I would like to take this opportunity to extend a heartfelt thank you to everyone involved in making our ‘Celebrating Freedom & Working for Peace’ fundraising night at the Armidale Club such a wonderful success on Saturday, September 3 followed by Malalai Joya’s public talk at the Town Hall on Monday, September 5.
Thanks first of all to the many people who attended this fundraiser. The atmosphere was truly wonderful – a warm and uplifting celebration of life. You all help make up that which is so special about this community and make it one to be rightly proud of! We are especially grateful to the fantastic Middle Eastern band ‘Bez Imena’ and in particular Steve Tafra, Dave Carr, Sarah Thorneycroft and Jess Stocker who so generously donated their time to support this event. We also thank the many people who packed the Town Hall to hear Ms Joya talk on Monday night. As many people said: ‘What a privilege to have Malalai here and to hear her speak. What a night!’
A big thank you also to the Armidale Intune, The Armidale Express and the Armidale Independent for promoting this event for us. We greatly appreciated this goodwill. We thank our beautiful local Armidale Club for hosting the fundraiser and always making everyone so welcome and we also thank council for their generosity with the Town Hall and Yvonne and Bill at Readers Companion for ordering Ms Joya’s book ‘A Woman Among Warlords’ and having a table with copies for sale. Thanks to local potter Andrew Parker for donating one of his gorgeous pots to raffle. Thanks to Laszlo Szabo and Little Owl Productions for recording the event and Wikileaks Central for promoting it! Thanks to the many local shops who displayed our posters and to the people who spread the word. We thank you all.
Our biggest thank you however goes to Malalai Joya herself. She is an inspiration to us all with her bravery, her strength and her unending commitment to her people. She helps shed light in this crazy world. In an interview with Kerry O’Brien, Ms Joya quoted Brecht saying that ‘Those who do struggle may fail but those who do not have already failed.’ Over $3000 was raised at the fundraiser to assist her with carrying on her humanitarian projects for Afghan women. We truly can make a difference. Thanks so much!
Francesca Stahlut
(On behalf of the many people working to make this visit and the fundraising such a success)
