:Mary MacMakin
{{Short description|American aid worker}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Mary MacMakin
| image =
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{Birth based on age as of date|87|2017|10|18}}{{cite news |last=Bezhan |first=Frud |title='Not Going Anywhere': Revered 87-Year-Old Aid Worker Has Given Her All To Afghanistan |url=https://www.rferl.org/a/afghanistan-aid-worker-87-years-old-history-american/28561278.html |access-date=February 1, 2021 |work=Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty |date=June 18, 2017}}
| birth_place =
| nationality = American
Afghan since 2017
| occupation = Aid worker
| years_active = 1961-present
| known_for = Founder of PARSA
}}
Mary MacMakin (born {{Birth based on age as of date|87|2017|10|18|noage=y}}) is an American aid worker who has worked predominantly in Afghanistan for women's rights since 1961. MacMakin founded PARSA, the organisation for Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation in Support of Afghanistan in 1998, and continued to work with it even after the Taliban deported her from the country.
Career
Mary MacMakin's humanitarian career was inspired by the 1940 United States presidential campaign of Republican Wendell Willkie.{{cite news|title=Good to meet you ... Mary MacMakin|url=https://www.theguardian.com/global/2016/feb/02/good-to-meet-mary-macmakin|accessdate=November 17, 2017|work=The Guardian|date=February 2, 2016}} She moved to Afghanistan in 1961, working as a humanitarian. Under the Taliban, this became work to promote the rights of women.{{cite news|last1=Simpson|first1=John|title=Champion of decency defies Taliban zealots|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/1348886/Champion-of-decency-defies-Taliban-zealots.html|accessdate=November 17, 2017|work=The Daily Telegraph|date=July 16, 2000}} MacMakin founded PARSA, the organisation for Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation in Support of Afghanistan, in 1998. This helped women work by setting them up in small cottage industries such as weaving silk scarves.{{cite news|last1=Halbfinger|first1=David M.|title=After the Veil, a Makeover Rush|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/01/style/after-the-veil-a-makeover-rush.html|accessdate=November 17, 2017|work=The New York Times|date=September 1, 2002}} In 2000, she was at first arrested by the Taliban,{{cite news|last1=Lynch|first1=Column|title=American Relief Worker, 72, Is Arrested in Afghanistan|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2000/07/11/american-relief-worker-72-is-arrested-in-afghanistan/7dda72ef-a3cd-4973-8580-1999d70222b1/|accessdate=November 17, 2017|newspaper=Washington Post|date=July 11, 2000}} who then deported her after accusing her of spying and spreading anti-government propaganda. She was flown to Pakistan by the Red Cross.{{cite news|title=Taleban expel US aid worker|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/831154.stm|accessdate=November 17, 2017|work=BBC News|date=July 13, 2000}} She was then set up in Peshawar, saying "As long as the Taliban are in control, I cannot go back."{{cite news|title=Outlasting the Taliban|url=https://alumni-gsb.stanford.edu/get/page/magazine/article/?article_id=38401|accessdate=November 17, 2017|work=Stanford Magazine|date=January 2002}}
MacMakin was profiled by Vogue magazine in 2001 following the American invasion during the War in Afghanistan. It was while being prepared for her photoshoot that upon discussion with her hair stylist, Terri Grauel, the idea for a Kabul-based beauty school called the Body and Soul Wellness Program. Anna Wintour donated $25,000 to help the programme open.
Personal life
MacMakin also speaks Dari (Persian); she became fluent in it during her residency in Afghanistan. Having spent the majority of her life in the country as a non-Muslim, she eventually converted to Islam in 2014 and received Afghan citizenship from President Ashraf Ghani in 2017.{{cite news |last=Ashrafi |first=Nabilla |title=American Octogenarian Granted Afghan Citizenship |url=https://tolonews.com/afghanistan/american-octogenarian-granted-afghan-citizenship |access-date=February 1, 2021 |work=TOLOnews |date=April 1, 2017}}
References
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Category:American emigrants to Afghanistan
Category:Founders of charities