The most surprising compliment I have ever gotten.  

Let me back it up a minute.  Last April I received a message from young shoe designer Shaherazad Umbreen, telling me that the characters of The Little Coffee Shop of Kabul played a big part in inspiring her to design a shoe business focusing on the empowerment of women. Needless to say, this stopped me in my tracks. I looked at photos of the stunning shoes on her website. They went from daytime to evening wear, and they were comfortable.  But the real catch to all of this was that “Shoes by Shaherazad” were created to support women and girls living in poverty. Seriously…. how cool is that.? This philanthropic effort is for women across all continents, all faiths and all races. These shoes enable women to empower more women. 

As I write this in the fall of 2007, the head- lines coming out of Afghanistan are grim. The Taliban just released the last of twenty- three kidnapped Koreans, but promises to abduct more foreigners. A German aid worker was kidnapped from a Kabul restaurant, although thankfully Afghan police and intelligence services quickly rescued her. Several months ago, a suicide bomber hit a bus full of Afghan police recruits on one of Kabul’s busy streets, killing dozens of young men. I feel terribly sad about this. I also feel guilty, be- cause I’m no longer in Afghanistan. Because I am safe.