Charity in memory of tragic aid worker sets its sights high
Fund helps Afghan women climb mountains and change their lives
A CHARITY set up in memory of an aid worker who was kidnapped by the Taliban and killed in a failed rescue attempt is trying to help young Afghan women climb their country’s mountains.
The Linda Norgrove Foundation has launched a new project called Ascend, which is teaching mountaineering skills to young women.
It hopes to provide inspiration for others and offer an example of women’s empowerment in Afghanistan. Once they have scaled peaks three miles high, it is thought likely the women will want more from their own lives.
Climbers in the UK are being urged to help fund a project
Linda Norgrove, from Uig on the west of Lewis, died in a failed attempt by US Navy Seals in October 2010 to rescue her and other captives from the Taliban.
Her parents John and Lorna established a foundation in her name as a way of creating something positive so their 36-year-old daughter would be remembered for her contribution to life, rather than her tragic death.
The charity’s focus from the start has been to help women and children affected by the war in Afghanistan, a country Ms Norgrove loved. It has so far distributed £1 million to help women and children affected by the war in Afghanistan.
To qualify for inclusion the young women must undertake volunteering projects within their community and commit to a full year’s rigorous training.
Last year a team of 13 young women climbed three peaks over 16,000 feet, including one previously unclimbed mountain which they subsequently named.
For many this was the first night they had ever spent outside of the family home. As they did not have enough boots for everyone, they climbed in two teams, one getting the use of the boots then swapping over so the others could go up.
Lorna Norgrove said: “We were hugely impressed by what this project is doing for women’s empowerment in Afghanistan. News of their achievements has already reached more than four million Afghan women and the project is changing the lives of these young women for ever.
“I think the project particularly resonated with us because as a family we are all keen hillwalkers and climbers. We know Linda would have loved this project and we’re sure that it will appeal to the many people in the UK who enjoy climbing the hills and mountains.
“We take for granted the freedom to climb the hills, but this is something which can change lives for these young women in Afghanistan.”
Marina LeGree, the founder of Ascend, explained: “Each of these girls becomes an agent of change. You simply cannot tell a woman who has climbed these mountains to take off her pack, put on a burqa and spend the rest of her life indoors, hidden from the world.”
The foundation has funded almost 80 grassroots projects including providing scholarships enabling poor girls to attend university, some training to be doctors. There has also been support for Healthprom, which involves digging underground tanks from solid rock to provide safe drinking water to isolated villages.