On April 3rd, Montana Women For will proudly present Mary MacMakin, who will share stories and photos of her 46 years working with widows and children in Afghanistan. Montana Women For will host the presentation at the Danforth Gallery in historic downtown Livingston at 6 pm. Refreshments will be served and there will be an opportunity to meet Ms. MacMakin.
Mary, who majored in physical therapy at Stanford, first traveled to Afghanistan in 1961 when her husband was transferred there. She fell in love with the country and decided to make it her permanent home, running projects for local humanitarian organizations such as Save the Children and CARE, and teaching Afghan women the skills needed to practice physical therapy.
She eventually founded PARSA (Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Support for Afghanistan) and her new NGO, Afghanistan Zendabad (Afzenda). Afzenda’s mission is to help widows and poor families run their own businesses. In a country as poor as Afghanistan, starting small home businesses to help people augment what little income they have is a priority activity. Afzenda trains family businesses in marketable skills, provides funds to get started, teaches quality control and locates markets locally and abroad in which to sell their products.
Mary’s organization has reached thousands of Afghan women and children through a variety of projects, including sending medical supplies to orphanages and hospitals, helping widows obtain ration cards, supporting home schooling for girls by paying teachers and providing school supplies during the Taliban regime, setting up cooperatives where widows produced and marketed woven goods, and provided job training to fatherless boys serving as de facto heads of households.
In 2002, she received the Center for International Rehabilitation’s Leadership Award. The award honors those who have worked internationally to advance the field of rehabilitation, champion the principle of inclusion and help others achieve their full potential. A portion of the award funds were used to establish the Afghanistan Rehabilitation Resource Center in Kabul to provide, in partnership with PARSA, rehabilitation training and services to Afghan war widows and Afghanis with disabilities.
In July of 2000, she and PARSA fell victim to a Taliban crackdown. The Office of Vice and Preservation of Virtue shut down PARSA and arrested Mary on charges of spying and trying to convert Muslims to Christianity, both charges Mary vehemently denies. After spending four days in jail, she fled to Pakistan where she continued her work in exile. She has since returned to Afghanistan many times, and remains committed to helping the women and children of Afghanistan have a better life.
A free will offering will be taken to help defray Mary’s travel expenses. The Danforth Gallery is located at 106 N. Main Street in Livingston. For more information, please contact Traci Isaly at 406/586-7062.
Start Time: 6:00
Date: 2009-04-03
End Time: 8:00
I wish that I could travel to Montana to meet Mary MacMakin, an unsung American hero. I congratulate the organizers of this event and hope that many people are touched.