Nuristan Female Engagement Team makes with the women of Sundurwa village

By U.S. Air Force 2nd Lt. Natassia Cherne

Nuristan Provincial Reconstruction Team Public Affairs 

NURISTAN PROVINCE, Afghanistan –  The Nuristan Provincial Reconstruction Team’s female engagement team visited the Sundurwa village in eastern Afghanistan’s Nuristan province to hold a female shura, Feb 13.

This was not the Nuristan PRT’s first visit to the village, It was the first time the female engagement team met with the women to introduce themselves and their mission, and to learn about issues facing women in the area.

“Visiting the women of Sunderwa village was very different [from] any of the other village visits we've had up to this point, mainly because the women were not reserved at all,” U.S. Navy Lt. j.g. Stacey Gross, of Lakeville, Minn., and the information operation officer for the Nuristan PRT, said. “They wanted to begin discussions as soon as introductions were finished.”

Seventeen local women met the female engagement team with open arms and smiles. The meeting was more like an embracing of long lost sisters than foreign strangers.

“What was unique about this meeting was that all the women wanted a chance to speak about the kinds of projects that could be done to ease some of their burdens,” Gross said.

The first issue they mentioned was that their children had to travel to another village to go to school and the classes take place outside, despite harsh weather conditions.

The distance to the school also creates problems for the village’s girls, who can only go to school until the third grade because the village considers it dangerous for the girls to travel alone once they are older.

The women also face difficulties in the small village. One issue is that the village has no midwives, forcing families to travel to other districts like Laghman and Nangahar to receive medical care.

U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Destiney Dowdy, of Russellville, Ark., an aerospace medical service journeymen for the Nuristan PRT, asked the women if they would be interested in a midwife training program held by Sozo International, a non-government organization based out of Kabul that offers medical training to Afghans.

The women were very excited to hear about the program and provided their information for Dowdy to pass along to the organization.

"I thought the female engagement went really well,” Dowdy said. “The women seemed to be very interested in learning more about medical training. Everyone needs to know basic medical treatment, especially people that do not have a clinic in their village.”

The FET’s team leaders, Gross, of Lakeville Minn., and Leah Kaplan, the U.S. Agency for International Development representative for the Nuristan PRT, of Denver, Colo. encouraged the women attending the meeting to hold a shura with all the women in the village to figure out the top five problems they face.

At the end of the shura, the FET asked the women how they would feel about another visit from the FET.

“You come all the way here to our village to visit us and to help us, we are so happy,” Bebe Isha, a female elder in the village, said. “If you have more women, bring them.”

The female engagement team plans on visiting the women in a few weeks to check on the status in the village and to see if they would be interested in a literacy and vocational program.

“We are fortunate that they felt comfortable talking with us and look forward to working with them to develop projects that will meet their needs,” Kaplan said.  

NURISTAN PROVINCE, Afghanistan – U.S. Navy Lt. j.g. Stacey Gross of Lakeville Minn., the information operations officer for the Nuristan Provincial Reconstruction, U.S. Air Force SrA Destiney Dowdy, aerospace medical service journeymen for Nuristan PRT, of Russellville, Ark., and U.S. Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Kathleen Leach, an operations specialist for Nuristan PRT, of Smithfield, R.I., wait to meet the women of the Sundurwa village in eastern Afghanistan’s Nuristan province, Feb. 13.  The female engagement team’s goal is to promote female literacy and equality for the women of Nuristan. (U.S. Air Force photo/2nd Lt Natassia Cherne Nuristan Provincial Reconstruction Team Public Affairs)  

NURISTAN PROVINCE, Afghanistan – The men of the Sundurwa village in eastern Afghanistan’s Nuristan province wait for the female shura held by Nuristan Provincial Reconstruction Team’s female engagement team to end Feb. 13. The female engagement team’s goal is to promote female literacy and equality for the women of Nuristan. (U.S. Air Force photo 2nd Lt Natassia Cherne Nuristan Provincial Reconstruction Team Public Affairs)  

 

 

NURISTAN PROVINCE, Afghanistan- U.S. Navy Lt. j.g. Stacey Gross of Lakeville Minn., the information operations officer for the Nuristan Provincial Reconstruction, an interrupter, U.S. Air Force 2^nd Lt. Natassia Cherne, public affairs officer for Nuristan PRT, of Richlands, NC, U.S. Agency for International Development representative for the Nuristan PRT, of Denver, Colo., U.S. Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Kathleen Leach, an operations specialist for Nuristan PRT, of Smithfield, R.I., and U.S. Air Force SrA Destiney Dowdy, aerospace medical service journeymen for Nuristan PRT, of Russellville, Ark., the female engagement team for Nuristan PRT pose for a photo before meeting the women of the Sundurwa village for a female shura, Feb. 13. The female engagement team’s goal is to promote female literacy and equality for the women of Nuristan. (Courtesy Photo)