Expanding opportunities for women and helping provide for orphans in post-Taliban Afghanistan puts Goleta resident Diana Haskins on the fault line between those she seeks to assist and fundamentalist followers of the Muslim faith who proscribe all but the most subservient societal roles for females.

But as she prepares to make her sixth humanitarian visit to the country since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Ms. Haskins is undeterred by the increasing violence wracking the country and the danger she faces from those who would deny Afghanistan's female population even the chance to attend school.

"Because it is a bone of contention, that's why our efforts are focused there," she said, referring to the Afghan Academy of Hope, the outfit she co-founded to help reduce poverty and support education and mental health for the war-torn country's women and children.

"We want to be able to help bring hope to these women . . . to give them freedom and choices that we take for granted," she said.

Ms. Haskins has already purchased her plane ticket for her next trip, which is scheduled for March 17-31. She will again be accompanied by Dr. Linda Cook, an English as a second language expert from Indianapolis who joined her last year and will herself be making her fourth visit to Kabul, the Afghan capital.

Ms. Haskins and her Afghan Academy of Hope colleagues are raising money for another nonprofit group called Ambassadors for Children, which works to bring relief to the country's children.

Funds collected through March 1 will be hand-delivered by Ms. Haskins, who will use some of the money to buy medicines and educational supplies in Kabul.

"I like to take the funds there and purchase everything we can in the country," she said, adding that it helps the local economy and they can get good prices, especially if they have locals making the purchases.

"Linda and I (actually) sit in the car and our Afghan friends go in and do the shopping," she said.

She acknowledges the threat from a resurgent Taliban, the hard-line group that sheltered al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden as it ruled the country before being ousted by a U.S.-led coalition after the terrorist attacks in the U.S., but insists that her work itself is not dangerous and she is careful how she conducts herself when in Afghanistan.

"We are not a large nongovernmental organization. We don't stay in a fancy hotel. We don't stay in places that are targeted," she said. "We are very low key, very discreet. It is only two women. Maybe it is naive on my part, but I love this work so much and I've been devoted to the kids for six years. I just can't imagine not going back."

She said her contacts in Afghanistan and the children she assists and spends time with during every trip have come to depend on her and her colleagues.

"We have children that count on us . . . and the only way we can get the funds over there right now is to hand-carry them," she said. "We are hoping to make other arrangements on this trip because things are getting more dangerous, but we will have to see how things turn out when we get there."

She said the recent bombing of a hotel, the Serena, that was popular with journalists and Westerners working in the country, hammered home the sad fact that some of the gains made since the Taliban's ouster are being lost.

"It was heartbreaking to see this country seem to be going backwards," she said. "It's going to take years (for improvements to take on any permanence). I don't know that they are going to have security and a society that is peaceful."

Asked if anyone is advising her not to go, she said her mother is "very concerned, as mothers are," but no one is saying she shouldn't make the trip, not even her husband and children.

"Once you've been there, you have a different perspective on it," she said. "We know the area. We know the people we work with. We know where to go, how to act, what to wear. It's different once you've been there and experienced it."

Her husband remains supportive and wants her to continue.

"My kids, I think, are more worried this time, but none of them have said, 'Please, don't go.' "

If they did, she said, she would honor their request.

She did curtail her visit last year.

"It was the shortest (time) I've ever been there," she said of the 10-day visit. She was able to get her work done in less time than she planned, but her sense of things led her to change her itinerary.

"Things just didn't feel the same. There were incidents happening in the area where we were staying (in a guest house with journalists) that made us uncomfortable," she said. "We felt we had our work done. I talked to Linda. We talked about it and said, 'Why don't we change out tickets and go home early.' It was a really difficult decision. The folks there want us to stay. They were heartbroken when we changed our plans."

But they understood, she said, adding that 10 days at this point seems to be about the right amount of time to spend.

Ms. Haskins said she spends much of her time in Afghanistan at an orphanage and Montessori school called House of Flowers, which houses 32 children.

"It feels like you've stepped into a little oasis of peace," she said of the place. "That's where I usually try to spend most of my time."

She always brings crafts and gifts for the kids, who cling to her as if she were their mother.

She once brought them a bunch of Ty Beanie Babies that local kids and some from the San Francisco Bay Area donated.

"We took them over, and the kids were just having a blast," she said.

But when the founder of the orphanage gave the children the option of keeping them all or giving some away, the kids quickly said they would like to give them to others without any toys at all.

Such gestures from children, some of whom have seen their parents killed, never fail to touch Ms. Haskins, and only add to the level of dedication she has for them.

She said she never stops marveling at the resiliency Afghan women display in the face of hardship.

"I have such great respect and admiration for them," she said. "They are so loving. They deserve more."

And the kids?

"I look into their eyes and I know the desperation and the hunger and desire of having someone care about you, how important that is to them," Ms. Haskins said. "They want us to come (visit) more than anything. They don't want us to forget about them."

She said one boy, now 16, got her cell phone number and somehow managed to call her weekly. The calls have tapered off but continue to come every few weeks.

"All he wants to know is when I am coming back."

In that sense, she said, the children are no different than many adults in Afghanistan, a country that was virtually abandoned by the West after the armies of the former Soviet Union were ousted decades ago.

"They don't want to be left behind."