CAUSE

Not On Her Watch

Being Neighbourly x Shikha Lamba, Community fundraiser for Afghan women and children

Author/ Being Neighbourly
20 December 2024

If ever there was a person you’d want on your team, it would be Shikha S. Lamba. Jeweller by trade and published poet, she’s also a passionate advocate and fundraiser for women and children in Afghanistan.

“I have advocated for women’s rights since school and college,” she says. In 2019, I read two books by Afghan American author Nadia Hashimi that had a profound impact on me. Her compelling stories centre around women’s lives in Afghanistan, and provide a disturbing but factual cultural landscape”, adds Lamba.

When the Taliban took over Afghanistan in 2021, Lamba confides she knew she had to do something and several years on, Lamba is still fundraising, having achieved notable success that spurs her on.

“In 2021, for my first fundraiser, much to my surprise, over 50 women-run businesses joined me in raising funds for women in Afghanistan. While I was hoping to succeed, I didn’t know if my efforts would have any significant results. But they did, and I have found myself in a community of like-minded women who believe in a better and safer world for people everywhere,” she says.

The first fundraiser raised over $9000 USD (69,938HKD) for the Women’s Regional Network, an organisation that helped secure Afghan women human rights defenders at risk from the Taliban. In 2022, Lamba’s global online fundraiser with Nadia Hashimi as a guest speaker raised over $5000 USD (38,854HKD) for food aid for 70 Afghan children

Just last year, Lamba held a second global online event, again with Nadia as a guest speaker, which raised over $4500 USD (34,969HKD) to provide food aid for 46 Afghan widows.

“In the past year and a half, we have provided 35 widows with food aid and sewing machines to support their livelihood. We’ve also renovated the one-room homes of eight Afghan widows. In the past two years, we have raised funds for food aid for multiple needy Afghan families and provided aid to two orphanages in Kabul.”

Lamba says that the dystopian world the Taliban has plunged the country into cannot be ignored. According to her, food and other necessary aid are greatly needed, with over 80% of the country living in poverty.

“While I understand that much in this world requires our attention and energies, the world watched a country being handed to a terrorist organisation on a silver platter, an organisation that is well-known for its barbaric and inhumane ways. When bad news carries on for a long time, people get numb to it and carry on with their lives, especially when there is very little coverage in mainstream media,” she explains.

From her experience, she adds, in talking to many people these last three years, many have become desensitised; some are overwhelmed with the way the world is; many don’t feel any responsibility towards a country they have no connection to, and most have no knowledge about Afghanistan except for outdated, preconceived ideas.

However, she explains, she doesn’t expect every feminist to fight for women everywhere.

“Patriarchy is a toxic thread that runs through most societies in most countries. Women in many parts of the world are mentally and physically exhausted navigating their daily lives within highly patriarchal, misogynistic and sexist societies. To ask those fighting their own wars to fight battles for women elsewhere could be asking for too much, especially if they don’t have an emotional connection to the place.”

“What we need is for as many privileged people, feminists or not, women and men, to support those who need help through advocacy and fundraising,” she opines.

Advocacy

1. People with social media and other platforms can amplify the work and voices of Afghan activists, charity organisations and creatives.
2. Introduce conversations about what’s happening with Afghan women in your community and groups you are a part of. If you are a part of a book club, read books written by Afghan women.
3. Do you have specific skills that might be useful towards your advocacy?

Fundraising

1. Those who can donate can do so through trusted grassroots organisations.
2. A group of 10 friends can donate the cost of one coffee a week or monthly, which can feed multiple Afghan families.
3. Birthdays and festivals are perfect occasions to request a donation instead of a gift.
4. In September 2021, over 50 women-run businesses in Hong Kong participated in fundraising by donating a product or a service. Last month, an artist donated proceeds from the sale of one of her art pieces.
5. Another way Lamba has raised funds is by making and selling candles, where 100% of the profits are donated. Recently, a school club her daughter is a part of raised over $1,000 USD (7,769 HKD) selling crochet items they had made towards girl’s education in Afghanistan. If you have a hobby or a creative skill and some free time, you can also use that to raise funds.

What is the best part of what you do?

“The biggest reward for me has been getting to know some amazing people.

Writer Nadia Hashimi continues to be a source of inspiration. Khalyla Harito, the patron of the orphanages and founder of one of the grassroots organisations we’ve donated to, does incredible work for underprivileged families and orphans.

I am incredibly grateful to the compassionate and generous donors, some friends, and many strangers who have now become friends. It’s a privilege to know them.”