Good eats, good cause

Breaking Bread is a potluck fundraiser whichraises funds and awareness for women's rights issues inAfghanistan.

For the third time in three years, a group of Dalhousie studentshas raised enough money to fund the salaries of two teachers inAfghanistan for one year.

Organizer Kaleigh Kuchinski was still in high school when shefirst got involved with Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan.The then-tenth grader hosted her first potluck fundraiser insupport of the Calgary-based organization, which raises awarenessand funds for women’s rights issues in Afghanistan, and shehasn’t missed a year since.

And now she's just hosted her third Breaking Bread potluckfundraiser in Halifax. A third-year Social Anthropology and Spanishmajor, Ms. Kuckinski decided to initiate the community dinner backin her first year, with the idea that everyone would be welcome toattend for free, as long as they provided a dish of food to share.Guests are treated to speeches, food, and a silent auction, as wellas live musical entertainment by local youth.

“We wanted it to be a fundraising initiative as well as away to educate people about the issues that Afghans are facing.It’s equally an awareness thing as a fundraiser,” shesays.

The point of the Breaking Bread fundraiser is twofold: first, toeducate attendees about issues in Afghan women’s rights, andsecond, to raise enough money to finance the salary of a teacher inAfghanistan for one year, (which is about $750). To date, Ms.Kuchinski and her friends have raised over $5,000 for thiscause.

This year’s event, generously hosted by the First BaptistChurch on Oxford Street, raised approximately $1,800 and featuredspeeches by Susan Hartley, the chair of the newly-founded AtlanticChapter of the Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan, as well asAmal Ghazal, a professor in the History Department at Dalhousie.Both spoke about the current situation in Afghanistan, whileimpressing upon the audience the need for support of structuralprograms in Afghanistan, as opposed to purely military objectives.Programs supporting health and education, they believe, are thebest way to ensure stability and equality in the troubledregion.

Fourth-year Community Design major Mathieu Roy has also beeninvolved with planning the fundraiser each year. “I thinkit’s important because here in Canada, education is so easilyaccessible, and we don’t think about it not being accessibleto others. We need to raise awareness of what’s going on inother places, and show every generation what is actually happeningto other people. That they have to fight tooth and nail to be ableto learn how to read is ridiculous.”

The dinner was a big success again this year, with about 80students, faculty, and community members in attendance.

“Afghanistan has come a long way since the Talibanregime,” says Ms. Kuchinski, “but it’s importantthat structural programs are in place to help educate teachers whowill then educate other teachers, which will have a cyclicaleffect.”

To learn more about Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistanor get involved with the Halifax chapter being launched this fall,visit their website at www.cw4wafghan.ca, ore-mail kaleighkuchinski@dal.ca.