Fundraiser For Education Initiative Raises $5000

An autographed copy of Qais Akbar Omar’s critically-acclaimed memoir, A Fort of Nine Towers, brought a $5,000 donation Tuesday night at a fund-raiser for the Initiative to Educate Afghan Women. Within minutes, five more copies of the book generated $1,000 each, with all the proceeds supporting the Initiative which has brought 85 Afghan women to American universities since 2002.
Omar who studies at Boston University and was present at the Barrington, Rhode Island, event was “stunned and delighted,” commenting “There is no better investment in the future of Afghanistan than to help Afghan women get an education.”
Roz Rustigian the Initiative’s co-chair agreed wholeheartedly noting that “our graduates are already making significant inroads by assuming positions of responsibility in government and private industry.
A Fort of Nine Towers, described by The New York Times as “a riveting story of war as seen through a child’s eyes,” chronicles Omar’s early years as he and his family survived the brutal Afghan civil war and the Taliban era that followed without ever losing hope in the future.