Our Work

The mission of the Kabul Beauty School is to provide women in Afghanistan with access to a comprehensive vocational training program. The program teaches women the skills needed to work in an array of beauty-related businesses: salons, distributorships, bookkeeping, beauty education, wellness program, birth spacing, basic nutrition, literacy program including reading and writing in both English and Dari. Graduates of the program will have learned the skills needed to create a substantial, self-sustainable future for themselves and their families.

We believe in helping Afghan women build a bridge from where they are now to where they want to go. The beauty industry provides an income for millions of people throughout the world and Afghanistan should be no exception.

The Beauty School project objectives are to:

Maintain a beauty school in Afghanistan with a culturally appropriate, hands-on training curriculum that provides beauty and business training for Afghan women.

Provide post-graduate support to graduates to operate their own businesses.

Develop a cadre of trained Afghan beauticians who can replicate the training program around the country.

Kabul Beauty School Training Program

The first class began August of 2003. The program initially operated out of the Ministry of Women's Affairs. Through the first several classes, the curriculum was re-evaluated and implementation methodologies were revised in line with the findings.

In 2004, the program moved to a private location in the hope to enable it to eventually become a self-sustaining school/salon.
To date, 182 Afghan women have graduated from the Kabul Beauty School program.

Kabul Beauty School Teaching Philosophy

The teaching philosophy is based on a combination of advanced beauty techniques, sanitation, and utilization of modern products that honor and respect traditional cultural beauty approaches. The curriculum is hands-on to assure that the students learn in a relatively short period of time and enable students to progress from training to practice- from learning to doing. The school environment is as much like a modern beauty salon as one would see in UAE, Europe and the United States. The learning process is designed to be a positive and enriching experience for all students.

Current Status

The Kabul Beauty School was temporarily closed in June 2007 due to safety concerns for the instructors and students. At this time, it is necessary to re-establish the Kabul Beauty School in a new location in cooperation with other 501©3 organizations operating in Kabul.

Other Countries

Upon successful re-establishment of the Kabul Beauty School, Oasis Rescue intends to expand its role into other countries. With the Beauty School program and curriculum developed in its culturally- sensitive manner, it is suitable for implementation in other countries whose women can likewise benefit from the education and empowerment of a resident Beauty School.

Other Work

Oasis Rescue is occasionally called upon to assist specific individual Afghan women with educational needs. When women have been abandoned, neglected and/or abused, very small amounts of money can help them realize their dreams.

Current Projects:

Displaced Iraqi families in Jordan are living in silent desperation and many are contemplating returning to Iraq where they face a high risk of death, as many left because of direct threats against themselves and their families.

Oasis Rescue is working with International Humanities Center, an independent non-profit, to provide scissors to Iraqi refugee women in Jordan. The Collateral Repair Project will be assisting with the shipping and distribution of the scissors supplied by Oasis Rescue.
Your donations fund the purchase of scissors to help Iraqi women begin a small home business to increase their stability. I am sure you can understand how a home salon can be a socially appropriate means for a woman to bring income to her family. Iraqis in Jordan do not live in "camps" of tents but are instead spread throughout Amman, living in apartments. The rich community life they enjoyed in Iraq that was the fabric of their lives has been irrevocably altered. One of the numerous unrecognized losses of Iraqis has been that of community; home salons offer women the opportunity to build community with other women. As we all well know, a salon is where women open their hearts to one another. This can be a source of healing and solidarity in the free-fall of their lives.