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Lending a hand in Afghanistan
Fri Jun 27, 2008 7:17 PM EDT
June 27: Rosemary Stasek, the former mayor of Mountain View, Calif., has single-handedly brought aid to hundreds of Afghans. NBC's Martin Fletcher reports. (Nightly News)
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{"commentId":2069436,"authorDomain":"kittenmama2000"}
Rosemary Stasek was described as "single-handedly bringing aid to hundred of Afghans". Well isn't that just wonderful. She was also shown driving in Afghanistan, where women aren't allowed to drive, and she did it to show the girls in Afghanistan they can do whatever they want. She also ignores the culture of the country by not wearing head covering; and we wonder why people in the Middle East dislike Americans!!!! Ms Stasek, even though she may be helping the blind, should remember she is a GUEST in Afghanistan and she should be considerate of that countrys' cultures and customs, no matter what she thinks of them.
{"commentId":2069436,"threadId":"301044","contentId":"1619286","authorDomain":"kittenmama2000"}
#1 - Fri Jun 27, 2008 8:52 PM EDT{"commentId":2093976,"authorDomain":"bkniebauer"}
KittenMama - your comment is fascinating to me. The "cultural" restrictions Afghanistan has currently placed on women are not cute or quirky - they are hurtful and debilitating and they prevent women from leading anything close to an ordinary life. I don't think there is any need to honor cultures that abuse some or all of their members.
Also, if you were more knowledgeable you would know that Afghanistan is not in the Middle East and that many Muslim cultures have a second set of unwritten rules for Western or non-Muslim women. Perhaps you would be better suited to posting comments on videos of kittens.
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{"commentId":2208426,"authorDomain":"rherrick"}
You're mistaken regarding women being allowed to drive in Afghanistan. Google "women driving afghanistan" and select any of the reports, but for example the report from the BBC at the top of the list.
Head coverings are also not required uniformly throughout the country. From Wikipedia: "Under the Taliban, the burqa was obligatory. Under the current government, it is technically optional but in southern Afghanistan it is de facto obligatory." In Kabul, it's fairly common for women to not wear the hijab and burqas are mostly still worn in the provinces.
Before passing judgment on people, you should make sure you have your facts straight.
{"commentId":2208426,"threadId":"301044","contentId":"1619286","authorDomain":"rherrick"}
{"commentId":2069778,"authorDomain":"baht"}
This report so conflicts with what we've heard in the media about Afghanistan up to this point that I do not understand how she can do it, and how numbered her days are. Suspicions that flow from this are as follows:
1. The report was staged and that she only goes to safe areas.
2. The fundamentalists there have not caught on to what she is doing. This report will help that.
If what the media has told us about this country up to this point is right, and the image NBC presented tonight is accurate, then she has no option other than to be killed at some point. But we don't really know which is accurate, so we don't know how long she can live. It is so hard to know what is reality in that part of the world. The news presenting a personal account like this as fact and basis for a broader issue, even if the objective is to give hope, makes it so much more difficult to know what is real.
--bart
{"commentId":2069778,"threadId":"301044","contentId":"1619286","authorDomain":"baht"}
#2 - Fri Jun 27, 2008 9:54 PM EDT{"commentId":2072918,"authorDomain":"jwbaker46"}
would like to know more about rosemary's work. is she working independently or through a support network? is there a website or email address ?
{"commentId":2072918,"threadId":"301044","contentId":"1619286","authorDomain":"jwbaker46"}
#3 - Sat Jun 28, 2008 12:20 PM EDT{"commentId":2073504,"authorDomain":"candidcow"}
I want to get in touch with Rosemary Stasek. I belong to a local Rotary club in Morro Bay, California and we would like to do a fund raising project to help the women in Afghanistan. I now have a young woman from Kabul living with me while she attends college here locally and this has spurred my intent to do something more for the women of that nation. Any information you can send me will be greatly appreciated.
Thank you.
Ruth Ann Angus
{"commentId":2073504,"threadId":"301044","contentId":"1619286","authorDomain":"candidcow"}
#4 - Sat Jun 28, 2008 2:10 PM EDT{"commentId":2119540,"authorDomain":"devnull1999"}
It seems links are not allowed here, but type in her last name followed by dot com and you'll find her website.
{"commentId":2119540,"threadId":"301044","contentId":"1619286","authorDomain":"devnull1999"}
{"commentId":2077932,"authorDomain":"damarisk"}
How impressive! How can I help? Yarn? Blankets? Fabric to be sewn into blankets? Send where and How?
{"commentId":2077932,"threadId":"301044","contentId":"1619286","authorDomain":"damarisk"}
#5 - Sun Jun 29, 2008 8:03 AM EDT{"commentId":2118734,"authorDomain":"candidcow"}
I am so pleased that I will meet Rosemary in September when she returns to California. I have read the comments here and must say that after sharing my home with an Afghan woman I realize more and more how little we understand about that country, their culture, their religion, etc., etc. I will have many questions for Rosemary about her time in Kabul and how she is treated by the people. While it may be sensitive to the people there for a woman from our country to go about in a headdress, I seriously doubt that the people expect that. They know we are not Muslim and that we are not from their culture, so I do not feel that it was insensitive for Rosemary to present herself as she is, an American woman. She states in this presentation that she wants the women of Afghanistan to realize that they have choices -- and those choices can be for them to follow their customs and religion as they please. What she also wants is for them not to be oppressed and to reach out for better equality within their own culture and religion. This is what we here in the West have to understand. We are not doing the peoples of other countries any favors by trying to change them to our cultural ways or our religious pursuits. We need to help in a way that allows them to still be Afghans in every sense.
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#6 - Fri Jul 4, 2008 2:49 PM EDT{"commentId":2149578,"authorDomain":"jjsirois"}
Rosemary's goal here is to offer "a little help" to a place that needs that, and a lot more. I know her and can assure you that her efforts are genuine. I have never met anybody quite like her, she is the most unselfish and caring woman I have ever met!
If anybody reading this as an individule or as part of an organization would like to make a donation to a worthwhile cause, this would be a good one.
You can get to her website by typing the following into your web browsers address bar:
www.aLittleHelp.org
{"commentId":2149578,"threadId":"301044","contentId":"1619286","authorDomain":"jjsirois"}
#7 - Wed Jul 9, 2008 11:23 AM EDT{"canLink":false,"threadId":"301044","isPrivate":false,"group":{"displayName":"NBC Nightly News","domainName":"nightly"}}
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