The plight of Afghan women

Afghan President Hamid Karzai's recent visit to the United States was in the news, but stories about the reality of life for Afghan women have been missing. Through my support of MADRE (www.madre.org), I recently heard the story of Wahida, an Afghan woman who was only 13 when her family sold her into marriage to a man more than three times her age.

For nearly 20 years, she suffered terrible physical abuse. Then, when her husband accused her of infidelity, she was thrown in prison by a court system that sees women as less than full human beings.

She was granted a pardon only after four years. After her release from prison, she found relief in a women's shelter supported in part by MADRE's Afghan Women's Survival Fund.

This is the type of story we must remember - of courageous Afghan women demanding their rights. As Afghan people work to build their future, it will depend on the bravery of women like Wahida and the support we in the United States can extend to them.

Source: The Press of Atlantic City, July 18, 2010

BEHAVIOR: Creating Productive Summer Experiences For An ADHD Child

BEHAVIOR: Creating Productive Summer Experiences For An ADHD Child

Karen K. Lowry,RN and author of The Seventh Inning Sit: A Journey of ADHD, based in Medford, NJ can discuss ways parents can ensure a productive summer for children with ADHD, in light of the end of the academic year. “First, it’s important to incorporate consistent bed times into the structure of the day. Some children have co-existing disorders of anxiety which does impact going to sleep and staying asleep. The cycle of not enough sleep, and oppositional behavior appear to correlate. The academic component must be reinforced for every child in the summer ,due to the potential for regression. Only 30% of children with ADHD have no co-existing disorders. So in order to encourage the reading and math that is assigned by many schools to do over the summer, again structure comes into play. Choices are important for children when you are reinforcing academic activities that they would rather ignore.” News Contact: Jackie O’Neal ,onealmedia@live.com , +609 334 8621