After being banned from school and work, during the reign of the Taliban, young girls in Afghanistan are steadily reclaiming their education.
In 2002 women's literacy was 6.5 percent, and though school was open again, most classes were held outside in dirt fields without school supplies.
Through American Friendship Foundation (a national grass-roots organization fostering cross-cultural relationships) students and parents at Coe Elementary are helping to change the learning environment for Afghani children, one bake sale at a time.
Despite divisions of culture and language, paths of understanding are being forged through education between children at Coe Elementary and children in Afghanistan.
"What we're working on is a curriculum project so that students are doing mutual study," said Jennifer Geist, a longtime supporter of global education and the Afghan Schools Project at Coe Elementary. "What we're doing is we want the students in both places to be able to benefit from each other's study, so if they work on the same theme and topics and share it they can sort of educate each other and be primary resources for each other."
Geist, who is also the International Schools Coordinator and Curriculum Director for Bridges to Understanding-an organization focused on connecting children worldwide through digital storytelling-works with Journey with an Afghan School project creator, Julie Bolz, and Coe parent Barbara Ford.
Ford, a parent volunteer with the program for four years, said the added curriculum will be piloted this coming school year, and is an optional extension of the curriculum for Coe teachers. The hope is to make the connection with Afghanistan more sustainable by "having it be part of the academic fabric of the school."
However, the plans are still at the earliest planning stages and nothing concrete will be decided until the fall.
"It's in its infancy. Right now we're putting pieces in place," Geist said. "We're just planning next steps to deepen the relationship."
The trio is using Journey with an Afghan School, which connected with Coe in 2002, as a jumping point for creating deeper relationships with children in Afghanistan.
"[This project] is really powerful for the kids," Ford said. "It just becomes part of who the kids are, part of their history and I think it will have a ripple effect as our children go forward and become future global citizens."
Coe students wrote friendship cards to Afghani children who were going to the very school the Coe students and their parents helped build by raising money. Two years ago, Coe students made "wish flags" for the students that described hopes they had for Afghan students.
The flags were sewn along a ribbon that stretched about 300 feet long and it now hangs in the main hallway of the Afghani school. The Afghani students sent their wishes back on similar wish flags.
Becoming global citizens may be one of the first steps toward replacing misconceptions with understanding and dialogue, Geist and others feel.
"My whole career has been devoted to helping teachers bring global perspectives into the classroom. Our next task in education is to globalize it," Geist said. "I think it's our way to peace; it's through understanding and education."
But the barriers to creating relationships of understanding is not an easy challenge. Geist points out the resources to support the goals of something like the Afghan Schools Project, and this extension of the project, are limited.
"We all give a lot of lip service to how important it is and when it comes down to it, we put a lot of resources elsewhere," Geist said.
However, at Coe there has been no shortage of enthused support. Up to now, Coe students and parents have raised more than $25,000 for the Afghan Schools Project. Initial fundraising was used to open a school in Afghanistan, and every year the project raises $3,600 to put toward maintaining the school or providing needed infrastructure. Last year, the money went toward building a well.
In a reflection letter on the program, Bolz wrote, "When we speak to the Afghan teachers, students and the principal in Afghanistan about Coe, eyes simply light up. Despite the miles, this community has managed to bring hope and opportunity to one of the most desperate places on earth."[[In-content Ad]]
