Happy New Year!

We're now almost a full week into 2010. I hope the new year is treating you all well so far, and that your determination to stick to your resolutions hasn't waned just yet.

2010 will be a big year for me. I'm getting married in September, which, I can't lie, makes me feel a bit old. And makes me think it might be time to start acting my age. So, on December 31, I did something I never thought I would see myself do- I opened my freezer and placed my beloved MasterCard (the card that has brought me a Marc by Marc Jacobs purse, my favourite Mavi legging jeans and countless pairs of shoes) inside. Then- horror of horrors- I shut the door.

I know what you're thinking. Why? Why??? What would possibly have possessed her to do such a thing? But hear me out. I've resolved to be my best self in 2010. And much as it pains me to say it, I know that my best self isn't the crazed credit card wielding maniac whose eye glaze over every time she sees the word SALE; the girl who isn't above elbowing other shoppers out of the way to snag a last pair of shoes.

Beyond freezing my credit card, I've made several dull self-improvement resolutions; things like eating more vegetables, wearing my retainer on a regular basis and doing some form of physical activity that isn't jogging between stores.

But there's more to being an adult, I think, than taking responsibility for your health and spending habits (although in my case those two things are of paramount importance.) Up until very recently, I felt an overwhelming sense of powerlessness whenever I thought about politics. I was seventeen when George W. Bush invaded Iraq, and it was all I could do not to lock myself in my room until the world imploded. I was absolutely positive that implosion was imminent.

Over the years, I have toyed with ideas ranging from civil disobedience to running for office, but nothing seemed like the right fit. I inevitably concluded that, "There's nothing I can do." I knew even at the time that I was naïve and self-indulgent to think that way. After all, greed and corruption are not exactly new inventions. People through the ages have found ways to circumvent them. But naivete and self-indulgence are infinitely easier than the resignation that you might be destined for little more than mediocrity.

Just before the end of 2009, the Globe and Mail ran a story about the Afghanistan-Canadian Community Centre in Kandahar. (You can read the article here.) The Afghanistan-Canadian Community Centre is a school for women. It is also a sanctuary. Kandahar is a city at war; whether women are entitled to simple rights is question that is central to the ongoing battle. Outside the school gates, girls- even girls who have covered themselves completely- are threatened, sometimes assaulted. But inside, they are free.

As you probably know from my entry Where I wish I could be..., I have a soft spot for Afghanistan. I was nine when I first read about the plight of Afghan women in my mom's summer issue of Women's World magazine. I was instantly horrified and fascinated. The generation of girls robbed of education and childhood by the Taliban are my own generation; girls I might as easily have skipped rope with on a school playground. Nationality is, after all, nothing but an accident of birth. The fact that I am here and not there is testament to the fact that I am extremely fortunate.

In spite of the incredible adversity they have faced, every Afghan woman I have ever met has been strong, vivacious and resilient. (I remember Sheela with particular fondness. She was a girl after my own heart; a shit-disturber who wore nail polish under her burqa, just because she could.)

When I read the article in the Globe and Mail, it came to me. This is what I can do. I can help these women. My instinct was to pack my bags and fly to Kandahar. Of course that isn't realistic or feasible. Once I calmed down a bit, I visited the Afghanistan-Canadian Community Centre website and signed up to sponsor a student. For only $20 a month- a total of $240 dollars over a one year period, paid in a lump sum or on a monthly basis- you can help subsidize a year of post-secondary training and English-language studies for an Afghan woman. I have sponsored a girl named Yalda. She is eighteen, loves the Twilight series and hasn't quite narrowed down what she wants to do with her life yet; she might study business, or medicine, or journalism. Apart from her heritage, she sounds a good deal like my eighteen-year-old self.

I highly recommend that everyone visit the Afghanistan-Canadian Community Centre website and donate. It's a new year, but we haven't all magically changed- we'll get back to our bad eating and spending habits soon enough. Supporting the women of Afghanistan is an easy change to make- and it's one you can feel really good about.