Afghan Police Women's project
Posted by Rob Goodell
on Jul 25, 2012
Alison MacLean is a Vancouver-based video-journalist who spoke to The Rotary Club of Vancouver Sunrise in 2010 about her assignment to film Canadian and US military personnel during their tour of duty in Afghanistan. The film she produced and showed to us, called "Outside the Wire," moved us all, as much of it was focused on women in uniform, many in combat roles, and how they felt about what they were doing.
As part of her presentation, Alison talked about the Afghan women who have volunteered to be trained as police officers, in spite of the personal danger they will face by assuming roles traditionally reserved for Afghan men. These brave women police cadets weren't even provided the protective clothing and equipment they would need to enjoy a reasonable level of personal safety in their work. Alison began a campaign to help provide the items these women would need.
Sunrise Rotary took up the challenge of helping these brave women and raised about $8,000 -- from local Rotarians, San Diego friends...
...in The Rotary Club of Torrey Pines, other friends and a matching grant from Rotary District 5040. With these funds in hand, Alison MacLean will be returning to Afghanistan in early September, 2012. She says the $8,000 raised by Sunrise Rotary and friends will go a long way toward protecting two divisions of new policewomen when they graduate from their training. Alison will create a video about these brave women, to be shown on TV in Canada, the US and Britain during International Women's Week next March.