You can grace your home with a beautiful, handmade Afghan rug, and help a destitute widow in Kabul to start a new life!

The beautiful rugs, pillows, jewelry and other handicrafts which you see on this website were made by Afghan families in refugee camps in Pakistan and Afghanistan. The sale of these items is their sole means of survival.

Fahima Vorgetts is an Afghani-American woman who has a rug store, Aaryana Imports, in Annapolis, Maryland. She purchases her rugs and handicrafts in Pakistan and Afghanistan and sells them here. She does not buy from dealers, who pay the artisans very little. Instead she buys from the families themselves, and sometimes from small shops. This way the families receive a fair price. All of the profits go to humanitarian projects in Afghanistan. Fahima was recently awarded the Peace Action Lifetime Acheivement Award in Anne Arundel County for her dedication to peace and justice.

The project which DOERS has chosen to fund is run by HOOWA, the Humanitarian Organization for Orphans and Widows of Afghanistan.

There are presently over 1 million widows in Afghanistan! Desperate to feed their children, many are turning to begging and prostitution. HOOWA proposes to offer them free, 3 month courses in traditional handicrafts and literacy. Upon completion, each graduate will receive a sewing machine and a work table, enabling her to work with dignity to feed herself and her children. Click here to see HOOWA's detailed proposal.

So your purchase helps desperate Afghans twice: once when the refugee families sell their rugs, and once when HOOWA offers classes in literacy and sewing to widows in Kabul.

How to buy a rug or other item from this website.

1. Look over the pictures. (Click on a small picture on the price list to see a large picture.)
Decide on something that you want.
2. Look at the price list and note the price(s).
3. Download the order form and fill it out.
4a. The best way to pay is to use the telephone and a credit card. The number for Fahima Vorgett's store in Annapolis, MD is 410-990-1160. Call her with your completed form and your credit card in hand, and order and pay for the item(s).

If someone else very recently bought the rug you wanted, it will not yet have been marked sold on the website. But she will tell you that it is sold, and then you can pick another, if you wish. Sometimes, (especially with the larger rugs), it is possible to get another, very similar rug.

4b. If you do not want to use a credit card, you can send a check or money order, but you must still call 410-990-1160 to reserve your rug or other item. Fahima will have to call you back to tell you the shipping charges, after she weighs and packages the item[s]. Then you will know how much to make the check or money order out for.

Make the check out to Fahima Vorgetts, and send it to her at: 55 Maryland Ave, Annapolis, MD, 21407.

5. Shipping costs are based on weight. As an example, Fahima recently shipped a 5x7 rug to Missouri for about $25, so that should give you some idea.
6. You can expect to receive your rug within 7 business days after she receives payment.
7. Fahima will send all of the profits from the sale to Women for Afghan Women, which will send it to HOOWA, the Humanitarian Organization for Orphans and Widows of Afghanistan. HOOWA will use the money to run the literacy and sewing classes for widows in Kabul.

Color accuracy disclaimer
Customers who make purchase decisions based on an item's appearance on a computer monitor should bear in mind that color appearance is affected by the particular monitor being used and its color settings. In addition, color rendition in digital photographs can vary from one photo to the next. In many of the photos displayed on this Web site increased brightness and contrast have been used (in equal amounts) to improve consistency of appearance among photos, but hue and saturation are unchanged from the original digital photographs.

Order Form for Afghan rugs and handicrafts   Print form from PDF or HTML

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Ordered through DOERS, to benefit the HOOWA sewing and literacy classes.