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By Jeremy Rosenberg
Six volunteers grab laps full of envelopes. They reach across the table like casino dealers; arms dive under other arms as in a game of Twister. They place checks in seven piles, each with a handwritten label made from scraps of loose-leaf paper. The "General" pile grows the tallest. Others include "Publications," "Education" and "Malalai Hospital." The hospital is a shuttered RAWA health-care facility in Quetta, Pakistan. The AWM has collected $60,000 in order to re-open the institution. The check sorting takes 90 minutes. The stacks grow with each tearing or cutting of an envelope--$500 from a doctor and his wife in Wisconsin, $697 raised by a woman who walked from New Hampshire to New York, $102 from a bake sale held by a school's "femme club" and "diversity club," $500 from a prominent actress, $9 for RAWA pamphlets, $5 in royalties for republishing a photograph. And to the delight of the volunteers, there's this note, enclosed along with a glamorous photograph on an invitation and three checks that total $1,950: "To RAWA: On Nov. 8, my NYC nightclub event, Click & Drag, had a benefit for RAWA called 'Freaks for Freedom...'" * * * * * * * * * * *
It's Sunday evening, and Kolhatkar sits upstairs at the coffeehouse, where she will meet with potential volunteers. This is her fifth AWM-related event during the past 36 hours. "We really believe in [RAWA's] vision,"
Kolhatkar says. "And that's why they are so deserving of the work that
we do. It's really a labor of love. They don't pay us, we don't draw salaries
from it. All of us who work on this issue are inspired by what RAWA does,
are moved by their courage, and really get a sense of, if they can risk
their lives, we can, you know, work weekends."
Kolhatkar takes off her glasses, places them on the tabletop. She wears
a stud on her right nostril and a colorful chunky necklace. Her dark hair
is set in a bun. Her ski jacket and shirt are black, her pants gray. Though
she was born and raised in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, where her parents
worked in professional capacities, she travels on an Indian passport.
Ten years ago, she came to America to attend college and graduate school.
Kolhatkar is no stranger to social and political causes. She was a webmaster
during protests against the Democratic Convention two summers ago in Los
Angeles. She first heard of RAWA via an e-mail petition describing the
plight of woman in Afghanistan. After some further research, she came
away shocked. "I felt like this had to be the worst example of what women
are going through today, and an issue that is not being talked about enough,"
Kolhatkar says.
A few months later, she received an e-mail announcing that two RAWA members
were coming into the country, and asking if she would be interested in
helping organize their visit. The note was from Steve Penners, a man she
didn't know. He had found her name on a list. It turned out he lived down
the street. They met, and collaborated on the hosting. Within six months
of its founding, the president of the AWM had a vice president and inspired
advocate.
"[I] got to meet these two RAWA members; they spent some time in my home;
I really was touched by who they were, what they had to say," Kolhatkar
says. "I mean these were women who were my age, innocent and wise at the
same time, really ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances. And
with bravery that I'd never seen before. These were the same women who
were on the front line of what was going on in Afghanistan."
* * * * * * * * * * *
RAWA itself was founded in Kabul in 1977, when Kolhatkar was a 1-year-old.
She says the group has about 2,000 members, including a core group who
have been active for years. Many are living in exile in Pakistan. RAWA's
founder was assassinated in 1987.
A RAWA member's life is dedicated to RAWA. . . their whole life is dedicated
to that struggle. And it's not a normal life," Kolhatkar says. "They are
an underground organization; they cannot show their face in public. .
. they have to work incognito. And they have to move their base of headquarters
from house to house to house, every few months."
Kolhatkar says the situation for Afghan women has gotten worse in the
past two months.
"I say that with confidence," she states. "The situation has gotten worse
because although some Afghan women can walk around without wearing the
burkah now, they are still starving. The aid is not reaching them, and
these men with guns are still ruling Afghanistan."
Kolhatkar says mainstream media has underestimated RAWA.
"They don't expect them to have a political analysis," she says. "They
don't expect them to talk about human rights issues in the larger picture.
Larry King recently interviewed a RAWA member. It was disgusting. The
only questions he asked were things like, 'Do girls commit a lot of suicide
in Afghanistan? What was it like growing up as a girl for you?'
"And then his last question to Tahmeena Faryal, the RAWA member--her
back was facing the camera for security reasons--he ended the program
saying, 'I wish you could see her, she's so pretty.' Can you believe that?
I was so horrified. And I said, 'That's the only way in which he can define
a revolutionary woman? By how pretty she is?'" * * * * * * * * * * * The Afghan Women's Mission operates a comprehensive web site.
Jeremy Rosenberg can be reached at jeremynr@aol.com
Copyright 2001 Los Angeles Times
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