World Food Programme Fighting Hunger Worldwide

In a Life Literacy school in Faizabad city more than 800 married women are learning how to read and write. This Literacy school offers women classes from grade 4 to 12. The students are between 16 and 50 years old.

Mariam (second from left, in black) is learning to read at 48. “My husband can’t read, and my son works in a shop with him. But all four of my daughters are school teachers. I want to continue studying and become a teacher like them.” 

WFP has been supporting this literacy school for the past four years. Around 30 women have graduated in the last two years and most of them managed to continue on to university afterwards.

WFP is also supporting about 450 women in  Faizabad and other three districts of Badakhshan in small-scale silk production. The women learn how to rear the silk worms and process the cocoons into thread.

The women take to the silk worm cultivation with enthusiasm, and keeping them well fed, clean and warm. “We raise the caterpillar as our babies,” says Karima, one of the students. “If we lose them or if they are sick we will be very sad.” She explains how in the bitter cold winter of Badakshan she and her classmates kept the silk worm eggs wrapped under their arm to keep them warm enough to hatch.

The entire process is done by hand. Here, the women are boiling the cocoons to prepare for silk production.

The silk thread gleaned from the boiled cocoons is spooled, dyed and then sold on the market or to other women’s groups.

On 8 March 2012, on the occasion of International Women’s day, WFP gifted a project to the women of Badakhshan province: a fruit and vegetable garden. About 200 women receive a monthly food ration to cultivate the garden.

In addition the gardening skills necessary for the nursery, women are also learning how to process and preserve the fruits and vegetables from the garden. There are also courses for other marketable skills including beekeeping, cookie baking and tailoring.

“We are reaching our goals with the great support from WFP in Badakhshan,” said Zufenon Hasam Nateq, Director of the local Department of Women’s Affairs in Badakhshan.  “WFP is doing, great job to fight hunger, illiteracy and poverty. WFP really has changed our lives,” Zufenon added.