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Threats of violence keep Andeisha Farid indoors much of the time, but the recent graduate of a Thunderbird women’s entrepreneurship program in Afghanistan presses forward undeterred as founder and executive director of an orphanage network launched in 2008.
“Women face lots of challenges in Afghanistan,” says Farid, a 26-year-old entrepreneur who spent most of her childhood as a refugee in Iran and Pakistan. “Women can’t even go outside in most parts of Afghanistan. Security is the biggest challenge.”
Farid graduated in February from the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women project in Afghanistan, which Thunderbird runs with the American University of Afghanistan. So far 54 women in four classes have graduated from the program, and new classes will start this winter. Overall, Thunderbird will help educate about 460 businesswomen at the American University campus in Kabul through a five-year partnership that started in 2008.
“It was an extraordinary and wonderful experience for me,” Farid says. “I learned how to manage the orphanages in a very professional way.”
Additional Goldman Sachs partners run similar business education and mentorship programs in other countries, with a goal of reaching 10,000 underserved women by 2013. Farid met representatives from some of the 17 participating countries July 20-22 at the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women Leadership Academy in New York.
“I saw many people and heard about their experiences and their wonderful ideas,” says Farid, who is staying in the United States through August for additional training organized by the Institute for Economic Empowerment of Women.
Thunderbird Professor Amanda M. Bullough, Ph.D., academic director of the Afghan program, joined Farid in New York. “It is clear that Thunderbird’s program in Afghanistan is fairly extreme, different from the other developing countries,” Bullough says. “We have similarities to programs in Liberia and Rwanda, but given that Afghanistan is no longer ‘post’ conflict — as the country has slipped back into conflict since this past winter — our challenges are that much more significant.”
Among other things, the surge in violence has forced Farid to hire additional security guards at her orphanages. The expense comes at a time when donations have fallen in the global financial crisis.
“The orphanages run through sponsorship programs,” Farid says. “When the people in countries like the United States and Great Britain face financial challenges, they stop supporting the children.”
But Farid has survived before in difficult circumstances.
She was born during the Soviet war and moved with her family to a refugee camp in Iran. The family briefly returned to Afghanistan in 1992 with hopes of building a new life in a free society, but the dream never materialized. “Unfortunately, everything was opposite of what we hoped,” Farid says.
Women were kidnapped and raped, and many were killed. Children roamed the streets as orphans. “The women and children were the first victims of the war,” she says.
Her family fled to a refugee camp in Pakistan, where Farid received an education and learned to speak English. As a young adult, she started volunteering as a reading and writing tutor for the Afghan women in Pakistan.
“I decided to do something because I really wanted to help the Afghan people,” she says.
Farid helped set up her first orphanage in 2001. Then she returned to Kabul in 2007, where she helped launch the Afghan Child Education and Care Organization, a nonprofit group that receives support from CharityHelp International in the United States.
Although Farid has never seen peace in her homeland, she maintains hope for the children she serves.
Kelly O’Conell, a 2008 Thunderbird graduate who manages the 10,000 Women program for the American University of Afghanistan, says businesswomen such as Farid make this hope possible.
“These women are pioneers in their country and in this program,” O’Connell says. “They are leading the way for women in business.”
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