Afghan handicrafts produced by the Woman’s Income Generation Program of ACS will be featured July 14 and 15 at the 2007 Santa Fe International Folk Art Market---the largest international folk art market in the United States. ACS is one of over a hundred exhibitors this year, all selected by a panel of folk art experts based on the quality and authenticity of their work.
The Women’s Income Generation Program now provides employment for over 500 Kandahar women--many of them widows--and their families. They produce garments and other handicrafts for sale in-country and abroad. Using traditional bead work and the famed Kandahari embroidery work known as kamuk, the women work in their homes, as ACS provides the materials and the network for picking up and marketing the completed product.
The network created by the Women’s Income Generation Program is also core for ACS programs providing funds for “in home schooling” for girls who are not able or not allowed to attend schools; and Vitamin disbursement, nutrition counseling and hygienic training.
Representing ACS in Santa Fe will be Rangina Hamidi, Field Director in Kandahar, and Engineer Abdullah, Program Coordinator. Also in attendance will be Patricia Karzai, U.S. Coordinator and wife of ACS founder Abdul Qayum Karzai; E.J. Boatwright, ACS Board Member and US coordinator for handicrafts sales; and volunteer Cathy Damberg.
The Santa Fe International Folk Art Market was begun in 2004 by a group of volunteers whose vision was to bring a handful of living masters of folk art to Santa Fe to share with a small audience of collectors and community members. By 2006, there were 100 folk artists and the Market drew close to 15,000. Over two days, artists' revenues totaled over $1.3 million.
