Girl power

When Afghanistan once again fell into Taliban hands last month, Animas High School junior Maddy Glotfelty did not take the news sitting down. Glotfelty, a junior who is active with DEVO as well as Durango youth hockey, set about organizing a GoFundMe site to raise money to help women and girls under the oppressive regime, known for barring girls from attending school.

“I am asking for the support of our community in helping women in Afghanistan,” said Glotfelty. “To a certain extent, as a privileged girl in Durango, Colo., gifted with education, it only makes sense that I use that privilege to help those who are not so fortunate. To help women and girls who are my age but were born in a different country. A country where their right to education will be stolen.”

Glotfelty is seeking to raise $2,000 with proceeds going to Women for Women International, a nonprofit organization that invests in women survivors of war and conflict. Through the group’s Stronger Women, Stronger Nations Program, women join in small groups to learn to earn and save money, build businesses, know their rights, improve their health, and change societal rules. Since 1993, Women for Women has helped more than 462,000 women in war-torn countries around the world.

“Even if the threats to women in Afghanistan don't directly affect your life, consider your sisters, mothers, cousins, wives or girlfriends,” Glotfelty wrote on her GoFundMe page. “Imagine the devastation and fear they would experience if a group of people gained power … they knew was about to take their future, education and freedom away from them.”

To give, go to: www.gofundme.com/f/raising- money-for-women-in-afghanistan