The Afghan Women's Writing Project

I'm feeling incredibly fortunate right now: I've been invited by journalist and novelist Masha Hamilton to participate as one of the teachers/mentors in an incredible project: The Afghan Women's Writing project.

Along with several other writers, I'll be working online directly with young women in Afghanistan. These women are in some of the most conservative provinces-Farah, Kandahar-as well as in Kabul and Herat. We'll be helping to develop their writing.

Says Masha: "These are women who, when permitted to attend school, are often NOT encouraged to seek a higher education. They have such strong voices, (and what a wealth of experiences), and they just need development. Some are young journalists; others have studied briefly in the states but are now back home, others hope to study here at some point. They all have workable English (sometimes excellent English) and access to a computer."

I'll be doing rotating work online for three weeks or so with these young women over the next six to nine months. There will be a website up shortly, and as the project moves along, these women will have their work showcased. Security issues are bad, and getting worse; these women are in so much danger locally that only their first names can be used. But as soon as the website is up, with details, I'll be tweeting, Facebooking and blogging generally about it.

I'm just incredibly pleased to have been asked to be a part of this. It's so very easy for me to work at lightspeed on whatever I choose, sitting comfortably in the First World. Women around the rest of the world are not nearly so lucky.