Mahboba's promise

Mahboba's Promise is an Australian non-profit organisation dedicated to helping the women and the large number of orphaned children of Afghanistan. It is one of the few non-governmental organisations operational in that war-torn nation entirely funded by private donations and currently looks after over 4,000 women and orphans through 90 projects. The organisation with its close knowledge of local conditions valuably supplements the work of UNICEF in the region.

At the age of 14, hunted down for being a student activist Mahboba Rawi hid from the occupying Soviet soldiers in an underground Kabul basement for 20 days. She then fled Afghanistan, crossing the Khyber Pass on foot, arriving at a Pakistan refugee camp hungry and frightened.

Mahboba began the project to help Afghan orphans in 1998 with a small donation in the lounge room of her rented home in Sydney's North Ryde.After the tragic death of her own son, Mahboba slowly pieced her life together by helping other Afghan women, pioneering English classes and even a learn to swim program. A letter from a young Afghan doctor begging for help to save refugee orphans dying on the streets of Kabul encouraged Mahboba and her friends to raise $120.00 that day. To prove the orphans had received the money, the young doctor sent back the children's fingerprints.

The organisation Mahboba's Promise was established as the result of a promise Mahboba made that she would continue to help the orphans of Afghanistan for the rest of her life and she would make people in Australia and the world aware of their suffering and what could be done for them. Since 2001 she has been an active member of Sydney's Afghan community, running English classes for immigrants. Once a refugee herself, Mahboba is still in contact with relatives who've fled to the camps of Pakistan.

The organisation became well known in Australia as the result of a visit to Kabul by Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) journalist Virginia Haussegger. It is also the subject of a film.

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