Success Story of Afghan Widow Mehrugul

TAPS International has been working in Afghanistan for many years. TAPS International has provided employment and psychosocial support to military widows in Kabul. Our Afghan Hope project, producing lapis bracelets, provided an income for widows to be able to afford shelter and food for their families. With the Taliban takeover, TAPS International had to pause our bracelet program. However, TAPS International is still providing stipends and food to the widows who worked with us for so many years. And this life saving support has helped so many, and in particular, a widow named Mehugrul.

Mehrugul is a 35 years old widow who has worked for TAPS Afghanistan for four years. She has a seven years old daughter and a five years old son. Her late husband was serving in the National Army and was killed in an explosion in Paghman district of Kabul.

After Mehrugul lost her husband, her husband’s family wanted her to marry her brother-in-law.  But for Mehrugul, she could not marry her brother-in-law, she felt as if she would be betraying her late husband. Mehrugul’s in-laws threw her and her children out of their home where she’d been living with her husband. Her own parents were too poor to take them in. She did not know where to go.

That’s when TAPS International stepped in.  She started working at TAPS Afghanistan and became a skilled artisan, producing some of the best bracelets in the collection. From what she earned through TAPS, not only could she keep her children fed and warm, she was able to send her daughter to school

However, with the fall of Kabul, Mehrugul had to stop working.  She said, two months after the fall of the regime, she had used all of her options for survival. Her little savings were spent. Her only options seemed to be begging.

However, TAPS International was able to find a way to send 3  stipends to our widows, thanks to the generosity of Semper Fi & America’s Fund. In addition, the Lamia Afghan Foundation was able to provide a one time food basket to our widows.

TAPS International is continuing both the stipend program and the food basket distribution now on our own. With TAPS International volunteers on the ground, we’ve been able to buy food in bulk and distribute monthly food baskets that feed a family of 8 for one month.

We need your support to continue to provide aid to Mehrugul and other Afghan military widows and orphans. Please consider donating to our Afghan programs, a gift of $120 can support a family for one month.

The widows and children of our Afghan military partners need our continuing support and TAPS International will stay in Afghanistan providing critical support.