VOICE ONE:

Life is also not easy for the nomadic shepherds. One woman told him about the danger and high costs of caring for sheep. The woman makes traditional cheese from sheep's milk. But she earns little money from selling the cheese.

Mister Sipan has asked United Nations agencies and government officials to help the nomads in Kurdistan. He says their culture would disappear within years if nothing is done soon. He says fifty percent of Kurdistan's nomads have permanently settled in villages in the past ten years.

VOICE TWO:

Lolan Sipan is showing a traditional nomadic home, a black tent made of goats' hair. The tent is in the Iraqi city of Irbil, on the top of a museum.

Mister Sipan started the museum four years ago to show the nomads' traditional arts and crafts, including weaving with cloth. He says more people come to the museum each year. There were almost fifty thousand visitors in two thousand seven.

Earlier this year, Mister Sipan received money from the United States to help support traditional arts. Older nomadic tribeswomen are now passing their sewing and weaving skills to a new generation of women.

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VOICE ONE:

Our next individual, Rangina Hamidi, was born in Afghanistan. Her family left Kandahar when she was a young child and later settled in the United States. This was after the Soviet Union invaded her country. The Taliban rule that followed the Soviet occupation made life terrible for women in Afghanistan. Women still face difficult problems even after the ouster of the Taliban government.

VOICE TWO:

Rangina Hamidi

Miz Hamidi returned to Afghanistan seven years ago to help improve the lives of women in Kandahar. She is working with a non-profit organization, Afghans for Civil Society. The goal is to help Afghan women learn skills that will give them economic independence. The first goal was starting an independent radio station in Kandahar. The next was an economic project.

Women in the project make hand-sewn embroidery products. The project started with only twenty women and grew to four hundred fifty women in five years. Local activists also established a Women's Council in Kandahar. Many activists say they are working to increase women's rights and chances for success.

VOICE ONE:

Rangina Hamidi started a company that sells the women's embroidery pieces in the international market. The company is called Kanadahar Treasures. She says she will give it to the Afghan women when the company becomes successful. Miz Hamidi says she still worries about the future of Afghanistan. She says Afghans must take their own share of responsibility in their country.

Rangina Hamidi and the Afghan women she works with face problems every day. These include power shortages, lack of clean water, rising corruption and danger from resistance fighters. But she looks forward to increasing her involvement in the rebuilding of her homeland in the future.

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VOICE TWO:

This program was written by VOA correspondents and adapted by Shelley Gollust. Our producer was Mario Ritter. I'm Barbara Klein.

VOICE ONE:

And I'm Steve Ember. You can find stories about other people who are making a difference on our Web site, ChinaVOA.com. Join us again next week for EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English.

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