Hope for Afghan Children

What an opportunity! This is your chance to meet Lida, Maria and Hala (all from the girls’ Leadership Class), Frishta (you might remember her as the little girl with whom Brian Williams exchanged spectacles in this video), Araj and Mohsan, and Nasrin and Ian Pounds. Ian says that the children’s presentation is “amazing, moving, not to be missed”.

Here is the remaining tour schedule for 2012:

• Feb 5 Austin TX
• Feb 8 – 10 Phoenix AZ
• Feb 11 – 14 San Diego
• Feb 15 – 21 L.A.
• Feb 22 – 28 up coast and San Francisco
• Feb 29 – March 3 Sacramento
• March 4 – 5 Salt Lake City
• March 6 – 8 Denver
• March 9 Omaha
• March 10 – 13 Columbus
• March 14 – 18 New York

If you’d like to know about scheduled events in your area, or if you’d like to help organize a speaking engagement for the children, please contact Ian Pounds.

The tour has already made stops in New Hampshire, Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, D.C., Winston – Salem, Atlanta, Jacksonville, Jupiter, Venice and New Orleans.

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In the coming month, each AFCECO sponsor will receive a copy of a new booklet, Parwarishga: A Unique Vision for the Future of Afghanistan, One Child at a Time.

The booklet tells the story of the AFCECO orphanages from inception until the current day. It is filled with photos, a glimpse inside the New Learning Center, descriptions of the special programs run by AFCECO and intimate portraits of some of the orphanage residents.

Share the Parwarishga story

I hope you will treasure the booklet as I know I will. I also encourage you to share it with your family, friends and colleagues, using it as a source of inspiration to entice others to join us in the AFCECO family.

Sponsors are the lifeblood of AFCECO’s work and yet many of the 600 children in the orphanages have no sponsor at all. If each of us could bring just one more sponsor into the fold, it would go a very long way towards ensuring AFCECO’s financial future and the success of this practical vision for a better Afghanistan.

In these hard economic times, it can feel like an imposition to ask others to become sponsors, and yet each of us knows the joy of sponsorship, the delight of receiving an email from a young one who shares a drawing and says “Thank  you for your helping”, the even greater satisfaction of watching that child learn and grow, and the fulfillment that comes from making a real difference in the world. It is not an imposition to wish to share such things; it is a gift.

This booklet is a way to break through any hesitancy or shyness you may feel in sharing your joy in being a member of the AFCECO family. Not only is it a pleasure to read, it also contains a section called “Questions Commonly Asked” with answers to gnarly issues such as “Where does the money go?”, “What happens when the children turn 18?” and “How do you keep the children safe?” On the last page are details on how to join the AFCECO family.

The booklet has been made possible by a grant from USAID. I hope you enjoy your copy and please let me know if you have suggestions for making future versions of the booklet even better. I’ll pass your suggestions on to Andeisha, Jamshid and Ian in Kabul.

Your sister sponsor,
Rose Vines
(sponsor of Farzana, Sara, Madina and Jamshid)

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This week the AFCECO girls’ soccer team competed in the annual FIFA tournament, sponsored by the Afghan Women’s National Soccer Team, pitting sixteen clubs from Kabul area schools against one another on the field at ISAF headquarters. Throughout the entire tournament the Mehan girls gave up only one goal in regulation time. Without a loss they made it to the final match, which was featured on all the local news broadcasts. At the end of regulation in the final match it was one to one, and Mehan went on to win the tie-breaking shots on goal 4 to 3.

The girls’ jersey affirms, “We can be champions”, and now they can say they are champions! To say it was an emotional victory is an understatement. The girls played with intensity, determination and intelligence. They played as a team. Nobody was the superstar, as they passed and defended and saw the field as they had been taught by their beloved coach all year long. Each player received a medal and the team brought home some new soccer balls and a sizable trophy, perhaps the first of many! They were received at Mehan orphanage by all the other children and staff of AFCECO, rose petals flying and tears of joy. We are all very proud of our girls.

