Afghanistan: Beyond the 11th

Peter Orne reports: All eyes are on a new organization in Wellesley, Mass., supporting Afghan women widowed because of war and terrorism. "Beyond the 11th" exists because of the resilient spirit of Patricia Quigley and Susan Retik, two mothers who were widowed on 9/11. Patti was eight months pregnant with her second child when her husband Patrick was killed while traveling on United Flight 175.  Susan was seven months pregnant with her third child when her husband David was killed on American Flight 11.  Unfortunately, the Boston Globe reports that they have got angry e-mails from people who question why they don't raise money for US enlisted men and women and their families, or for other 9/11 families.

From their Web site (http://www.beyondthe11th.org/organization.html):

When the story of the 9/11 plot emerged, Patti and Susan, along with the rest of the world, learned that those responsible were trained in terrorist camps in Afghanistan. The military campaign to remove the Taliban and
terrorist groups from the country drew attention to the plight of the Afghan people. Decades of conflict and strife ravaged the country, leaving tens of thousands of women without husbands to provide for them. As Patti and Susan struggled to recover from their loss, they felt a growing kinship with the overwhelming number of widows in Afghanistan. They recognized the incredible generosity they received and the absolute scarcity of help for their counterparts in Afghanistan. In 2003, Patti and Susan founded Beyond the 11th to help provide financial and emotional support to these widows and their children and to give them hope for a better future.

The situation for widows in Afghanistan is desperate. While the collapse of the Taliban has resulted in general improvement in the lives of women and girls, these new opportunities are still out of reach to the Afghan widows
who lost their only means of support. Illiterate and unskilled, they struggle to provide the most basic of needs - shelter, food, and clothing -for their families. International relief organizations estimate that in Kabul alone, there are 30,000 - 50,000 widows, struggling to support an average of five children on less than $16 per month. In other parts of the country, the situation is even worse.

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