Eye candy and a public service announcement

It's possible that spring has sprung. Tiny pockets of green are appearing, often with flowers attached. A robin or two has been sighted.

The general view is still as miserable as ever, but now I have hope!

And now I give you some info from the good folks at afghans for Afghans! Tell all your friends.

Oh, I plan to knit for them, but often other things get in the way. Let me just finish those few things on the go, and I'll start up a wool blanket for them...

(This was posted on Ravelry, so you get the Ravelry tea cup in the appropriate place!)

Dear Knitters and Crocheters for Afghanistan and Supporters,

** Shawl-Tea for Afghan Women Members of Parliament **

After quite a lot of planning, logistical challenges, and timing
issues, we are now ready to tell you about our very special endeavor …

afghans for Afghans is hostessing a tea party for the 91 women members
of the National Assembly of Afghanistan.

Phenomenal in so many ways, yes.

Each of the 91 Parliament Members, both in the lower and upper houses,
will receive a shawl hand-knit or crocheted by one of our volunteers.
The purpose of the gift of tea party and shawls is to express our
admiration for these courageous women, encourage their strength, and
warm their hearts. This is a gesture of our respect and friendship. We
wish to do something kind and personal for these women leaders working
hard – and under tremendous hardship and obstacles – to serve their
constituents so that the people of Afghanistan can rebuild their
war-torn country. These women lawmakers have become powerful role
models to many Afghan women and girls.

Our idea started brewing (yes, tea brewing!) last year, when we made
shawls for the new moms at CURE Hospital. We set aside some of the
shawls with the dream of presenting them to some of the dedicated
Afghan women leaders. These women need TLC, too, so they can continue
taking care of their citizens.
The supply was supplemented by several more shawls created by our local
volunteers. As some of you may recall, these rectangle shawls were made
longer and wider for more coverage in the customary style.

Please know that we feel these 91 shawls represent all the meaning and
soul invested in the 80,000 plus wool gifts made by all our volunteers
over the past 7 plus years. And, for that, we are grateful, and hope
you feel joy and honor in this presentation to the Afghan women MPs.
Please make a cup of tea and symbolically join in from wherever you
are.

The shawl-tea started to really bubble when a wonderfully capable
colleague here – a school teacher who travels to Afghanistan to train
teachers – graciously agreed to take on the challenge and honor of
being our representative during one of her trips. For security
purposes, we can’t share too many details at this time, and everything
is subject to safety. Anything involving Afghanistan is subject to
change and modifying as we go along. We’ll learn much more and share
more after our colleague returns to the U.S.

Please note, we’ve discussed our plan with the Afghan Embassy in
Washington, D.C, and they are encouraging about the purpose and value.
In our planning, we have worked together with Afghan-American women
community leaders here in our San Francisco Bay Area, which has the
largest Afghan-American community in the country. Later on (end of
April, most likely), we hope the shawl-tea story can be used to tell
more North Americans more about the well-educated, strong,
professional, and courageous women legislators of Afghanistan. Our
effort is about promoting understanding and support, from women to
women. As always with the afghans for Afghans project, this is not a
political message.

** Introductory TV Story for You! **

Last week, our San Francisco ABC station aired a brief news story about
our shawl-tea for the women in Afghanistan’s Parliament. See our
devoted volunteers packing up the gorgeous shawls and take a look at
the lovely hang-tags in English and Dari (created and donated by
Kaspareks.biz) –
http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/video?id=6717362

** Financial Support Needed **

We generally do not send strong fundraising messages to our volunteer
email list, as you spend a lot of your time, talent, and money in
knitting and crocheting (and mailing packages!) for the people of
Afghanistan. afghans for Afghans runs on the energy of a lot of
top-notch volunteers. Thankfully, we’ve always been able to cover our
operating expenses through some financial contributions, sales of
patterns, postcards, and kilims from time to time, and in-kind
donations of goods and services, such as transport, as well as through
our partnership with the San Francisco office of the American Friends
Service Committee, which handles mail intake, our working and storage
space, and counsel.

However, at this time, we must raise funds. Financial contributions are
needed for the tea hospitality in Kabul, logistical and coordination
matters, and an honorarium for our school-teacher colleague (who is
using the money to continue her good work in Afghanistan), for example.

This is the time to involve your concerned friends who don’t knit or
crochet.

This is the time to ask those who would feel moved – to support our
shawl-tea in tribute of the women who sit in the Wolesi Jirga and Meshrano Jirga.

This is the time to forward this email (intact, please) to people you
know who would be intrigued by this citizen initiative that reaches out
to the courageous women leaders of Afghanistan.

By making a financial contribution, more caring people can join
together to make our shawl-tea happen and to continue the work of
afghans for Afghans.

For details on how and where to send a tax-deductible contribution
(made payable to our fiscal sponsor, “the Agape Foundation”), please
visit this web page –
http://www.afghansforafghans.org/investforpeace.html

For convenience, we accept credit cards on the secure, online donation
form (also linked from our website) provided by the Agape Foundation
(which will notify us of your gift right-away) –
http://tinyurl.com/afghansforAfghansdonation

We appreciate your considering this request for support of afghans for
Afghans, including our shawl-tea for the women members of the Afghan
Parliament. We’re most honored to have this rare opportunity to
directly express our admiration and encouragement – during a very
trying time for these women and all the people of Afghanistan. Thank
you for continuing to stay involved through your generous, heartfelt
gifts of handiwork for Afghan children, women, and men.

We hope you will take this step of asking a friend or two to join all of us and
make a financial donation to the afghans for Afghans project.

With gratitude,
Ann and colleagues