“Ali Khidadad is a boy who lost his father a few years ago. He is living with his uncle.  He is registered in English class.  His teacher says he is very clever and really wants to learn English.  He always gives thanks for the director of this center.”

These are the kinds of stories we see every month.  Young men are entering classes and not giving into some other way of life despite their circumstances.  They know that education is key to bringing their own lives and their country forward.

Thank you to all of you who supported this project this year.  You are making a difference.

Another program has been started in Herat at the restored Gawhar Shad Musalla Complex that is helping to train boys as well as girls.  In addition to their continued offerings in their Learning Centers, The Afghan Institute of Learning has set up several cultural and specialty classes at the Complex in hopes of attracting the attention of young students and to continue some of the historical Afghan craftmaking. 

A new program they are offering is a three month photography course.  Immediately, seven young men enrolled in the course.  AIL continuously expands their programs to keep the young men of Afghanistan engaged in education and job skills.

AIL is seeing increasing numbers of young men in some of their centers. They are excited to have the opportunity to learn.  The following story is from one of the students at a rural center in a very conservative area far from Herat City, which just recently opened:

“I am Mohammad Elham, one of Dy-Dana (CBO) ‘s student. It has to be mentioned that the center makes lots of efforts to provide contribution to students in their school subjects and solve their problems by the skillful and professional teachers. On the other hand, the teachers aware us about social, ethical, Islamic and cultural matters and always serve students. I thank the educational services of A.I.L. to spiritually improve people.”

Mohammad, one of the English students, said, “One of my great wishes was to speak English.  This wish of mine has been accomplished with the help of my hardworking teachers. I hope that AIL continues to support teachers in different parts of Afghanistan in order to totally eliminate illiteracy, and that our country could compete with other countries across the world.”

Grateful and Undaunted

At this time of year, we are reminded of our many blessings and how the people in our lives enrich us and bring joy to every day. All of us at the Afghan Institute of Learning (AIL) are especially grateful to you, for your generous support of our efforts to help the people of Afghanistan overcome many challenges:  women are emerging from the darkness of illiteracy to a bright and hopeful future; rural Afghan villages are being empowered to provide education and health care for their children – boys and girls; young men and boys who were part of the violence are finding a reason to believe in peace. All of this and much more is possible because of your contribution. Thank you!

As you celebrate this Holiday Season and anticipate the approach of the New Year, we hope that you will think of us again and make another donation to help ensure AIL is able to continue our work. You have most likely heard that Afghanistan continues to suffer terrible insecurity and poverty. But AIL is undaunted by the headlines because we know that the people of Afghanistan are working hard every day to improve their lives and the future of their country. Together with the people of Afghanistan, we are confident because we know that people like you believe in us and stand by us.

When you make your donation, check out the Tribute Card and Gift Card options – and please tell a friend about AIL and encourage them to make a donation too.

No matter what our circumstances today, when we believe in each other and work together, we can be assured that tomorrow will be better. Seasons Greetings and thank you again.

Sakena Yacoobi

AIL Executive Director

Many boys benefit from the programs offered by the Afghan Institute of Learning (AIL).  When boys (or girls) do not have the money to pay for certain courses, like English, AIL offers them scholarships. The programs help boys like Ali Khodadad from following other paths:

Ali Khodadad is a boy who lost his father a few years ago. He is living with his uncle.  He couldn’t afford to pay the fee for the English class at the AIL center so AIl gave him a scholarship.  Now, he is registered in English class and is studying well; his teacher says he is very clever and really wants to learn English.  He always thanks the director of this center who helps those who have a bad economic situation.

In addition to educating women and girls, the Afghan Institute of Learning also offers classes to helped to educate boys and young men in the AIL Learning Centers. Education allows Afghan males to find good employment and support their families, and offers an option to joining more extreme factions. 4,011 boys studied at AIL centers and schools in the first half of 2010.

Here’s a story from one of these boys: “My name is Mohammed. I am 18 years old and a student of class 11. Besides being a good carpenter, I want to be a good student. I found Nasir Khisraw Balkhi Center one of the best centers to learn. After getting admission in this center, I knew my choice was good. It is a place where people can get education and learn. I feel proud to be a student of this center. It has been 6 months that I study in the English class. Now I am able to teach some English to small children of our area, for which I receive a little fee from my students. I use this for my pocket money and also to support my family. I want to thank the AIL Office and all its staff members and wish them success.”

