BAF bazaar offers Afghan women merchants

PARWAN PROVINCE, Afghanistan – At Bagram Air Field, you will find something you won’t find anywhere else in Afghanistan – the first two Afghan women merchants contracted by the Army Air Force Exchange Service.

“You’re number one!” said U.S. Army Maj. Bobbie Mayes, woman’s empowerment coordinator with the Kentucky Agribusiness Development Team, from Lawrenceburg, Ky., as she put her arms around her friends, Sulhaila Kohistani and Saleha Zareen Dec. 12.

The AAFES and the 334th Brigade Support Battalion, 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 34th Infantry Division, run the bazaar on BAF. The bazaar is comprised largely of local vendors selling locally-made products. Servicemembers, as well as civilians, frequent the bazaar, which provides a boost to the local economy and is particularly busy this holiday season.

Since August, as a result of Mayes’ relationships with Kohistani and Zareen, the bazaar also features five women vendors.

The five women’s shops feature handmade clothes for men, women and children, blankets, rugs, shoes, jewellery, leather items and a slew of other products.

Mayes said she became involved with the bazaar after she was contacted by the 86th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, the previous unit in charge of the bazaar. They told her they had some open shops at the bazaar and would like to try to involve some female vendors.

“They couldn’t find any local women who would come to it, and I told them I had two very strong women who own their own shops, and so I asked Miss Kohistani and Miss Zareen, and even though Miss Zareen had received death threats before this, they said, ‘You know what, we’ll come on base,’” Mayes explained.

Mayes was able to convince Kohistani and Zareen to open shops at the bazaar, while the 86th also added three female vendors of their own.

“They (Kohistani and Zareen) are the two highest women in the provincial government,” Mayes said. “They came on base, and it’s been a struggle, but that’s how it came about. The threats they get are because they are so successful, and the men are not necessarily happy with that. But these women show women can make money and they can provide for their families. Eighty percent of the things these women sell go back to their families.”

Mayes said she met Kohistani and Zareen through her work with the ADT as women’s empowerment coordinator in the local area. Kohistani is the Parwan Deputy Director of Women’s Affairs.

“These are the women who all the others come to for help,” Mayes said.

One of the ways Zareen helps the other local Afghan women is through the Women’s Handcraft Association of Parwan Province. Zareen said 800 women in the local area work for her to make the clothes, jewelry and other handiwork she sells at her store at the bazaar.

“We are very happy because Major Mayes is a very kind woman and she is helping all the women,” Zareen said.

Even though there is risk involved, Mayes said the women are courageous pioneers, proving that everything can benefit from a woman’s touch.