Help Afghan Boys Trade Guns for Books

One of AIL’s primary goals is to raise the level of education across Afghanistan. Improving the rate of literacy is one of the stepping stones to that goal. An educated people is the key to a self-supporting country. Literacy is elemental to education and can be attained at any age. AIL staff are always encouraging people, no matter their age, to attend a literacy class. Boys are encouraged to start learning with literacy or to restart their education if it has been interrupted. Classes are provided but so are reading materials which are needed for literacy skills to grow. AIL supports libraries and library rooms at its Learning Centers so students, including boys have access to books, learn to research questions or problems, and gain confidence in their reading ability.

The Citadel Library in Herat, which AIL supports, continues to attract people with around 170-200 visitors each month.   AIL’s Calligraphy  Class at the Citadel has  23 male students who are learning this ancient Afghan art. AIL continues to add to its own library in its office in Herat and aims to enlarge the subject matter collection so that people have a resource, whatever the topic they are interested in. AIL also seeks donations where possible and recently 300 songbooks (Awsana se Sana) were sent to its Kabul Office along with over 800 teachers guides.

Thank you for your interest in literacy in Afghanistan.

As elsewhere in the world, computing skills are highly desirable to employers. AIL students are aware of this fact and are fascinated by computers. The boys computing class in one village in Kabul Province is always full. This class was set up as an offshoot from the Learning Center (LC established in the village by AIL in 2002.  The village also has an AIL medical clinic. The LC provides literacy, math, English and sewing skills training as well as advanced classes for boys who need remedial work for school. The center then decided to set up a computer class as this was frequently requested. The class teaches Word, Excel and Windows.

These classes change lives as one student said,” For poor people in our country AIL is the seashore at the time of a shipwreck and as a poet said, you should take the hand of a falling person when you stand on your feet. In this situation AIL is a boat for the generation of youth and we will never forget their help.”

Many of AIL’s centers offer computing classes and in September, in Herat Province there were 166 male students studying computing at LCs. There is also a special English and Computing 6 month course offered at a few centers. The latter course is especially popular as it combines two highly regarded skills and makes navigating the internet that much easier.

Thanks for your support. We have included Creating Hope International’s 2014 newsletter which contains information on AIL’s work. We hope you will take a few minutes to read through it.

• Newsletter2014_FINAL_v2.pdf (PDF)