Car a symbol of Afghan woman's new independence

If you have seen MEDA's Through the Garden Gate video, you may be familiar with the story of Sarvanaz, a village facilitator in the program.

Sarvenaz Hashemy is the sole supporter for her mother and younger sister. They were left homeless when the Taliban went through the village burning houses. "Three decades of war destroyed life for Afghans in this village," she says. "Since the Taliban, it has been a life of hardship because they burned the farmers' lands and destroyed their crops."

"But since MEDA came to my village, with the Through the Garden Gate project, I have been able to fulfil all my dreams – I built my house, an underground storage facility for village produce, and have a greenhouse. Now I bought a car!"

Sarvanaz says she will use her car for business, and make a good income from it, too, in addition to her other enterprises. And the most important thing, she says, “I am the first woman driving in Parwan province. It is a great source of pride for me to be such a strong and independent woman. And I’m getting more respect for being so, too.

"MEDA brought many opportunities for me. I have also been able to find my father, who was missing for a long time, and he is very proud of me!

Interested in supporting this exciting program? Go to www.meda.org/give or you can support the Afghanistan Challenge at www.medatrust.org

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