Journey of Hope 2017 journey-of-hope-2017 | Page 13

ships, and the best teachers possible. It’s our
philosophy that every child deserves access
to quality education. We’re going to see that
they get it.
AFGHANISTAN, THE UNSOLVABLE
CRISIS?
Our team in Bozeman fields calls on a
regular basis, asking why we continue to
work in Afghanistan. Callers ask, “What’s
the point? Isn’t Afghanistan an unsolvable
crisis?” Our answer, absolutely not.
Change is never easy. It is almost
always a tug of war between a few under-
dog change-makers and a considerably
larger group of people defendi ng a different
way of life. You may not always hear about
the change-makers in the news, but they
are there. They put their lives on the line
every day for their vision of a better future.
We cannot abandon them now. Not when
things are tough.
And things are definitely tough in
Afghanistan. Taliban believers have moved
into areas they hadn’t previously occupied;
violence in Kabul is becoming more
frequent; and refugees are streaming
across the Afghanistan-Pakistan border,
overwhelming schools, medical clinics, and
other basic services.
Despite the setbacks, change is brewing
in Afghanistan. However, some parts of the
country run the risk of being left behind.
Communities where security is a concern
or places that are difficult to reach, are more
likely to be forgotten. Even large internation-
al aid organizations back away, preferring to
work where there are more resources, less
risk, and fewer complications.
With CAI’s history of working in remote ar-
eas where others can’t or won’t work, we want
to make sure that the most in need, the most
isolated, and the most oppressed commu-
nities, are not left behind when this change
happens. Progress isn’t just for the wealthy,
and not just for those men and women in the
cities. The future belongs to everyone.
This is why CAI has dedicated significant
resources to refugee and internally displaced
persons (IDPs) in Afghanistan. It is hard to
imagine a more destitute group of people. If
anyone needs our help and access to quality
education, it’s them.
FALL 2017
The courage a young refugee would need
to rise up from the hardships they have
experienced is difficult to imagine, but give
it a try. Imagine you are a child, uprooted,
forced to leave your friends and home be-
hind. You face an uncertain future, poverty,
and potential homelessness. Your country is
a battlefield and your rights can be snatched
from your hand without provocation.
For refugee and IDP children, schools
provide a daily routine in a safe place, a
caring environment where new friends are
made. They are a sanctuary where positive
lessons are learned and hope is nurtured
even in the midst of daily upheaval. A school
is a place where your current reality does not
define your future prospects.
Providing education opportunities to ref-
ugees is at the heart of CAI’s mission. This
is why our in-country partners are dedicat-
ed to helping rural and urban refugees and
IDP communities, especially the girls. Girls
are even more at risk than their male rela-
tives, and very crucial to the transformation
Afghanistan is undergoing.
“Girls’ and women’s education is very im-
portant in establishing peace and prosperity
in Afghanistan,” Nasrine Gross, a CAI board
member and longtime women’s rights activ-
ist, told us recently. “We know that a major
cornerstone of the terrorists’ strategy is to
play havoc with Afghan women. To counter
it we need to make the protection of Afghan
women’s rights and lives a cornerstone of
our own strategy in combating terrorism.
Unfortunately, the current administration’s
strategy leaves this part silent. This, unfortu-
nately, could be taken as a green light by the
terrorists and thereby endanger the success
of our own strategy. We have to do things
now to alleviate this unintentional omission
to ensure that our own efforts to promote
peace and human rights succeed.”
Rosa Brooks, associate dean for graduate
programs at Georgetown University Law
Center, is hopeful that if we deploy more
than just a military strategy to solve issues
like terrorism that there is a much better
chance for Afghanistan’s future. Brooks and
other experts feel that women’s rights, and
other social variables, are the way to really
keep the momentum for change going. In
a recent article Brook’s is quoted as saying,
“It’s just false to say Afghanistan has always
been the way the Taliban wanted it to be.
It hasn’t. It changed before; it could
change again.”
It’s important to remember that the kind
of change we are looking for in Afghanistan
is not going to happen in the blink of an eye.
We are talking about long-term, deeply em-
bedded change. The kind of change that lasts.
That is why next year CAI and our
in-country partners will be supporting proj-
ects in eastern provinces like Nangarhar,
Laghman, Khost, and Kunar, as well as in
Kabul, where refugee and IDP populations
are mostly found. We want to help the need-
iest of the needy. Those who have been for-
gotten or neglected by other organizations.
Most of our programs are geared toward
women, change makers who share what they
gain with their families and communities.
The need in these provinces is staggering
and will only multiply with time if we don’t
take action right now. Together with gen-
erous donors, charitable foundations, and
international government aid programs we
can have an essential, positive impact on
the lives of these children, women, and men
before it’s too late. The crisis in Afghanistan
is not unsolvable, as long as people like you
continue to care.
TAJIKISTAN, THE COUNTRY
OF WOMEN
Tajikistan is an amazing country. Driving
down roadways that used to be part of the
Silk Road trade route, one can’t help but
think that the only thing that can outshine
the beauty of this country is the kindness
of its people, who are always welcoming,
generous, and genuine.
Presented with such hospitality and
tranquility, it is difficult to remember that not
long ago Tajikistan experienced significant
hardships. A civil war that claimed the
lives of an estimated 200,000 people and
displaced 600,000 ended just twenty years
ago. When it was over and peace accords
were signed in 1997, the country’s already
struggling economy was in ruins.
The poorest of the former Soviet
Republics, 30 percent of Tajikistan house-
holds are below the poverty line. Jobs
are hard to come by and Tajikistanis are
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