CAMPAIGN: Women Break Bread

Twenty-six people, mostly women, sat down to dinner last night in a Lorne Park home to support the education of Afghan women and girls.

Breaking Bread for Women in Afghanistan is a national fundraiser that encourages women to host potluck dinners and ask guests to donate money to help pay the salary, for one year, of a teacher for Afghan women and girls.

The initiative, created by Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan, has raised more than $1.6 million since 2002 to fund teachers' salaries ($750 a year), training, libraries and librarians as well as urgently needed educational resources for schools, teachers and students.

More than 900 dinners have been held across Canada to help the organization achieve its mission of improving human rights, ending women's oppression and providing opportunities for Afghan women to live their lives with dignity, certainty and purpose.

Sue Anderson, a member of the Lorne Park Book Club, hosted this year's get-together, which raised $1,200. It's the fourth year a member of the book club has hosted the potluck and the second year in which Anderson has invited people into her home.

Anderson says the program is a "good place" for the money to go. She adds they're not out to change the beliefs of Afghan women and girls, but rather help them achieve a better life by empowering them with education.

Guests enjoyed a meal made by members of the Afghan Women's Association of Mississauga. They also learned about Afghanistan and the lives of women and girls who live there, through women's rights activist Farzana Hassan.

Hassan, author of Islam Women and Challenges of Today, discussed the importance of educating women and children.

She told guests it's not just about the ABC's and knowing how to write your own name, which is the common literacy level of women in Afghanistan. Hassan said it's about learning about global economics and citizenship and learning that most people are interested in world peace.

She also discussed the complexity of supporting women's rights in a country where men believe that women don't need to be educated.