Often we remind the world of the significance this program plays in the girls’ lives. They have been forever lifted from any possible denial of their worth as human beings, and they now have solid experience of their own individual potential. Additionally they realize what an example they have become to all other Afghans. The fact that they were seen by thousands of Kabul citizens on television sends a huge message to people everywhere, especially other girls. We must thank all those who have supported this program in the past, in particular Richard Riess for his significant sponsorship of the soccer program.

At present we are searching for ways to obtain a plot of land to use as permanent home field for the AFCECO girls and the national team. This is vital in terms of securing the longevity of our program, as at present use of the few fields available are tenuous and not long term.

We invite you to celebrate and tip your hat along with us as we acknowledge another hallmark in AFCECO history.

You can view more photos of the AFCECO Girls’ Team on Google+.

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AFCECO’s educational director, Ian Pounds, sent us this request:

Dear Friends,

We have a contact in the military now, so it is possible to send items to AFCECO without paying for overseas shipping and we won’t have to shell out for the customs people in order to receive them. I know many of you know folks at your local schools, students and teachers who want to help, too, so perhaps you can forward this to them as well.

Right now, with the opening of the New School, we need periodicals and books and films. Anything appropriate you can ship to the address below, will be a huge boost to our resource center. Please use your utmost discretion, otherwise you risk paying to send items we cannot use.

Types of publications we can use:

• National Geographic Magazines are perfect.
• Other periodicals like sports magazines, history magazines, science and nature all good, as long as they are not too technical.
• Books: the resource center is being mostly utilized by 7th to 12th grade students. So try to feed their maturity level. Reading abilities run from beginner to intermediate to some very good. My best readers are reading Orwell’s Animal Farm.
• Reference materials, world book encyclopedia, picture-filled reference books.
• Secret Garden type stuff, Stewart Little type stuff, adventure stuff for young readers, perhaps Nancy Drew mysteries, etc.
• For better readers short stories, parables, short novels with basic vocabulary. Old Man and the Sea, okay.
• DVD instructional stuff.
• Movies and documentaries that you think are appropriate, educational, worldly.
• Cool maps, instructional things to put on classroom walls greatly appreciated.

What not to send:

• No Dickens, no Sydney Sheldon, no giant historical novels.
• No tiny, tiny print.
• No gossip or teen types magazines such as People or Us or Teen.
• No overly America-centric stuff, if culturally meaningless and uninteresting.
• No VCR tapes, as that technology has gone by the wayside here as everywhere
• No stationary, notebooks, pens, pencils, rulers and such right now.

Thank you thank you so much, this is really a great need, as we simply can’t get such material here. The New School (the “pink house”) is so beautiful, it really has come together and classes are in full swing. Here is the contact and address:

AFCECO c/o
Flatley, Michael A MCPO MIL USA USFOR-A J3USFOR-A/NKC
ATTN: CDT
APO AE 09356

With thanks,

Ian Pounds

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It is not news that women and girls in Afghanistan are imprisoned in a world of conservative laws, customs and traditions. In the name of “honor,” women are forced to stay within the boundary of their homes, only able to leave when completely shrouded in a burqa. And, yes, this is still the norm even after the defeat of the ruling Taliban in 2001.

In many, probably most, homes and villages, a woman’s purpose is merely to look after her husband, if she has one, and her children. An expression popular in the Pashtun-dominated south and in many other regions as well is: “A woman’s place is in the home or in the ground.” Violence against women is accepted as the norm.

In this country where women are considered inferior to men and seen as weak, childlike and naive, here, in the AFCECO orphanages, is a place of hope. In these orphanages are young girls who have lived through horrors and every kind of sadness imaginable, but who share a vision that the women of Afghanistan are sleeping lions awakening. They have hopes of living independent and productive lives, not the circumscribed existence that is the fate of most Afghan women.

They are doing this through education as they study chemistry and physics, English and computers. And now they are prepared to say no to slavery and oppression by standing on a stage and performing dance.

In Afghanistan, dancing by women is considered immoral and dancers thought to be no better than prostitutes. But these brave and wonderful girls, by dancing on stage, are telling their families and communities: “Yes, we can be dancers and still be strong, committed Afghans.” Through their dancing as well as their studies, they are living examples of all the things women are capable of.

Ballet and attan dancing are celebrations of women’s power and achievement. These girls are saying, “I am here and I can do everything!”

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