Hayward-Ghazni Sister City Formation Committee
cocktail fundraising party for
AFGHANISTAN:
THE WIDOWS LITERACY PROJECT

Imagine, just imagine – that you are a mother of four young kids – your husband was killed in front of you as he tried to bring food for the household – you have no other living family –

AND YOU CANNOT HOPE TO GET A JOB BECAUSE
YOU CANNOT READ OR WRITE.

Charity handouts and begging on the streets sustain you and your family, barely.

But from Hayward, California, half a world away, good and thoughtful people are trying to help. Hayward-Ghazni Sister City Formation Committee held a cocktail fundraising party for Afghanistan on September 28, 2005 in Kabul Restaurant i Hayward to teach literacy and job skills to women (and girls who were denied schooling during the Taliban era) in the City of Ghazni. The program is successfully running now in Kabul, and this expansion to Ghazni will start soon as a result of this event.

To support this program, you can send your donations to Rahima Haya, Post Office Box 4811, Hayward, CA 94540-4811.

---

Hayward to Ghazni, Afghanistan - Sister Cities Project

Do you live in Hayward? Would you be willing to have Hayward extend a hand of friendship to Ghazni, Afghanistan, an ancient city in a developing country which greatly needs help?

You can help greatly by simply signing a letter or the Petition below to the Governor of Hayward to encourage her to sign a Sister City resolution (there is no cost to the City of Hayward) to make Ghazni another Sister City of the City of Hayward.

The City of Ghazni is about 50 miles south of Kabul, Afghanistan, along the old Silk Road. This posting is by Afghan Friends Network (formerly SF Bay Area Friends of Afghanistan). See our web site at www. afghanfriends.net.

We are a group of both Afghan and non-Afghan Americans, resident all over the Bay Area. The Governor of Ghazni, Afghanistan has asked us to help him establish a Sister City here, and we are organizing particularly to pair Ghazni with Hayward. There are many Afghan immigrants from Ghazni in the Bay Area, but we need more Hayward residents of any ethnicity to help make this a reality. To view the Governor of Ghazni letter, click here.

What is Sister Cities International and how will the Sister Cities program
between Hayward and Ghazni work? Please visit http://www.sister-cities.org to
learn more about Sister Cities programs.

For more information, please call
Carol Ruth Silver at 415-861-5802 or myersflat@aol.com
Or Humaira Ghilzai at 415-269-5252 or hghilzai@afghanfriends.net

---

 Why Ghazni and Hayward?

In the spirit that Sister Cities International was created by President Eisenhower in 1956, we want to extend a hand of friendship to the people of Ghazni, Afghanistan. Hayward and the Bay Area have the largest Afghan community in the United States. Many Afghans & non-Afghans who are US residents are making every effort to help their families and friends in Afghanistan. The Afghan people are currently focused on the re-construction of Afghanistan and maintaining peace. We feel that the sister cities program is a great tool to bring more awareness, understanding and support from the US communities. This is also an opportunity to share the unique Afghan culture with the people of the US on a local level.

Ghazni is a province of Afghanistan which in on the Kabul, Kandahar route. It has a rich culture and history. The people of Ghazni are very hard working, educated and good business people. However, most help going to Afghanistan is focused on Kabul. In order to bring peace to Afghanistan and curtail repressive regimes we have to reach to cities beyond Kabul. It’s our opportunity to make a contribution of international magnitude.

This as an opportunity to let the people of the Hayward learn about Afghan people and channel their energies to help people that they read about and see on television.

Ghazni has a progressive Governor who is very supportive of peace, women’s rights and education. The Health Director of Ghazni is a woman. She is also the head of the Ghazni/Montpellier, France Sister City committee. This is a great opportunity to extend a hand of friendship to the women and children of Ghazni.

Ghazni is rich with cultural and ethnic diversity. It’s ethnic break down is 25% Tajik, 25% Hazara & 50% Pushtun.

Hayward is a city similar to Ghazni situated around 25 miles from a major city in the Bay Area. It has it’s own identity and unique mix of citizens.

Hayward has a strong background in supporting education with the California State University campus (Cal State Hayward), Chabot Community College, the Hayward Unified School District.

Hayward citizens and community have shown great support to the Afghan community. Afghans have one of Bay Area’s largest Mosques, The Mission Mosque (AKA Abu Bakr Siddiq) in Hayward. Also, an Afghan woman, Gulalai Bakhtiari from Ghazni, owns Mission Paradise a prominent Hayward restaurant and hall where 80% of Afghan events are held.

---

 

PETITION TO THE MAYOR AND OFFICIALS
OF HAYWARD, CALIFORNIA,
TO ESTABLISH A SISTER CITY RELATIONSHIP
WITH THE CITY OF GHAZNI IN AFGHANISTAN.

We, the undersigned, do hereby petition you to consider reaching out, across cultures, across the planet, to establish a Sister City relationship with the City of Ghazni, Afghanistan.
Some of us are Afghan immigrants to the United States, some originally from Ghazni, and the rest of us are Americans of various ethnic backgrounds.
We come together in this effort because we believe that extending the hand of friendship from America to people in the developing world, one city at a time, one person at a time, leads to friendly and meaningful cultural, educational, social and service exchanges.

Name	Mail address	ZIP	Phone(s)	e-mail

Please return this Petition by 12/30/03 to
Afghan Friends Network, 68 Ramona Ave., San Francisco, CA 94103
Telephone: 1- 800-831-2339
www.afghanfriends.net.

The undersigned does hereby state: I circulated this Petition and personally witnessed the signatures above, between the following dates: ______________, 2003 to _________, 2003.

Signature of circulator: ____________________

Please print name: _____________________

If not above, please give circulator's address, ZIP, phone & e-mail: ____________________________________________________________________

Download this Petition in MS Word or Adobe Acrobat format

---