Speaker shares Afghanistan experience

Lauryn Oates has visited Afghanistan 15 times in the past seven years. She talks about her experiences Saturday (Jan. 30) in Nanaimo before leaving for Kabul again next week.

By Jenn Marshall - Nanaimo News Bulletin

Lauryn Oates was 14 when she started fighting for Afghan women’s rights.
 
That was 1996, when the Taliban took over Kabul and started imposing restrictions on women. Oates read that women were not permitted to work, go to school or even show their faces in public.
 
“It was completely shocking to me,” said Oates, from her home on Bowen Island. “I couldn’t believe governments weren’t stepping in.”
 
She decided to take action herself. She petitioned the Canadian government, then got involved in a letter-writing campaign with Amnesty International.

At 16, she started a Vancouver chapter of Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan, a national group that raises money to help educate Afghan women and their families.
 
Two years ago, she began managing the group’s projects on the ground in Afghanistan.
 
Oates has visited the war-ravaged country 15 times in the last seven years and will share her experiences during Vancouver Island University ElderCollege’s speaker series on Afghanistan Saturday (Jan. 30).
 
She returns to Nanaimo in March to speak at the Zonta Club of Nanaimo’s International Women’s Day event, as she recently became a member.
 
Oates has seen tent cities on the outskirts of Kabul and villages with a zero-per cent female literacy rate. But she’s also watched the country transform and begin to rebuild.
 
“Kabul is a pretty cosmopolitan place now – you can just physically see the city starting to flourish,” said Oates. “Every single block has some kind of learning institution or school. People are really thirsty for education.”
 
Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan pays the salaries for teachers and teacher trainers, and sets up schools, libraries and community learning centres.
 
Oates said the work is vital not only for reconstruction and economic development, but also to improve the security of the country. The Taliban typically employs illiterate, unemployed men with no alternatives to becoming warriors.
 
She leaves for Kabul again next week. Travelling could be difficult this time due to security issues, so she might stick to Kabul, although even there she’s been near several suicide bombings.

“When you see aide workers being explicitly targeted, that’s pretty scary,” said Oates. “But all of the things we’ve managed to do is more important than the risk.”
 
For more information about Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan, please go to www.cw4wafghan.ca.
 
reporter@nanaimobulletin.com
  
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