I’ve started a fund to sponsor an orphanage for refugees from Afghanistan. I was inspired to do this partly because I know there’s a better way to deal with terrorism and human rights than bombing countries; and partly because I was fortunate enough to get to meet Zoya, one of the young women working with RAWA (the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan), at V-DAY in New Orleans.

Zoya is 28 and she grew up without knowing peace in her country. Her parents were both killed. Her life as a woman in Afghanistan is terribly circumscribed. Working for basic human rights for her sisters puts her in real danger.

Zoya said if there is one thing we can do to help the women of Afghanistan and the country as a whole, it is to support the education of young people.

That’s what the RAWA orphanages do: they provide shelter and education for boys and girls, bringing them up in an atmosphere of mutual respect.

For a very modest sum - $US16,000 - we can build a new RAWA orphanage. It’s one small but significant way to help make the world a safer place.

How to donate

If you feel moved to donate, you may contribute any amount, using the ChipIn widget you’ll see on the right side of each page (as well as on this post).

When you click the ChipIn! button, you’ll be taken to my PayPal page. If you have a PayPal account, you can sign in to make your donation. If you don’t have a PayPal account or prefer not to use it, click the Continue link in the “Don’t have a PayPal account?” section. You’ll then be able to use a credit card to make the payment.

How this works

As this started as an individual effort to get support for a RAWA orphanage, you’ll see my email address(es) on the donation form.

So how do you know the money will get to RAWA?

It works on trust. Many of you have been visiting my Geekgirl’s site and reading my articles for years, so I hope you have some sense of knowing me. You’ll receive a receipt when you make a donation and I’ll post reports back from RAWA when we reach our goal. I’ll be kicking in the proceeds from the advertisements on my site to the Orphanage Fund, too, as this is something I’m committed to. Please note: if you’d like to have your name included on the list of donors when we sponsor the orphanage, please indicate this in the Comments section when you make your donation. Otherwise, I will keep your donation anonymous.

If you’d prefer to make a direct contribution to RAWA’s orphanages instead, you can sponsor an orphan, provide materials for the schools, or sponsor an entire orphanage yourself  through Charity Help International. If you do so, I’d love to hear from you.

Why is this a geekgirl thing?

You may be wondering how supporting RAWA fits with a site about computers and the Internet.

To me, it’s a natural connection. I’ve been writing about computers for 25 years and I came to the computing field with the goal of making technology as accessible as possible to as many people as possible, especially to women.

I’ve been working with community organisations, including women’s refuges, rape crisis centres and human rights orgs, for even longer than I’ve been a geek.

And I don’t see any sense in technology unless it makes the world a better place.