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My late husband Michael and I served with the Peace Corps in Afghanistan in 1968-1969 as a field team for the northern and eastern provinces. Despite the hardships of traveling and living in rugged conditions, we loved our time there and developed strong friendships with some Afghan families. In early 1999, we were on the verge of becoming empty-nesters and began to talk again about returning to Afghanistan as retirees to help that country recover from 30 years of war. However, Michael died suddenly that spring.

Less than two years later, the post-911 bombing raids on the terrorists’ hideouts in Afghanistan reminded me of our conversations about returning there. A three-month summer sabbatical in 2002 gave me the opportunity to go back to Afghanistan on behalf of both of us. I served as a volunteer Education Programs adviser for International Rescue Committee.
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On September 11, 2001, my wife, Joyce Manchester, and I lost good friends on the plane that terrorists crashed into the Pentagon. Leslie Whittington, husband Charlie Falkenberg, and their two daughters, Zoe (8) and Dana (3), were on their way to Australia where Leslie was to spend a semester on sabbatical.

A year later, we wanted to honor their memory in some way. At the same time, the war in Afghanistan was constantly in the news, yet most Americans, including us, had not been asked to contribute to the effort in any significant way. We believed it was in our country’s best interest to help the people of Afghanistan, and felt a moral obligation to do so.

Years ago, Leslie and I had conducted economic research on the important role that women play in economic development. A long line of research has now clearly established the importance of better education for women to the success of economic development. Recently, Nicholas Kristoff and Sheryl Wudunn have eloquently demonstrated why, via a series of powerful stories in their book, Half the Sky.
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