Education for Children with Disabilities in Kabul

Dear donors,

Once again, we are writing to express our deepest thanks for your generous support that has helped us sustain the functioning of our school for disabled children in Kabul. So far we have been able to deploy the raised funds in providing lunch, uniforms and books to our students. Additionally, for the convenience of the students, we have also provided bookshelves in classrooms to store the books that the students and teachers use at the school.  Our local contact on the ground has been coordinating these activities within fixed timelines with impeccable dedication. In the near future, we are planning to provide transportation facilities to the students that face difficulties in commuting to the school.

Generous gifts from donors like you have provided us the financial and moral support to continue our mission. With your faithful contributions we hope to demonstrate our commitment to providing education to the disabled children in Kabul.

To show how your support has played a key role in bringing hope to these children’s lives, we have three testimonials of our students to fully express our gratitude for your loyalty.

We look forward to a continuing partnership with you!

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 ‘My name is Zarmina.  I am a deaf student in BDN Afghanistan National School of the Deaf and I am studying in grade 10.  My native province is Kapisa and we are living in Bagh–e- Rais, Kabul. We are six people in the family. My sister, my brother and I are deaf. I am very happy to study in the 10^th grade. I am ranked the 3^rd best student of my class. I am very keen to learn and understand things like ordinary people. We are very poor, my father works as a cleaner in an office.  We live in a rented house. My parents have difficulty in paying the fee for my school transportation, because the Ministry for the Disabled has stopped the buses for our school and we do not know what to do.

Zarmina

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 ‘I am a deaf student in BDN Afghanistan National School of the Deaf and I am studying in grade 9. I am from Kabul province and we live in Char Qala- Kabul. We are 12 people in my family and we live in a rented house. My sister, my brother and myself are deaf.  I am very happy that I am a student of 9^th class; I like to read books and play football. Like many other children of my age, I am very keen to learn new things.  We have a lot of problems in our family because my father is jobless and he is not able to pay my transportation fee for my school. He says that our future is not very clear’.

Sayed Baqer Shah

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‘I am Shakila a deaf student in BDN Afghanistan National School of the Deaf. I am studying in the 6^th grade. Among all subjects, I like Algebra the most. I am from Kohistan and live in Kabul province. We are seven in our family. My sister, two of my brothers and I are deaf. My other sister is mentally disabled and cannot walk.  My father is a poor man. He is a mason. He works hard but cannot earn enough money to pay my transportation fee for my school in addition our house expenses.  I am very happy to attend school and have nice classmates to communicate with them. My parents do not know how to communicate by sign language, and therefore I am very happy to be at school. We live in a rented house very far from school’.

Shakila

BDN Global extends its gratitude to its donors that helped us raise 5'770 USD and to earn a permanent spot on Global Giving. Our target goal for our school for the disabled children in Kabul is set for 20'000 USD.

Thanks to your generous donations, we were able to use these funds for bringing improvements to our school. A local resident from the Kabul area was employed on a temporary contract starting from the 1st of April 2014 for a salary of 300 USD/month. This employee did not have a job and by giving him the opportunity to work for us, we have been able to offer him an attractive source of income to support his family. This employee serves as our local contact for the school. So far he has obtained three different quotations from independent vendors for the purchase of uniforms, books and for providing lunch to the 157 girls and 352 boys attending the school. He is also in charge of planting trees and green shrubs in the school playground. He arranged the planting of about 30 cedar trees to make the school playground greener and more welcoming for the children.

A big thank you to each one of you who made this possible! Your generous donations mean a world to each and every single child attending this school. Thanks to your support, we at BDN will continue to serve the marginalized and vulnerable children in Kabul who actually did not choose to be born disabled. With your help, these children will grow in a loving, nurturing and healthy environment with dignity.

The BDN team thanks you for your trust and belief in our efforts. We will update you on the progress made in providing a suitable playground, uniforms, lunches and books to our students. We will make sure to put your gifts to good use.

Do you have any questions or suggestions concerning this project? If so, please do not hesitate to enquire about any aspect concerning our school. We will be very happy to have your input for the progress of this endeavour!

With kindest regards,

The BDN Global Team

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