Boarding Schools for Girls

According to a March 16 article by Ani Esmailian of celebrity news and gossip site hollyscoop.com, actress Angelina Jolie has contributed $75,000 toward the establishment of a school for girls in the war-torn nation of Afghanistan:

Jolie visited the Tangi region in the war-torn country in October 2008 and instantly knew she had to help out in any way she could. And 18 months later, the all girls school opened its doors.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, 14-year-old Laila praised Jolie and the U.N. for pouring money into education.

She said, "I always had hopes and dreams of going to school. The hope to become a qualified teacher has revived in me."

The ability of Afghani girls to attend school has been severely curtailed in recent years, as Taliban sympathizers continue a violent campaign against the education of girls and women.

Labels: afghanistan

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Greg Mortenson, an unofficial advisor to the U.S. military and the co-author of Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace. . . One School at a Time, has been included in U.S. News & World Reports list of Americas Best Leaders 2009.

In an Oct. 22 article, writer Anna Mulrine describes Mortensens efforts to achieve peace in Afghanistan by increasing opportunities for girls to access quality education:

Pennies for Peace will be in some 20,000 schools next year, giving rise to what Mortenson hopes will become a new generation of leaders in the United States who will take up the cause of global education.

"Women who have an education are not likely to condone their son getting into violence," he says. "I've seen that very vividly."

In Afghanistan in 2000, there were 800,000 children in school, nearly all boys. Today, there are 8.4 million children in school, including 2.5 million girls.

"That's the greatest increase in school enrollment of any country in modern history, but very few people in America seem to be aware of it." Mortenson hopes to remedy that through his work in the years to come.

Labels: afghanistan, girls, peace

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In a powerful Nov. 13 article, Paul Watson of thestar.com told the story of 16-year-old Roya, an Afghan girl who is attempting to rise above great (and often violent) opposition in her hometown of Kandahar to get an education.

Dare to walk to school here in the Taliban heartland and a girl must endure the cruel taunts of neighbours. Not wild-eyed terrorists, just ordinary folk who think a young lady's proper place is hidden in the home.

They question her morals, call her venomous names, do all they can to make life difficult for the whole family ...

In a land three decades at war, awash in some of the world's crudest and most sophisticated weapons, this Afghan girl is as brave as any soldier.

Roya is not only determined to learn, to finish high school, go on to university and get a degree.

She then plans to stick her neck out even further: in a country where a woman is easily cut down for having the nerve to speak up, the burning ambition of Roya's young life is to become a politician.

“I want to serve my country as much as I can,” she says, her voice racing, as if time is short.

 

Labels: afghanistan

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