Post written by Laura Cococcia. You can follow Laura on Twitter.

In a previous post, I mentioned that novelist Masha Hamilton, founder and creator of the Afghan Women’s Writing Project (AWWW), is a person making the cultural conversation happen. As TJCC is a forum dedicated to discovering and sharing stories, I’m honored to include my interview with Masha and her thoughts about the project.

AWWW came from an idea based on Masha’s longtime interest in Afghanistan and the powerful women she regularly encountered during her trips there. The project strives to give women a voice without censorship – an almost non-existent privilege for most women in a country where male relatives and media largely control women’s freedom of expression. Volunteer teachers staff the project and instruct Afghan women via the internet.

While I find numerous aspects of Masha and her team’s work both fascinating and motivating, I am once again reminded of the many privileges we – and I personally – have in a country where freedom of expression {insert link to article] is comparatively unrestricted.

Many of these women – if not most – have to make significant efforts to get computer access to send their writings. They have to translate them into English. They are taking great risks to have a voice and share their story.

Masha and I originally connected on She Writes – and I’m excited to share our conversation.

Laura: Since launching AWWW less than a year ago, you and your team have achieved amazing progress – not only with the project itself, but also with getting the word out. What have you found most rewarding about the project so far? The most challenging?

Masha: The most rewarding aspects have certainly been reading the essays, watching the women writers delve deeper on a weekly basis, and the satisfaction of knowing we are creating an outlet for at least some voices.

It’s also been satisfying to work with an amazing volunteer team of authors, teachers, web designers, etc. I’m also very excited about our latest effort, to raise funds to establish Afghanistan’s first women’s only Internet cafe.

The challenges? Simply keeping it all organized, and getting readers to the blog to comment on the work these women are doing, so that they feel their voices are being heard, and so that we can engage in a creative and intellectual exchange.

Laura: Can you share any feedback you’ve received from the women in Afghanistan participating in the project?

Masha: The women involved in the project are grateful to be part of it, and excited about sharing their work. At the same time, they often work under enormous challenges. They sometimes must keep their work secret from their family members. And of course, they are working in English, which is often their third or fourth language.

Laura: What can we – as a global, national and online community – do to help with the Afghan Women’s Writing Project?

Masha: Helping is as simple as reading a blog entry and making a comment. You can also do exactly what you are doing — spread the word, so that these women writers become even more connected to writers and readers here.

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For more information about the Afghan Women’s Writing Project, you can visit the site at http://awwproject.wordpress.com/.

Laura’s Note: Updates about the Afghan Women’s Writing Project will be regularly featured on TJCC as part of an ongoing effort to share the unique stories about the people, places and things that are making significant world change happen.

In addition, regular updates about AWWW will be featured on the project’s dedicated TJCC sidebar and at TJCC on Twitter.