A 'Silk Road' bazaar settled into the Virginia countryside Sunday, June 27th to benefit Afghanistan Women's Education and Economic Development Projects. Glen Ora Farm was transformed as Nathaniel York, Executive Director of Solace International continued his passionate crusade to help the women of Afghanistan educate themselves and achieve financial independence.

Exotic rugs woven with ancient designs, shimmering silk scarves and woven garments of brilliant colors surrounded York as he spoke softly but clearly about his determination to help these women help themselves out of poverty and ignorance.

Imagine an entire village of 50,000 people in which not one woman or girl can read or write. This accurately describes the northern province of Jawzian in Afghanistan and it is common throughout the region.

In the next village a group of girls use a tree as their classroom as they surround one teacher, huddled together for warmth, their lips almost blue from the cold of this desert mountain region. Starved for the opportunity to learn they will endure these hardships as minor inconveniences in comparison to the years of oppressive rule under the Taliban, where educating any female was punishable by death.

They know the freedom to learn is a precious one.

So does Nathaniel York, so much so that he founded Solace International in 2002 to respond to the needs of women in Afghanistan with education and home-based industry. The Solace mission is to create community partnerships to establish self-sustainable economic development in emerging nations.

Their focus with the Afghanistan Girls School Project is to build schools for girls in northern Afghanistan. Another project with the Central Asian Women's Cooperative opens a market for traditional crafts in the U.S. to the village craftswomen, thereby economically empowering these Afghan women and elevating their community status.

Solace International didn't wait for contributions from donors or grants to launch their initiative. Instead, they created a unique form of fundraising. Solace members purchase hand-made goods from markets in Afghanistan, Central Asia, and Turkey and export them to the US selling these embroideries, fabrics, and carpets at fundraising events.

Not only does this provide capital to build schools, it creates trade and opportunity for craftsmen and women in developing countries. Last year, 85% of the money raised and 100% of the cash donations went directly to provide labor and materials to construct schools and purchase school supplies. Only three members are partially compensated with a small stipend from the 15% budgeted for administrative needs, the other key members are not paid, and often pay their own travel expenses. Individuals may donate frequent flyer miles to Solace on their website, www.solaceinternational.org, to help offset their personnel costs.

Solace's streamlined organization of dedicated people are all passionately devoted to their mission. To date, they have built four schools for Afghan girls using only small budgets of from $12,000 to $25,000 per school. Two more schools are scheduled to be completed before the end of 2004.

Solace also equips the schools with blackboards, desks, heat, plumbing, uniforms and backpacks full of school supplies for every child, boy or girl in these villages. The backpacks including the school supplies are bought locally in Mazar-i-Sharif for only $2.10. This infuses capital into the local economy and invigorates local trade.

Solace invests their money in the local economy. The organization employs a local builder, and his two sons who are the core building team at each site. The community must contribute most of the labor to complete the project. By including village elders in decisions and encouraging local donations of land and labor, Solace has managed to complete projects quickly and efficiently. This also adds to community unity, and ensures that citizens have equity, pride and involvement in their schools.

The Central Asian Women's Cooperative project is expanding this year by adding adult education and child care facilities. Presently it is organized as a cooperative business with the artists using traditional embroidery and silk-weaving skills to produce new fashions attractive to Western markets.

Solace's goal is to assist local Afghan women artists as they establish small businesses. Their project planning includes setting up micro-loans for these women, helping them develop business skills and the education they'll need to succeed. York and his colleagues know this will take time but as they build schools to educate the children of Afghanistan, they are confident that the next generation will be able to manage the operations and have complete ownership.

If you would like to lend support or donate to Solace International, or learn more about this remarkable organization, please visit www.solaceinternational.org. Contributions are tax deductible by using the ID number 81-0622816.

Solace International, Inc. is located at P.O. Box 202636, Anchorage, Alaska USA 99520