Janice Eisenhauer delivered a great presentation on her organization Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan www.CW4WAfghan.ca. She spoke of how she was influenced at a very young age by the atrocities in Afghanistan in regards to women. She read an article written by Canadian Sally Armstrong about the situation. From that point on, her destiny was set.

Her life has been devoted to assisting women in Afghanistan. She looked at how much all of us had and the freedom of basic human rights, such as the right to live without fear and the right to be able to go to school. She clearly saw women in Afghanistan did not have this freedom and her mission has thus been to make this happen.

She witnessed such atrocities as the fact that women could not, under Taliban rule, congregate in groups of three, or more or they could be jailed, or worse. The girls were not allowed at schools and teachers today still have no text books to teach from.

She spoke of the 30 years of oppression that has happened and that an entire generation has lost education. She educated us on how 30 years ago women were doctors and lawyers and teachers, then this was all wiped out.

Janice told us of how the mission of Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan had two main missions. One is to advance education for Afghan women and girls and their families. The second is educating Canadians on the Human Rights issues of women in Afghanistan.

100% of every dollar raised, Janice told us, go to projects in Afghanistan. They fund schools and projects and libraries and such, both at the capital development level, as well as sustaining operational funds that are ongoing. Most of the work they do is outside Kabul and the major centres and in rural areas. She reminded us that Afghanistan is a country that has about the same population as Canada, but has the space the size of Saskatchewan.

She reminded us of how important the work of the Canadian troops is in Afghanistan and how they work so closely with the troops to provide safety and security to Afghans. As she noted, the biggest block to education for women in Afghanistan is the lack of safety and security for those women who choose to be educated and risk being beheaded for doing so.

Murray Hunter thanked Janice for her talk, and presented her with our world famous Boltman.

reported by Brent Barootes