Realizing Dreams

Afghan Friends Network

Afghan Friends Network (AFN) was founded in the San Francisco Bay Area in 2002 as a nonprofit organization to facilitate humanitarian, economic and educational collaborations between Americans and Afghans that enrich the lives of all participants. AFN’s grassroots efforts are directed towards delivering programs in two primary categories: education and cultural/community awareness. Their work is primarily focused in the province of Ghazni, the second largest province in Afghanistan located sixty miles southwest of Kabul.

What they do:
In the area of education, AFN has directed its efforts to meet the unique needs of women and girls in Ghazni. As residents of one of the poorest regions in one of the poorest countries on the planet, it is not surprising that the women and children of Ghazni are among the most disadvantaged. They face challenges every day that discourage them from learning and make it extraordinarily difficult for them to become literate. AFN is committed to empowering girls in the region through education and to that end, is supporting the Khurasan Learning Center Project.

Recent or upcoming projects:

The Khurasan Learning Center Project:

Afghanistan’s education system has become one of the worst in the world, particularly in its rural regions. Classrooms, where they exist at all, have student to teacher ratios as high as 80:1. Nearly 75 percent of students study under a tree or tent, regardless of weather conditions. The curriculum for grades 7-12 has not been revised for nearly thirty years. Teachers, many of whom are marginally educated themselves, receive low salaries and have few resources to assist them in educating their students.

Girls, in particular, are under-served by this system. Those who are able to attend school are rarely prepared for college entry exams and therefore are unable to move forward with their higher education.

Located outside the city of Ghazni, the Khurasan Learning Center Project made possible through the support of AFN provides supplementary education to girls in grades 9-12 in Math, Physics, Chemistry and English. The center opened in June 2007 and currently has 400 girls enrolled in its programs. Its success is already evident. In 2007, only one girl from Ghazni was accepted into a university. In April 2008, twenty girls who had attended the Khurasan Learning Center took college entry exams and ten of them were accepted into university programs.

For more information on AFN please visit: www.afghanfriends.net

In the words of our Grantee:

We Are Not So Different After All!

In 1978, when I was eleven, my family fled Afghanistan along with many others.  Najiba stayed.  I hadn’t seen her for twenty-seven years when I returned to my home country a few years ago as part of my work for the non-profit Afghan Friends Network. I was so excited to see her again, to meet her children and catch up on lost time.

When we arrived at my cousin’s house we were ushered to the “guest” room.  I was traveling with three Americans, two men and one woman.  We sat on the toshak (futon like mattress) and respectfully drank our tea.  Haji Safi* my male cousin, Najiba’s stepbrother, nervously made small talk with us. Clearly he had not had much interaction with khariji (foreigners). After an hour of intermittent chitchat and several cups of tea, I inquired about Najiba and the female members of the household.

I was taken to another room where the female members of the family were waiting for me, away from the mardha e begana (unfamiliar men). We greeted, hugged, kissed and then sat in silence.  I was shocked.  What had happened here?  We used to be an upper class, educated and modern family. Men and women socialized together. My aunts had worn western clothes. Now they were in headscarves and traditional Afghan dress, hidden from the world.  

I wondered, “What must they think about me?”  Why is she miles away from her home, without her husband?  Why is she traveling with two men, laughing, joking and God knows what else.

Over my ten-day visit between official meetings, I made a point of spending time with Najiba. I learned she has her BA in Social Studies and she speaks English.  She was forced into an arranged marriage that was good for the family and is a fate she accepts without bitterness.

In private, Najiba was talkative, funny and fun.  Just like we were as children.  She loved my family photos and had many questions about my life, my marriage and why my mother lives an hour away from me, not in my own home. She was fascinated by my freedom and confused about the responsibility that comes with it.

I did not shed a single tear during my visit to Afghanistan.  It was on the flight home, when I finally had time to relax and reflect on the ten-day adventure, that the emotions flooded to the surface.  The week unfolded like a movie as I listened to my iPod and cried uncontrollably.  During this decompression I thought about Najiba.  “What will become of her?”  I wondered.  “When will we see each other again?”

One thing that struck me as I sat there thinking of my life and Najiba’s life is that although our lives are quite different, they are a lot the same.  Najiba was saving money to buy a house; I could relate to that. Like me, her primary focus is raising her children.  We had a surprisingly similar philosophy of child rearing.  We were able to talk about the importance of education, how to cope with picky eaters and our dreams for our children.  She confided in me that when her children are all old enough for school, she would like to get a job in an office. Najiba has her own ambitions and dreams just as I do. Not something readily visible to my Western eyes when I first saw her in the women’s quarters.

Even though we grew up in different worlds, we are not very different after all.  Beside our blood, we have motherhood in common, a job that is conducted prudently by women around the world wherever they are and whatever they have suffered.  This gives me hope for the future.

Humaira Ghilzai is an advocate for the Afghan people. She devotes her time to the education of Afghan women and girls through her organization Afghan Friends Network.
 
* Names have been changed.

AFN Scholarship Program:

In January 2009, four girls from Ghazni were selected to receive scholarships to attend Universities in Kabul. In March 2009, these young ladies began their first year of college.

Sameera
21 year old Sameera’s father is a worker at a hotel and barely earns enough for his family to survive on.  Determined to make a comfortable life for themselves, her family fled to Iran during the soviet invasion, but life wasn’t easy.  24 years later, they came back to Afghanistan where Sameera found refuge in her studies.  After graduating University, she plans to return to her hometown and become a Science teacher at the Teacher Training Institute in Ghazni. She also hopes to provide financial support to her family. 
 
Fahima
22 year old Fahima has 6 brothers and sisters.  Her father is a farmer and his earnings are not enough to cover Fahima’s expenses at University. She is determined to utilize her education to become a midwife and practice in the rural areas and villages of Afghanistan, where the women and girls are most in need of such services.  She is currently studying at the Medical Institute in Kabul. 
 
Monisa
Before moving into the dorms in Kabul, 21 year old Monisa lived with her father, who is a teacher in Ghazni and her 4 brothers and sisters.  Her hard work and dedication to her education led to her graduating #1 in her high school class. She is working towards becoming a nurse and hopes to practice in Ghazni once she graduates.
 
Najiba
20 year old Najiba is extremely grateful to have the opportunity to pursue her dream of going to University.  She believes that the key to rebuilding Afghanistan lies in educating its youth.  She feels that Ghazni needs more teachers and her goal is to work with the Teacher Training Institute in Ghazni after she graduates from Kabul University. 

Despite all odds, each of these young women graduated at the top of her high school class and scored highly in the Concorde College Entrance Exams. Their hard work and perseverance is an inspiration to us all. We wish them the best and hope that this opportunity may in some way help them achieve their dreams and aspirations.

Reading Library opens at Khurasan Learning Center:

In the first half of 2009, a library was inaugurated at the Khurasan Learning Center. Now, for the first time, girls attending the center can borrow books from a collection housing more than 300 English language books. One hundred books were graciously donated by two volunteers attending the Urban High School in San Francisco. The books will allow the students to practice English language skills. A book club moderated by the English teachers has also been established to encourage reading, reading comprehension and group discussions of the books.