FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 24, 2003
CONTACT: Women's Intercultural Network (WIN) at (415)
221- 4841, or
Afghan Women's
Association International (AWAI) at 510- 574-2180)
CALIFORNIA WOMEN LEADERS WELCOME AFIFA AZIM
Bay Area Women
Invited to Become Part of Historic Circle of Power
Change is
in the air, but will it reach the women of Afghanistan? An incredible array of California women
leaders are joining Afifa Azim, Founder and President of the Afghan Women's
Network, to determine ways and funds that ensure Afghan women become full
partners in democracy. Bay Area women and men are invited to become part of
this historic effort on November 14th at a special reception and celebration
sponsored by the Women's Intercultural Network (WIN) and the Afghan Women's
Association International (AWAI). Tony and Sam Abrahim, owners of International
Marketing Gallery (IMG) from 6:00-8:30p.m., are hosting this gala reception at
their San Francisco Gallery on 1830 Harrison Street.
This
event will benefit the groundbreaking initiative, "Calling the Circle of
Women from Partners in Democracy" (U.S.-Afghan Circle) and give Bay Area
communities the opportunity to experience first hand the extraordinary leader,
Afifa Azim. While celebrating the union
of powerful women of California and Afghanistan, attendees will enjoy Afghan
cuisine, music, dance, silent auction and view the premier of the US-AFGHAN
Circle documentary, "Afghan Women Raise Their Voices." This event is part of a series of special
gatherings hosted to support a delegation of eight emerging women leaders to
travel from Afghanistan to California in March 2004, International Women’s
Month, for a leadership exchange with California women leaders.
As
background it is important to realize that only 1% of the $87 billion
dollars proposed by President Bush for aid to Iraq and Afghanistan will go
towards reconstruction. None of it will
go to support women in Afghanistan. The Afghan Women's Network (AWN) under the
leadership of Afifa Azim is part of a movement to earmark funds from Bush's
proposal to support women in Afghanistan. AWN is just one of the
non-governmental organizations that recently drafted the Women's Bill of Rights
and is proposing to integrate it into the new constitution of Afghanistan. Furthermore, this movement has successfully
convinced the President of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai, to appoint women to be
half of the 50 new candidates to Loya Jirga at the end of 2003. The movement
for women's human rights in Afghanistan is beginning to make significant
strides.
WIN, a
San Francisco-based consultative organization to the UN, coordinates the
million women California Women's Agenda (CAWA), US Women Connect (USWC), and
leadership exchanges between women in Uganda, Afghanistan and Japan. AWAI, based in Fremont, has been advocating on
behalf of the Afghan-American community since 1992. In May 2003, WIN and AWAI took eight California women leaders to
Kabul to meet with members from 27 Afghan women's organizations.
Please join Bay Area community leaders on Friday, November
14th to welcome Afifa Azim and to celebrate the union of powerful women of California
and Afghanistan. For information and reservations, call (415) 221-4841, email:
win@win-cawa.org or - go to our
website: www.win-cawa.org
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