One stitch at a time

Rangina Hamidi sells hand-embroidered pieces made by Afghan women and returns the profits back to the women.
Photo by Paula Lerner.

In 1981, at the age of 4, Rangina Hamidi (Religious Studies, SWAG ’00) and her family left their native Afghanistan during the Russian invasion. Living as refugees in Pakistan, her family migrated to the United States in 1988 with the hope that Rangina and her siblings would have a promising future for themselves.

Fifteen years later, Hamidi would return to a still-wounded Afghanistan armed with the goal of reinvigorating the social and economic lives of Afghan women under the auspices of Afghans for Civil Society, a nonprofit grassroots organization aimed at promoting a “democratic alternative for Afghanistan that opposes violence and extremism and encourages a nascent civil society.”

“I was given a chance and an opportunity by my parents to become an independent woman,” Hamidi says. “When the opportunity came to help my country and my people, I simply thought to myself that if I had not been lucky, I might be living the lifestyle of the very people I work with today.”

Life for many women in Afghanistan, even after the fall of the fundamentalist Taliban regime, is fraught with everyday social and economic frustrations. Most women are relegated to their male-dominated households, lack the resources to make an independent living and are deprived of any strong voice in their communities.

As field director for Afghans for Civil Society, Hamidi works 10 months out of every year from the Kandahar, Afghanistan, field office on a variety of projects aimed toward women’s rights, including computer and English literacy classes, community discussion series on women and Islam and the Kandahar Women’s Council, a group of nine women who meet every week to advocate women’s issues in Kandahar.

But by far the most fruitful project under Hamidi’s direction has been Kandahar Treasure, a local business owned and operated by over 400 women who design and embroider everything from home furnishings and shawls to bags and jewelry — all made with a style rooted in Afghan art and culture.

According to Hamidi, Kandahar Treasure originally began as an income-generating project for women with Afghans for Civil Society. After receiving business training with Thunderbird University’s Artemis Project and the Business Council for Peace, however, she saw the potential of transforming Kandahar Treasure into a viable business model with social entrepreneurships.

“In addition to the funds that women gain from the business, the aim of [Kandahar Treasure] is also to revive traditional women’s art in Kandahar and give women a voice in the world through their beautiful artifacts,” she says. “I really want the craft of the women to stand on its own two feet and be marketable.”

In a country that affords its women few civil liberties, Hamidi takes great pride in helping to empower the voices of Afghan women. “I don’t get hopeless,” she says. “We are seeing visible results on the ground, which makes it all worthwhile.”

In addition to the support from her family and friends in the United States, the community in Kandahar has been receptive to Hamidi and her group’s efforts. “We’ve gotten quite a lot of acceptance from the community because we are working with little foreign interference,” she says.

Though comfortable with describing herself as an Afghan American, Hamidi’s Afghan roots set her apart from the numerous foreign-based humanitarian efforts in Afghanistan.

“My thinking and the way I see [the situation in Afghanistan] is American,” she says. “But [my work] is the basic duty of my life, which is to give back to the land that first received me.”

See more photographs from Afghanistan.