Widowhood in Afghanistan is fraught. Afghan widows dwell at the lowest echelons of Afghan society. When an Afghan woman's husband dies, she loses all her rights. She can be evicted from her home, have her children taken away by her in-laws, and be forced to live on the streets, where she is easy prey to perpetrators of physical and sexual violence.
There is no social safety net to catch her.
To ease the suffering of Afghan women who have lost their husbands, in 2021 Razia's Ray of Hope began collaborating with Beyond the 11th, a humanitarian organization that partners with international aid groups to provide job training, economic opportunity and support to Afghan widows.