Will you dare to dream with us?
Since 1999, Canadians in Support of Afghan Women, CSAW, has worked with Principal/teacher, Nazaneen Majeed to educate children in Afghanistan. Most schools are permanent buildings, but in this region outside of Jalalabad, the schools are tents. Flash flooding has caused the complete relocation of tent schools and severe winter conditions and wind have caused damage as well. It has been the DREAM of their principal, Nazaneen Majeed and the members of CSAW to establish a permanent school building to replace these tents. This would be the only school available to the 500 students who are desperately seeking an education.
We were about to establish a Building Fund
and were going to begin to collect donations for this project when an
extraordinary DREAMER and benefactor, an engineer from Calgary,
appeared. He is presently at the site of the school overseeing the
project.
October 14, 2008, he sent us an email that said:
" God Bless you and all the
people who are working on this wonderful project.
Every day when I am on the site at 11 AM, there comes a windstorm and
the tents are flopping and sand blowing in your face, then I say to
myself this is the perfect site to build a school.
Later on when the sun moves over the horizon, the kids are exposed to
the sun and they are cramped, sometimes 100 in a tent. Then again I
reaffirm our commitment."
View photos of the construction here
November 06, 2008, we have just received more pictures of the School Project, with a message from the planner and builder...
"The construction is going
well and is slightly behind due to contractor lack of planning and us
not having all of the material on site. We are still hoping for all
of the walls up and the roof poured before December 15. Then it would
take another 15 days before we can start plastering and finishing the
floors. This we hope should occur in mid January and the children can
move in before the onslaught of winter.
I am keeping well and safe in Jalalabad. Hope you all watched the
recent election in the US and how it fulfilled Martin Luther King's
dream.
Hope the new administration can bring peace and stability to this troubled world.
Peace and love"
Check out the new pictures here
November 07, 2008, we received the
following update communiqué from the engineer...
"Thanks for the encouragement and support for this well
deserved project. Yesterday we cut wood for the school doors and
windows. They will be installed on Saturday. Half of the school is
almost finished and we will pour cement in 10 days time.
Regards"
November 10, 2008 - We received this letter from our engineer overseeing the project. New photos are posted here.
November 15, 2008 - An article written by our own CSAW members Bev and Linda Middaugh in response to the horrendous attack with acid on girls heading to school in Afghanistan, leaving one girl blind from the attack. The article is called Building from Tears and is from the Oakville Beaver.
November 19, 2008 - An interview with Sally Armstrong, guest speaker for the DARE TO DREAM fundraiser appears in the Oakville Beaver. The article is titled Women leading reform against the odds.
November 21, 2008 - From our builder in Afghanistan
"Thanks for the newsy email on your groups efforts to do fund
raising. On Thursday I took a friend to the site to see the
preparation for the big event of pouring cement. The contractor had
also requested me to see if the steel reinforcement rods were
properly laid. I walked over the roof and it is an imposing view. It
is like a sea of iron bars as far as the eye can see and it is on
only the half of the roof. I will send photos tomorrow if the pour
goes on as planned. After I came down, the steel layer gave an order
to bring more steel. I was shocked to learn that we needed another 2
1/2 tons costing us 2000 US$.
The bathroom project is also coming along fine. This site is full of
boulders some of the size 2 foot in diameter so digging deep trenches
for the toilets is somewhat of a problem.
That is all for now. Stay tuned for more pictures from tomorrow's
lift of cement.
Regards."
Photos here, show the framework on the roof, the poured cement on the roof and a side view of the men doing the work cementing the roof.
December 2008 - An interview with Nazaneen about the new school and the people in this area is available here.
December 04, 2008 - We received this letter from our builder. We also received these pictures of the construction progress.
January 12, 2009 - The following communiqué was received. Here are the pictures that arrived with the letter, showing the building close to completion.
January 15, 2009 - NEW YORK TIMES:
Afghan Girls, Scarred by Acid, Defy Terror, Embracing School
Today, nearly all of the wounded girls are back at the Mirwais School
for Girls, including even Shamsia, whose face was so badly burned
that she had to be sent abroad for treatment. Perhaps even more
remarkable, nearly every other female student in this deeply
conservative community has returned as well &emdash; about 1,300 in
all...read more here: N
Y TIMES
January 17, 2009 - Ash Khan , visionary and builder of the school has returned to Calgary after build has been completed. Read the story details here in the Calgary Sun.
October, 2009 - "The most incredible part of my whole Afghan experience was witnessing the enthusiasm for education displayed by the young girls in the village school near Jalalabad."
- Read more as Ash Khan reflects on his Afghanistan experience.
FUNDRAISER:DARE TO DREAM:BUILD A SCHOOL IN
AFGHANISTAN (flyer)
The members of Canadians in Support of Afghan Women hosted a
fundraiser on Sunday, November 23rd at 2 pm in the afternoon
at
St. John's United Church
262 Randall Street
OAKVILLE, ON.
Sally Armstrong spoke about her new book; Bitter Roots,Tender Shoots: The Uncertain Fate of the Women of Afghanistan. The event was a huge success, and thank you to all who participated. Here are some photos from the event.
Finally, the Grand Opening of our school in July 2009.