We’d like to share some great news with you that will give you a better understanding of our project and the work we do in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Through the generosity of the Skoll Foundation, a timely video was produced about life in Afghanistan and the work AIL is doing to make a difference. The film producer and crew did a beautiful job capturing the essence of the best of the Afghan people, and the struggles they work with to achieve a better life. This film is now on YouTube, and it will be the best seven minutes you spend today. Moderated by Sakena Yacoobi, AIL’s executive director, this video offers a true taste of Afghanistan. Here’s the link to view it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7t1Xu_MwHg We are also adding this as a permanent link to this project for future viewing. Your donation makes a precious impact on the lives of Afghan men, women and children. We thank you for your past support, and encourage you to forward this message to those who can help to continue this important work.

A reminder: June 16 is a special Global Giving Matching Day! - GlobalGiving will be matching all donations up to $1,000 per donor per project for this project at a 50% match. If you could like to donate again to our project, your donation will go further on June 16th. Thank you for your support….

Links:

• Wonderful Video about AIL and Life in Afghanistan

In 2009, the Afghan Institute of Learning helped to educate 5,700 boys and young men in AIL Learning Centers. Education allows Afghan males to find good employment and support their families, and offers an option to joining more extreme factions. Other AIL Accomplishments in 2009 included: • AIL trained over 1,800 Afghan teachers in pedagogy subjects, leadership, human rights, and school health. These teachers went to their classes and directly impacted over 500,000 students teaching these important subjects. • Nearly 23,000 students (primarily women and children) attended classes at AIL educational learning centers. • Over 362,000 Afghans received medical treatment and health education from AIL’s 6 health clinics and community health worker program. • In January 2010, AIL expanded humanitarian aid efforts with the harsh winter and reached out to 22 families in need. AIL staff delivered to each family quantities of rice, cooking oil and tea. Most heads of the family were widows with children from Herat, and were recommended by community members. • In February 2010, flooding in the Enjil district of Herat destroyed many family homes, and AIL responded with a concerted effort of initial food aid. Reminder: On March 16, 2010, GlobalGiving will be matching all donations made to any project on www.globalgiving.org by 30% (up to $1,000 per person)! If you could like to donate again to our project, your donation will go further on March 16th!!!

Dear donors to the ‘Help Afghan Boys Trade Guns for Books’:

We want to sincerely thank you for your many donations to this important project in Afghanistan. Our original goal was to reach $30,000.00, and we are nearly at that goal. However, due to the ongoing sensitive situation in Afghanistan, there is a still critical need to offer an option to boys and young men. Giving them the opportunity to become literate and get an education allows a choice that is different from the more extreme, violent options facing young males.

We have increased our funding goal to $40,000.00 to address this ongoing need. The Afghan Institute of Learning and Creating Hope International have used your donated funds to start and continue classes for boys and young men in several of our educational learning centers. Students are learning to read and have gone on to other subjects such as math, science, and computer technology. With this training, young men have the opportunity to find good jobs to support themselves and their families. In all our classes we also discuss human rights, democratic principles and peace. Your donations have, and will, continue to allow Afghan males a chance to improve and grow.

Thank you again for all your support.

Afghanistan is in the news a lot these days. As a donor to a project in Afghanistan, you may be wondering if change is happening, and if your donation really makes any difference. Following is a message from Dr. Sakena Yacoobi that answers your questions. It’s part of our annual newsletter, where we also share progress reports from several areas, and the impact AIL’s work is having in Afghan lives. This newsletter is below in a PDF format; we invite you to click on it and read ALL the details……

From Sakena Yacoobi: First, I want to thank all of you for supporting the work of the Afghan Institute of Learning (AIL). Your support is so important. Yes, the funds you send help us to bring education and health to so many Afghan women and children. But, more importantly, in this time of increasing violence and insecurity in Afghanistan, your support helps Afghans to know that they are not forgotten. It gives ordinary Afghan women, men and children the courage to keep studying, to keep going to clinics and to keep working for peace.

