Rangina and Stoorai with their father, Ghulam Haider Hamidi.

When Rangina Hamidi launched Kandahar Treasure, an Afghan women’s artists’ collective in 2003, now in its sixth season at the International Folk Art Market, she had no idea just how far-reaching its benefits would be. “The women inspired me. In the midst of three decades of violence, they were silently continuing their tradition of creating beautiful embroidery while never expecting anything to come of it,” says Rangina, of the intricate textiles, called Khamak, which have been used for centuries in bridal trousseaus and as decoration for men’s tunics.

What has come of it, however, are dramatic social, cultural and financial changes in the everyday lives of the nearly 400 artists and their families. One embroiderer used to be homeless, squatting in a roofless room with her six daughters, can now afford to rent a three-bedroom apartment with a small courtyard. More remarkable still, she was able to delay marriage for her eldest daughter, also a skilled embroiderer and a competent wage earner, until her early 20s, instead of her early teens, the typical age when Afghan girls are married. Another, who was shy and timid and would always cover her face, is now a supervisor at the for-profit organization and has gained the trust and respect of her brothers—a major break from tradition in this conservative, male-dominated culture. Says Rangina, “Women in Kandahar don’t see much of the outside world, which is so full of violence, as we speak.”

In July 2011, the violence hit home, when Rangina’s father, Ghulam Haidar Hamidi, the mayor of Kandahar and a close ally President Hamid Karzai, was killed in a suicide attack. Her family and friends begged her to move to the United States, where she’d been raised since age 11. “I was ready to give up,” Rangina says, choking up at the memory, “but I realized that quitting would be selfish. My father sacrificed himself for his country. I decided I couldn’t leave people behind.” Instead, she spent five months restructuring Kandahar Treasure so that the artists now manage their own work with very little supervision from her. She travels to Afghanistan several times a year and fields phone calls from her home in Virginia. Says Rangina, who hopes one day to be able to bring some of the Khamak artists to Market with her, “I want the women to know that I haven’t given up on them.”

—Katie Arnold

Award-winning travel writer, Arnold’s stories have appeared in Travel & Leisure, The New York Times and Sunset among other publications. She also writes a Raising Rippers column for OutsideOnline.com.

Beth Charlesworth produced this short video featuring Kandahar Treasure and Rangina’s sister story.

If you didn’t see Anne Constable’s excellent story on Kandahar Treasure, click here.