Hope for Afghan Children

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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In 2010, a group of older girls from the AFCECO orphanages in Kabul, Afghanistan, participated in a leadership class. Three of the participants, Menizha, Pashtana and Sahar, were selected to come to the USA for three months at the conclusion of that class. The girls have been staying with host families learning about American life, and giving presentations to schools (including a huge class of cadets at West Point), community organizations and private gatherings across the country.

These young women are the embodiment of hope for Afghanistan. They are smart, thoughtful, willing to share and, above all, absolutely committed to making Afghanistan a better place for all.

Pashtana and Ian Pounds, the AFCECO Education Director, will speak at all these events, and Menizha and Sahar will join them for the presentations in Washington and New York.

Speaking schedule

• February 24: Stanford University 12 noon lunch presentation with Student Moslem League
• February 24: Channing House, Palo Alto, CA 7:00 pm fundraiser.
• February 26: The Sequoias, Palo Alto, CA 9:30 am fundraiser.
• February 27:  Private home in Sacramento, CA area, fundraiser/pot luck, email Ian Pounds for information.
• March 2: Presentation at University of California, Berkeley. 6:30 pm location to be announced
• March 3: Presentation at California Institute of Integral Studies,  San Francisco  7:00 pm
• March 5: Presentation, fundraiser at the JCCSF Gallanter Hall 2300 California St, San Francisco 1:00 pm
• March 8: Fundraiser, private home in Seattle, WA 6:00 pm email Ian Pounds for information.
• March 10: Presentation in Burk County, PA Chamber of Commerce.
• March 14: Fundraiser /presentation at Busboys and Poets, Washington D.C. 6:30 pm (see below for more details on this event).
• March 15: Presentation to Higher Achievement students, Washington D.C. area 6:30 pm
• March 21: Fundraiser in New York City at Ceremonial Hall, New York Society for Ethical Culture, 6:00 pm

Washington event

If you live anywhere near the Washington, D.C. area, Sahar, Pashtana and Menizha will speak at a special fundraiser. Together with Ian Pounds, the American volunteer educational director for AFCECO, they will be giving a presentation on:

Monday, March 14th, 6.30pm
Busboys and Poets at 5th & K
1025 5th Street, NW

The D.C. event will be one of the last chances to hear the girls speak. As one who has already had this experience, I can guarantee that you do not want to miss this opportunity. It will touch you and inform you in ways hard to imagine.

Click the image to see a full-size flyer – and please feel free to distribute it, and the rest of the speaking tour dates, far and wide.

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After spending a life-changing five months in the Mehan and Sitara orphanages in Kabul, Ian Pounds has been touring the US talking to anyone who’ll listen about the amazing work of Andeisha, Jamshid and everyone at AFCECO. In the process, he has been raising funds to help AFCECO’s work.

The response has been universally positive. Everyone, from 8-year-olds to octogenarians, is eager to learn more about Afghanistan and to hear that not all is doom and gloom for the country and its people.

You’ll find an updated speaking schedule for Ian here on the site. If he’s going to be coming to a town near you, don’t miss this chance to hear him speak. And if your area is not on the speaking schedule, how about approaching a school, college, service organization or other group and organizing a visit by Ian. You’ll find all the details on this page.

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There’s about a month to run in the Gadget Drive we’re running to raise funds for a sound system for Mehan Orphanage. So far, we’ve raised $334…hold the presses! make that $578 (I just checked and saw an updated total)… of the $590 needed to buy the sound system. The administration page for the drive indicates we have another $30 in donations pending, which will take us over our target.

This is a great result, and I think we can do further Gadget Drives once we publicise this site widely and have more people involved.

One thing I’ve noticed about the Gadget Drive is there’s no instant gratification. It takes about 10 days from when you send in your donations until they are processed, a value assigned and the money shows up on the Gadget Drive page. It’s a pity, because having a responsive fundraising thermometer encourages others to contribute. I’ll be giving feedback to Gazelle (the company that runs the Gadget Drives) about this.

We plan to create our own donation widgets, which will let us set up special fundraisers, each with its own “thermometer”. That will give us a lot of fundraising flexibility in the future.

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