Co-founder, PARWAZ MicroFinance Institution
www.parwaz.org

If you are a woman in Afghanistan today, there’s a good chance you are widowed due to war, uneducated due to oppression, living in poverty and struggling to find ways to feed your children.

Katrin Fakiri, raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, is trying to change the plight of Afghan women by helping them to become entrepreneurs.

In 2002, she co-founded Parwaz MicroFinance Institution, a non-profit organization that gives “micro-loans” (starting at $100) to Afghan women to help them turn skills like farming, baking or weaving into small businesses. Parwaz is a Dari word that means “to rise” or “to fly.”

Forced to Leave, Lucky to Escape

“I came to the United States when I was nine years old from Afghanistan. We were forced to leave due to the Soviet invasion – our lives were at stake. I was old enough to have quite a few memories of Afghanistan, and felt like a part of me was still there.”

U.S. Becomes Home

“For first 10-12 years, my parents had the mentality that (the move to the U.S.) was temporary. When things got better, we would go back. They wanted to go back to the life we had, where everything was familiar. We had a good life. We were comfortable. But as the situation became worse in Afghanistan, at some point they accepted that they were not going back, that (the United States) is the home we’re going to settle in.”

From the White-Collar World…

“Growing up in the U.S., I was pretty active in the Afghan community. I graduated from San Jose State University with a degree in English literature and wanted to be a writer. But once I graduated, I realized that writers don’t become writers overnight. You have to make a living. So I started a career in human resources and was involved in all aspects of HR for various high-tech companies in Silicon Valley.”

… To a World of Despair

“After 9/11, a group of caring Americans approached me and said they would be willing to start a micro-lending organization in Afghanistan if I would be willing to go and see if it would work and manage the organization. I took my first trip back to Afghanistan in 2002, which was a very emotional experience.”

What Might Have Been

“One question I kept asking myself was, ‘Why me? Why did I escape this?’ I saw what my life could have been… women my age with five or six kids with no husband, living in utter poverty. It took me about six months after my trip to accept that I was just lucky. ”

Helping People Help Themselves

“There are many poor people (in Afghanistan), but they are skilled and enterprising, willing to take a risk. We have about 1000 clients, all women, who are receiving loans from us. The vast majority of our clients, 99 percent, pay back the loans. Often our clients’ children would be begging in the street instead of going to school because the families have no way of earning a living. But after the loans, the kids are going back to school because the woman is working. (Microcredit) can be an effective tool to fight poverty because it helps people help themselves.”

Shahnaz’s Story

“One woman, a widow with several kids, was living in a mud hut next to a field that belonged to her neighbor. She had been cultivating the field in exchange for three meals a day for her kids and herself. There were times when they were so hungry that they would eat grass.

“We gave her a loan two years ago. She bought a cow and started making yogurt and other dairy products to sell. She repaid the loan in six months. We gave her another loan and she bought another cow. In a year and a half, by buying three cows, (the woman and her children) are not indentured servants anymore. Now her kids are going to school and getting an education. She is standing on her own two feet and making a living.”

Najiba’s Story

“Another woman went through one widowhood, and then, according to tradition, she was obligated to marry her brother-in-law. A few years later, he was killed in the war, so her in-laws kicked her out and kept her kids, because as they said, ‘We cannot afford to feed you.’ She went to Pakistan where she went from house to house washing wealthy people’s clothes to live. She came back to Afghanistan after the fall of the Taliban.

“We gave her a loan for a quilt-making business. She rented an apartment on her own and then went after her kids. She managed to get her daughters back from her in-laws. We have given her daughter a loan as well. Because of their businesses, they have a decent life now – they don’t have to rely on anyone else to survive.”

Staying Positive

“Whenever I get de-motivated or feel very lonely – because it’s not an easy environment to live in Afghanistan, I go and I talk to my clients. I hear their stories and they inspire me. I think to myself, ‘If they have managed to survive, how can I complain about being lonely or de-motivated?’”

Greatest Success

“Our organization has been surviving for the past three years with very little money. Our operating costs are very low. We are doing a social impact study on our clients so that we can have some data on the impact we have made. It’s amazing what changes $100 can make – changing women’s lives, communities, eventually the country. I’m proud of the fact that we have contributed in a small way.

“There is absolutely no way Afghanistan is going to be rebuilt with 50 percent of workforce not working. There are not enough jobs for all women to work, even if they were educated and literate. So this is the best way to get them engaged in the economy. They don’t have to learn to read or write to run a business. They just do it.”

Greatest Challenges

“Personally… living as a woman from the West in Afghanistan is not easy. It helps that I speak the language, know the culture, and am of the same religion. But I don’t have the same freedom of movement (as in the U.S.) – for example, I can’t just go for a walk. I need to wear conservative clothing. I am lucky that my husband is there, because before we were married, it was extremely lonely to live in Afghanistan.

“Professionally… it’s hard to build something from nothing. Finding good people, training your staff – we have the same challenges as organizations in the U.S., just multiplied. I run the organization in an American business style, whereas in Afghanistan the business culture is more laid back.”

Any Resistance to Empowering Women?

“The only resistance we have, at times, is due to the issue of charging interest. Charging interest is not allowed, according to Islam. So we charge an application fee. We don’t profit from the fees; they go toward operating costs. We do a lot of education to the elders in the community, especially to the men. We tell them how their wives, daughters and families can benefit from this program and how they can be part of the business. Everyone wants a chance at making their lives better. We assure them that micro-credit is not against our religious values. We have never had a case where they say, ‘No.’ We have been welcomed.”

Words of Advice

“If you make a commitment to something, then stick to it. If you’re not committed, you’re not going to succeed.”