On Jan. 11, 2009, Jeff Kingston penned an illuminating and inspirational feature for the cover page of Sunday's Timeout. Headlined "Asia University for Women: Magic in the making," it told the story of this venture, now up and running in Bangladesh, that has gained widespread international support aimed at nurturing women leaders from the region — women of high ability and potential who otherwise would not have access to a university education.

"The premise is simple," as the article stated: "Money spent on educating women in poor countries is the best possible investment in development."

Of course money is always a problem, but thanks to generous corporate and individual donations, AUW is able to provide virtually full funding for its students, including travel expenses.

Among the driving forces of AUW are Kathy Matsui, managing director of Goldman Sachs in Tokyo, and Kathleen Pike, Associate Professor, Dept. of Psychiatry, Columbia Univ., New York; Visiting Professor, Temple Univ., Japan Campus, Tokyo. It is in no small part due to their efforts that AUW will be hosting a screening of "Lifting the Veil," an award-winning documentary about women in Afghanistan, at 6 p.m. on Thursday, May 28 at Sogetsu Hall in Akasaka, Tokyo.

Admission (including a light dinner) is ¥5,000, or ¥1,000 for students, with all proceeds being chaneled into AUW scholarships. For more details, contact [email protected]