A Brave Heart
The film Braveheart made in 1995, in the historical perspective of end 13th century Scotland tells us the saga of a common man, William Wallace, who fought for the freedom of his country with his men and created a legend of himself.
Interestingly enough, one need not have to go back so much deep into history to find more such moving scripts. Examples abound in our recent times and in various fields. Here is one such story of Shaima Sadat from Afghanistan, her exemplary battle of grit and courage, which can well be part of the legendry folklore in social enterprise.
If you drive down Kabul roads during winter you won’t miss women in burkhas are begging even when it’s snowing. You can see they do not have shoe to cover their feet. They do this just to feed their families. Women live perhaps in the worst condition in Afghanistan. Still they are strong and try to win the battle at every phase.
During the Taliban regime, women did not have access to schools and thus most of them could not develop skills set to work in major economic sectors. Here, three or four marriages are quite common among men and family sizes could be even 50+ and living under the same roof.
Gender should occupy special importance when it comes to development in Afghanistan. Has something substantial been done? It does not seem to be. Donors indeed have made some effort and lot more need to be done.
One Design Center was created under USAID funding to teach garment design, artificial jewellery making, stitching etc to Afghan women. The concept is good, the country needs it but since USAID contractors have their own way of thinking on development, the center does not function anymore with the objective it was set up with.
Shaima Sadat, a 62 years old physically challenged lady, was trained by the design centre to make jewellery and she also displayed her produce in the show organized by the design centre. Another USAID funded project invited three buyers from United States and organized their visit to producers of Afghan handicraft. They were fascinated by Shaima’s work and ordered 9000 pieces of necklace made of semi precious stones. Shaima now has appointed 21 physically challenged women working in her outfit and been executing those orders in phases.
This success story would encourage many Afghan women to venture into women oriented business. But the design centre does not get the much needed support and is almost defunct. The design center will not be able to encourage Afghan women the way it used to. Most unfortunate thing was not to strengthen the design centre as planned. It had the possibility of making a large impact to the fate and fortune of Afghan women.
Who is to blame? Should the donors be not more careful while deciding on such issues?
We nevertheless, salute the free and indomitable spirit of Shaima Sadat and wish her all success. Let her work example be the beacon light of encouragement and hope for others, to follow the path of free enterprise. 
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