The Shelter

I work with an amazing woman named Wazhma. I have never seen her wear anything twice. She spent many years in Peshawar as a refugee and brings the bright colors of Pakistan to work everyday. She fills the office with warmth and laughter and loves to hear stories about dates and weddings and boys any of us think are cute. One afternoon she asked me to come meet her sister Shukria and see where she works.

Shukria runs the first shelter for widows in Kabul. Usually subjected to a life of servitude, widows in Afghanistan are legal property of their departed husband’s family. With the help of UNHCR and MoWA the shelter has taken in its first five families. The women are learning to read. The children are in school. Each family has their own room, cooking is communal and there is a backyard eden full of winding trees, ivy trails and overgrown plants.

Though these families have been marked by death, the house is full of life.