Today you probably hear that Afghanistan is a place of war, terrorist bombings, burning of schools, kidnapping, drugs and all kinds of other horrible things. And it is true that in every province of Afghanistan, including the capitol, every single day, these kinds of things are happening. But what you might not hear in your news is that everyday many women, men and children of Afghanistan get up in the morning….. say goodbye to their family…..and go to work….. go to schools and centers ….. go to trainings……because they know that they must be educated. They know that the only way they can stop these problems is to be educated. So they are learning, they are teaching and they are not afraid.

And when there is no electricity or no clean water or no school or no road or no job and there is no help from the national government or the international agencies, Afghans, particularly women, are joining together in community or with their local officials to find ways to solve their own problems. And, with your help, AIL is helping them to do this. I want to let you know that as dark as it seems to be in Afghanistan now, much is happening. Afghans, themselves, are changing. They are educating themselves; they are making sure that their children are educated; they are finding new ways to solve their problems. I would ask you to walk with us a little further on our journey towards peace.

TO READ the rest of our annual newsletter, please click on the PDF link below and it will open for your inspection-

• 2009 Newsletter (PDF)
  

Thank you for your support. Your desire to make a difference in this world has made a difference, and we are very thankful that Afghan people have had their lives changed with your help.

We wanted to share with you a very special opportunity to give more than 100% from November 10 through December 1st. Please share this with those you know who care. During this time, we are privileged to receive additional matching funds from your donation through Global Giving of at least 30%. The need is still great. Afghanistan struggles to become a country of strength and stability.

In the month of September, AIL taught 2,881 males. The opportunity for an education is a crucial alternative for Afghan boys. Without the opportunity to better themselves, these boys have a much higher chance to drift into the murky world of militant fighting and extremist propaganda. Providing basic literacy, advanced education in math, science, English and computer training gives Afghan boys and men the basics needed to develop strong jobs and be an asset to the Afghan society.

There's a new focus on women worldwide. The New York Times magazine dedicated their entire issue one week in August on women in the developing world. Of particular focus was a newly launched book written by the well-known Pulitzer winning couple Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl DuWunn titled: "Half The Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity for Women Worldwide". The press focus on this timely book is significant- from reviews in Harvard and People magazine, to upcoming segments on shows like "The Today Show", the time has come for women and their issues worldwide to be in the spotlight.

Sakena Yacoobi and her organization the Afghan Institute of Learning is one of the topics in Chapter Nine of the book. Dr. Yacoobi grew up in Herat, Afghanistan and then came to the United States to study at the University of the Pacific and Loma Linda University. Concerned about the condition of her people back in Afghanistan, Sakena returned to Pakistan to work in Afghan refugee camps and later went to Afghanistan. Although the Taliban forbade girls from getting an education in Afghanistan, Sakena was instrumental in establishing a string of secret girls schools with community support.

Today, the Afghan Institute of Learning has multiple education programs in Pakistan and in seven provinces of Afghanistan. There are educational learning centers for women and children, preschool programs, post-secondary institutes, a university, and teacher training programs. In addition, AIL has an in-depth program of health education and treatment for women and small children. Since its start in 1995, AIL has trained nearly 16,000 teachers and over 3.5 million women and children have received a quality education. With the health programs included, AIL has directly impacted over 6.7 million Afghans.

Sakena has been and continues to be recognized for her work. Her philosophy is to develop a program from the grass-roots level so the community members are an integral part of the process. State Kristof and DuWunn in their book Half The Sky- "American organizations would have accomplished much more if they had financed and supported Sakena, rather than dispatching their own representatives to Kabul...The best role for Americans who want to help Muslim women isn't holding the microphone at the front of the rally, but writing the checks and carrying the bags in the back."

Dr. Yacoobi and the work of the Afghan Institute of Learning have been supported by multiple grantors and organizations over the years. "I wish to thank everyone who has helped in this important work," states Sakena. "I want to share with each and every contributor the joy of seeing a young woman, who has a renewed interest in life because she can now read, or the happiness of a widow who has learned a skill that will allow her to support her children.

"We now have children who are healthy because of inoculations, and women who did not die during childbirth who have happy, healthy babies. My wish is that these small steps that allow awareness and growth in families will lead to the growth of our country."

Recently, we spoke with Sakena, and she has this message to all the supporters of AIL:

"It is an honor to be included in Nicholas' and Sheryl's book Half The Sky. So many foundations and individuals have contributed to the work that the Afghan Institute of Learning has been able to do in Afghanistan.

