Peterson Conway was born in 1946 in Salem, Virginia. Peterson came west to California with his family and was raised in Carmel, California, graduating with honors from Carmel High in 1963. He received a Master's Degree in International Relations with a minor in languages from the University of Paris in 1969 and did graduate work in Arabic, Persian and Pashtun at Kabul University, Afghanistan in 1970 and received an Honorary Scholar of Letters from Kabul University in 1978. He is certified by US State Department in French and with the Foreign Service in Arabic, Persian, and Pashtu.
In 1973 he established Conway of Asia, an import company specializing in oriental rugs, antiques and art from Asia. He has displayed his exotic wares at various shows in the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, Bergdorf-Goodman, Bloomingdale's, Nieman-Marcus, Marshall Fields, and Nordstrom and has received numerous awards as an international importer. Mr. Conway was invited by the Afghan Ministry of Tourism to set up a new handicrafts emporium in Kabul. From 1970-73 he was involved with the Peace Corps in Kabul and was the Afghan Cultural and Language Coordinator and he also participated as Advisor to the Ministry of Tourism in Kabul from 1970-73.
From 1982-87 he guided six French doctors from “Medicins Sans Frontiers” (French Doctors Without Borders) into Afghanistan. He organized five successful trips delivering medical and relief supplies to the Mujahadeen, coordinated initial meeting of the “Seven-Party Alliance” of Afghan Resistance leaders, supervised three successful trips into Afghanistan with medicine and relief supplies, coordinated a meeting between President Reagan and Yunis Khalisf, the principal spokesman of the “Seven-Party Alliance”, and negotiated military contracts with Washington on their behalf. He has acted as an interpreter for Henry Kissinger and others in Afghanistan.
From 1990-2002 Mr. Conway has initiated relief efforts in Nepal for Tibetan refugees, sponsored Tibetan refugee families in United States, and arranged the first free dental program for children in Nepal by a group of international health emissaries. Recently he has begun fund raising efforts partnering with PARSA and Help the Afghan Children to raise over $180,000.00 in medical and relief supplies for Afghan orphanages and then administrated distribution of the supplies in Kabul. Mr. Conway is also a consultant and fundraiser for ChildLight Foundation for Afghan Children.
