Help Support Kids 4 Afghan Kids Schools

We are in the early stages of a new school year at the Kids 4 Afghan Kids’ project in rural Afghanistan.  Unlike schools in the United States, our school year runs from March until December.  We close during the winter months when it is too cold for the children to walk to schools, particularly because many must walk for hours and very often have inadequate – or no - shoes and coats.

On the original campus, our school year finished very well last year with 2,400 children in school and 150 graduating from high school.   The clinic, fruit trees and bakery continue to help improve people’s lives.  Construction on the hospital is moving along well.  We also are still searching for a cottage industry, such as saffron growing or textiles, which would allow the village to become more self- sustaining.

Our well, which broke after 10 years of continuous service, was repaired, thanks to help from donors on GlobalGiving and the Wardak family in Afghanistan.   The Wardak family also has generously offered to pay the ongoing costs of operating the original project, so we can concentrate on building the new, northern campus.

Construction on the new campus will begin this spring.   The first priority will be to put in a well and a learning center that will house classes.  We will then build a school and a clinic similar to those in the original campus.   Hopefully, with your help, we will eventually have two elementary schools, and two high schools, one each for boys and girls.  The learning center will then become a community library. 

As always, we also appreciate our great community support here in Michigan.  A marketing class at the University of Michigan studied Kids 4 Afghan Kids as a class project and will give us their recommendations next week.  We are excited to learn about new ways to communicate about our project and our results!   We also would like to thank the Northville Community Senior Center, Northville High School’s chapter of the National  Honor Society and several parent volunteers for their help in raising money.   Several times a year, the Senior Center holds a Handcrafters’ craft fair.  The high school students volunteer to help the artists carry in their artwork and set up booths, and later help them break down the booths and cart out their belongings.   The crafters tip the students, who then donate the tips to us.  These tips are sufficient to pay the costs of educating several students at the project.

As always, we also greatly appreciate our GlobalGiving Donors.  Thank you for being an integral part of our efforts!