"From the bottom of my heart I want to thank all who have understood the plight of Afghan women and children, and have reached out with compassionate, caring support.

"May God reward your generosity......."

Sakena

Recently, AIL was asked by the Afghan Ministry of Women’s Affairs to report on the impact AIL’s programs have had. We were amazed by our findings. Since beginning in 1996 through May 2009, 220,970 Afghans have been educated in AIL schools, centers and post-secondary programs and overall 6,778,026 Afghan lives have been directly impacted by AIL programs.

Although most of the students in AIL centers and schools are women and girls, AIL is also educating boys who have not had an opportunity to go to school during the war years. During the first 6 months of 2009, your donations helped AIL educate 4,177 Afghan boys in Educational Learning Centers in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

We’d like to share with you the story of a young man who has come to AIL to supplement his university education. He says, “I am studying Trigonometry at this Institute. I have been studying here for about four months as well as studying at the university for my Bachelors of Business Administration Degree. My major aim (in coming to the center) is to focus on the sciences because I have the most problems with them. I have also come to this center because almost all of the teachers here come from the university and teach different subjects here. The discipline in this Institute is good and all the teachers have good behavior with their students.”

In 2008, the Afghan Institute of Learning helped to educate 8,984 boys in AIL Learning Centers. We would like to share the story of Mohammad, a teenaged boy studying at an AIL Learning Center: He says, "When I was 8 years old, I wanted to go to school, but my father didn't let me go. He told me to go control the cows and work in the fields; I had to accept his orders. When I turned 12 years old, I asked my father to let me get an education like the other boys, and he brought me to school. In the beginning, I had lots of problems in my school subjects because my father couldn't help me. I heard about this center of AIL and joined. I want to say that our teacher is very kind. We don't feel that he is a teacher, he behaves like a father and now I am learning a lot!!" Thanks to all of your who have contributed to this project for helping boys like Mohammad have an opportunity to have a quality education!!!!

We would like to share with you the story of Mohammad, a male student in one of AIL’s centers. “My name is Mohammad and I have been a student of AIL’s English course for a long time. I was studying English before I can to the center, but I had problems in my previous school. The teacher did not pay attention to each student because the class had nearly 50 students in it. That made me very nervous, and one day my friend told me to join AIL’s English course because the teachers were very talented, and they use new methods during teaching. After I joined this course, my problems have decreased and I am so happy and thankful for my teacher who has helped me. I wish my teacher success in the future.”

Between January and July 2008, Creating Hope International’s partner, the Afghan Institute of Learning (AIL), has held classes for 3,296 Afghan boys in educational learning centers and schools in Herat, Kabul and Parwan, Afghanistan and Peshawar, Pakistan.

A male student from AIL’s Mir Bacha Kot Center said, “I am a student of an AIL English course. Because of the fighting in the country, we left our country and I didn’t have the opportunity to continue my education. Since the AIL center was established in our village I got admission and have learned how to read and write. I am so happy now and appreciate that AIL reaches out to the rural areas and provides educational opportunity for all levels.”

The Boys Education Project of the Afghan Institute of Learning (AIL) has been very successful. The project targets educating older boys who have not had an opportunity to attend school or are behind in their schooling because of the fighting over the years in Afghanistan.

Although known for its highly successful programs for females, AIL has always provided education for boys as well. In 2002, at the request of the boys themselves, AIL began supporting a special school for older boys and advanced classes for boys in Mir Bacha Kot. In 2006, the special school was closed because ALL of the boys, through the fast track AIL system, had been able to mainstream into regular Afghan schools. The advanced classes in Mir Bacha Kot continue in the afternoons for boys who need remedial work or who are trying to ‘catch up” with their age group.

Presently, AIL is providing education to 4467 boys in various centers and classes. Because of the demand and the lack of funding for boys classes, AIL has increased the number of boys to be helped through Global Giving to 360.

• AIL 2005 Annual Report (PDF)
  

Between January and August 2006, the Afghan Institute of Learning (AIL) has held classes for 6,157 Afghan boys in educational learning centers and schools in Herat, Kabul and Parwan, Afghanistan and Peshawar, Pakistan.

Creating Hope International shares this mid-year report from the Afghan Institute of Learning, highlighting some of AIL's recent successes!

• Afghan Institute of Learning Report (DOC)