in the world , boasting the highest illiteracy rate and worst medical and educational facilities outside a few war zones in sub-Saharan Africa . Even in the best-case scenario , it will take it several decades even to approach the living standards of Pakistan or Bangladesh .”
It ’ s not all bad news . Optimists and politicians frequently cite the 9 million children enrolled in school , about two-fifths of them girls ; increased longevity , from 42 years to 62 years ; a growing economy ; a reduction in maternal mortality , a tenfold increase in the number of Afghans with access to basic health care ; 20 million mobile phone owners ; an abundance of newspapers , TV channels , and radio stations ; and creation of the Afghan National Security Forces ( ANSF ), with 350,000 personnel .
But many , many problems remain , not the least of which is how people find hope in their lives . In April , Associated Press reporter Kathy Gannon reported that for most Afghans , “ fear dominates their lives and the lives of their children .” Shortly after filing that story , a gunman shot and injured Gannon as she waited in a car at a checkpost . The photographer she was traveling with , Anja Niedringhaus , was killed .
PEACE THROUGH EDUCATION Kabul , the nation ’ s capital , was built to accommodate about a half-million people , but is now a sprawling metropolis that 8 million Afghans call home . Traffic is a snarled mess . Beggars tap on car windows at intersections .
Open sewers drain the provisional neighborhoods that have cropped in all directions . Even those who live and work in the “ Ring of Steel ,” protected by concrete blast walls , concertina wire , and sandbags , are vulnerable to insurgent attacks .
“ We are thirsty for peace ,” Zarmina , a middle-age woman who had just completed CAI-supported literacy program in a southwest Kabul neighborhood , said in August . “ Starting 35 years ago there has been fighting and no peace . Many problems we have in Afghanistan , but the biggest is security . Other problems are joblessness and poverty .”
One of the younger girls in this homebased literacy class , 13-year-old Zainab , said her family had returned to Kabul two years earlier from Iran . She wants to enroll in the government school upon completing the class , but her father , who has a sixth-grade education , will not let her .
“ The only one main source of peace is education ,” she said . “ When people know about life and rights , they will no longer fight .”
STUMBLING PROGRESS Awareness of the importance of girls ’ education in building a stronger , safer country is growing , albeit in fits and starts . Research has proven that girls ’ education is “ a magic multiplier in the development equation ,” actress Cate Blanchett and Julia Gillard , Australia ’ s first female prime minister , wrote in an op-ed for the Guardian ( UK ) in September . “ It is an ject to conditions , such as excluding certain subjects ( no English for girls , for example ) and expanding Islamic subjects in the curriculum , requiring teachers to report to the Taliban , and permitting Taliban to proselytize in the school , they wrote . They install “ informers ” in the school and when teachers and / or students refuse to comply with the conditions , Taliban should order school closed and , failing that , attack education staff .
Attacks on school buildings , however , are allegedly banned . “ The Taliban till mostly denied being involved in violent attacks against schools ,” instead blaming foreign intelligence agencies , i . e . Pakistan , the authors found . “ This could of course simply be an attempt to scapegoat others for the Taliban ’ s most unpopular activities . Despite Taliban claims to the contrary , research in the provinces suggests that some of the attacks against schools and against [ Ministry of Education ] staff have been ordered by the Taliban leadership , or parts thereof , in cases where threats were insufficient to enforce compliance or to close the schools .”
Conditions also include giving two warnings to girls going to school and studying with boys . “ If they don ’ t stop going to such classes , they must be killed .”
The recent backtracking and repositioning on whether to permit education , and if so what kind , is largely in response to public rebellions against Taliban demands , David Young reported in foreign Policy . com blogpost . Decisions to close schools , even in some of the most conservative areas of the country , “ was deeply unpopular … and cost the Taliban dearly in terms of popularity ,” Young reported . n
— KARIN RONNOW
“
starting 35 years ago there has been fighting and no peace . Many problems we have in afghanistan , but the biggest is security . Other problems are joblessness and poverty .”
— Zarmina
attractive proposition : invest in women and girls , and the benefits flow not only to them , but everyone around them , too .”
But translating that into reality is not always easy .
School leaders at CAI-supported Musakhil School in Parwan province are struggling hard to convince parents to send their daughters back to the school and keep them there . Girls ’ enrollment started out strong after the school was built in 2010 and turned over to the Afghan government , said headmaster Naqibullah , whose family donated the land . But then the government reduced the number of teachers for the school and insisted that classes be “ combined ” boys and girls , which conservative families reject .
“ When elders went and asked Parwan education director for more teachers , he tore the letter in half in front of all elders ,” dismissing their request and dishonoring those who had made it , Naqibullah said . “ Government says if community will pay teachers , they ’ ll allow .”
In only a year , the number of girls dropped from 134 to 22 . But the combined classes weren ’ t the only factor .
“ One boy wrote a girl ’ s name and something bad about her in the bathroom ,” the headmaster said . “ Another girl was engaged but then ran off with another boy . The families said this happened because she was out of home , in school , so they don ’ t send their girls to school . Also there is a shortage of textbooks , so students don ’ t bring home books . Parents say , ‘ Where are the books ?’ When we tell them we don ’ t have enough , they think we are hiding something . Also we have problem of men teaching , so after class six , those parents won ’ t allow for daughters to come to school .
“ For one year I am trying everything and I am tired from that . I donated this land for a girls ’ school . I seek all ways to get people to send their daughters back to school . But [ I have ] no success . I am hopeful that new
FA L L 2 0 1 4 Journey of Hope | 19