand and for themselves the power of businesswomen to make a difference.

I want to thank all the individuals interviewed who made this story possible. This begins with Kamila and her large and welcoming family, who crammed interviews into their busy days packed with work and children. They opened up their homes and shared their histories, and I am deeply grateful for their immense generosity and their unwavering hospitality amid even the most challenging circ.u.mstances. During the years of research and reporting on the story of Kamila and her sisters, I learned just how many young women went to work each day on behalf of their families during the Taliban years despite being shut out of cla.s.srooms and offices. The efforts of these unheralded heroines who joined NGOs, staffed home businesses, and taught cla.s.ses at hospitals and homes around the city meant the difference between survival and starvation for many families. It is a privilege to me to share their stories of perseverance and persistence in the face of constantly evolving obstacles.

I offer my humble thanks to the young women who worked with Kamila. For many of them, I was the first foreigner they had ever met and ours was the first interview they had ever done. Despite their initial nervousness, they shared their experiences and their impressions from those bleak years whose memories haunt them more than a decade later. For them, Kamila's house was a refuge and a haven from their problems as much as it was their place of work. I have striven to stay true to both the facts and the spirit of these young women's stories: they were breadwinners and valued employees at a time when families had no place else to turn.

To the shopkeepers who worked with Kamila I owe thanks for not only their stories but their hospitality. They graciously sat for hours of interviews both at their offices and in their sitting rooms not because they found their own story at all compelling or welcomed the attention, but because they were glad to help the visiting foreigner who had so many questions about all the work they did so many years ago. Their lives have long moved past that period, but their humility, character, and courage have not dimmed with time.

To the women involved in the Community Forum programs, I want to offer my appreciation for sharing so many details about how and why the program proved so powerful. In listening to a formidable roster of forum alumni discuss their work, which served as a source of hope at so difficult a time, I saw just how much this Herculean effort to keep women working during the Taliban years meant to so many. Their sterling record of gra.s.sroots, community-owned organization, mobilization, and leaders.h.i.+p is among the most significant success stories I have seen during years of tracking what works-and what doesn't-when it comes to development projects.

Heartfelt thanks to the dozens of international aid workers who lived in Afghanistan during the Mujahideen and Taliban years and who patiently shared their varied impressions of the period during late-night Skype calls with imperfect connections given our far-flung locales. This includes Samantha Reynolds, a leader of vision and conviction, who fought relentlessly for jobs for women even when many other international agencies had largely abandoned the idea. Her staff still remembers her as among the best and most praiseworthy managers they have ever had. Reynolds's boss at the time, Jolyon Leslie, also offered a powerful a.s.sembly of sharp insights, and I am grateful for both his time and his perspective. Sincere thanks also to Anne Lancelot and Teresa Poppelwell, Samantha's colleagues at UN Habitat. Lancelot's book, Burqas, foulards et minijupes: Paroles d'Afghanes Burqas, foulards et minijupes: Paroles d'Afghanes, is a must for any reader seeking to better understand the lives of women during the Taliban period. Thanks also to Anders Fange, Charles MacFadden, Barbara Rodey, Pippa Bradford, Patricia McPhillips, Henning Scharpff, Norah Niland, and Anita Anastacio, all of whom took hours from their busy days to talk with me about their experiences managing aid and relief programs under the Taliban government.

A number of talented journalists and researchers also generously offered their thoughts, clips, and photos. Thanks to all of them, including Daud Qarizadah, Gretchen Peters, Niazai Sangar, and Amir Shah.

Nancy Dupree and her extraordinary staff at the Afghanistan Center Kabul University (ACKU) offered inordinate amounts of help when I was researching primary doc.u.ments from the Mujahideen and Taliban years. ACKU offers doc.u.ments that cannot be found elsewhere and has a knowledgeable and diligent staff whose a.s.sistance is invaluable. Research days spent sifting through archival material at a computer on the library's second floor were productive beyond imagining. Nancy's unrelenting vigor and dedication to doing good offers an example I hope to be worthy of one day.

Reporting from Kabul is a team effort. I want to thank my colleague Mohamad for his journalistic dedication and his commitment to excellence. This work would have been impossible without his translation a.s.sistance, his ability to navigate any logistical challenge, and his ready deployment of finely honed problem-solving skills. Thanks also to his wonderful family for their hospitality and their friends.h.i.+p. And to Saibrullah, a driver with a great sense of humor and an uncanny ability to remember any address, even years later.

The Financial Times Financial Times' International Entrepreneurs.h.i.+p editor James Pickford was the first person to buy these stories, first from Rwanda and later from Afghanistan, and for this start I am most thankful. My appreciation also to Anne Bagamery at the International Herald Tribune International Herald Tribune and Amelia Newcomb at the and Amelia Newcomb at the Christian Science Monitor Christian Science Monitor. Both of these terrific editors helped me bring to their readers stories from Afghanistan that were even stronger and more compelling for their input. And to Tina Brown, Jane Spencer, and Dana Goldstein of the Daily Beast Daily Beast, my sincere thanks for giving voice to powerful stories that might otherwise never have been told.

Thanks also to Professor Geoffrey Jones and Regina Abrami at Harvard Business School. They, along with Janet Hanson of 85 Broads and Alex Shkolnikov of CIPE, believed in the potential and the power of these stories when few others did. For their faith I am most grateful.

And to Mohamed El-Erian and my generous PIMCO bosses and colleagues, thank you for providing the support and the time to complete this work.

A slew of extraordinary women supported this research on women's entrepreneurs.h.i.+p with their constant encouragement and their own examples of hard-driving excellence. This includes the World Bank's Amanda Ellis, a sometime collaborator and constant inspiration, and 10,000 Women's Dina Powell, an indefatigable advocate in promoting the potential of women as well as a role model for anyone who wants to see just how much is possible when ideas are transformed into action. Thanks also to Alyse Nelson at Vital Voices, whose leaders.h.i.+p, commitment, and support are sincerely appreciated. And to Isobel Coleman at the Council on Foreign Relations, whose writing and research have helped to lead the way.

Since I started writing about this topic five years ago, many readers have asked how they can help. To answer this question, I have created a list of just a few of the many organizations that support women in Afghanistan in the pages which follow. You can find out more about them and link to their websites at .

Elyse Cheney and Nicole Steen saw the potential in this project at the outset and offered their invaluable support and guidance throughout the journey that led to this book. I don't imagine any writer could ask for a better advocate than Elyse, and I am thankful for her energy and editorial hand. Lisa Sharkey at HarperCollins believed in the idea and introduced me to my editor, thought partner, and friend Julia Cheiffetz at Harper. She and Katie Salisbury have shepherded this book through all the twists and turns of the process, and I am deeply grateful for their relentlessness and their dedication. Thanks also to Harper's Jonathan Burnham for his commitment to the project. And to Yuli Masinovsky, my thanks for helping all of this get started so long ago. Heartfelt thanks also to Annik LaFarge, a keen judge of character, a generous friend, and a valued voice I could not admire more.

A final thanks to my husband. Without his steady support and unswerving faith in this project, nothing would be the same and far less would be possible.

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