The women who won't go away.

• Author: Kelly, Kathy
• Position: First Person Singular - Column

Responding to knocks at the gate, I open the door of the Afghan Peace Volunteers' "Border Free Center" in Kabul. I happen to be the only person there. Two women quickly step inside. My heart sinks, guessing that they hope to get on the list of seamstresses who will be hired to manufacture heavy blankets to be given, free of charge, to refugee families in desperate flight from Afghan provinces outside the U.S.-pacified "Kabubble."

I know these two women are not going to get on the list, which has just been finalized, and perhaps they know it, too. But here they are, trying anyway. They have walked for hours. The younger of the two women begs me to help them feed their children to whom they can give nothing but stale bread. The older woman shows me a festering wound on her ankle. It should be seen at a hospital ... most likely, it never will be. She smiles as she strokes my hand, through tears, seeming to understand how sorry I am. And how useless.

Suddenly, they both sit down.

The older woman beats her breast and cries openly. Then my friend, young Sonia, returns from a social work visit she'd been conducting in the neighborhood. I try to explain to her why the women are sitting in the courtyard. Sonia understands. Gently, carefully, she approaches the women and explains that the lists have already been made. Somehow, she persuades the women to leave, and with great dignity and respect she escorts them beyond the gate. Returning, Sonia finds a quiet place apart from me, from which she later emerges with tear-stained cheeks and red eyes.

In Kabul, I have often encountered women who walk long distances, desperate for help and clutching a rumor or a hint that the place where I stay might offer them work or sustenance. My friend Hakim and I ruefully call them "the women who won't go away."

When in Kabul, I've sometimes awakened to find a woman sitting cross-legged next to me, patiently waiting for me to recognize her and care about her and her children. Harsh conditions in Afghanistan cause women to age quickly, and it's...