Help Educate Women & Girls in Afghanistan

Dear Friends of Sahar,

Your steadfast support of Afghan girls education has made a world of difference in the lives of women like Halima university bound graduates of Sahar’s programs in Mazar-i-Sharif. We continue to recognize that by educating the next generation of Afghan leaders, Sahar’s work is a part of creating a better world. With the U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan looming, the reverberations of decades of war surface when envisioning the direction for the future of girls’ education.

Even with the tremendous strides Sahar has made by building and repairing 18 war-torn schools and providing access to education for over 250,000 girls, students like Halima reflect on the persistent challenges facing her community, “Afghan society is still a male dominated society. People do not believe in the power of their daughters. They think that only boys can do anything.” Halima is part of a crucial generation in Afghanistan. According to the UN Population Fund, 63.7% of the population is under the age of 25, positioning youth as a vital force for strong leadership and peace in the country. 

“I wish to become self-sufficient and serve my nation along with my brothers. Women are not only for staying at home and doing housework. I have so many plans and I really want to fulfill them. I want to be a midwife and enter university to become a professor of English.” - Halima

On behalf of Halima and Afghan girls education, thank you for your on-going support of Sahar! 

With Gratitude,

Ginna

Dear Friends of Sahar,

Thank you for being a part of our work! We know that this is not an easy time and we are exceptionally grateful for your support.

2020 was a challenging year for us, as it was for so many. Close to a year ago, Afghanistan’s Ministry of Education closed all educational institutions. We responded by moving our work online using WhatsApp to administer lessons and foster dialogue. In September of 2020, Afghan schools began to reopen and our students returned to their classrooms with new safety measures like mask-wearing, temperature checks, and social distancing in place.

With a new year upon us, we are celebrating the 31 students who graduated from our Early Marriage Prevention Program (EMPP) on December 21st, 2020. We are especially proud of their hard work in light of the additional challenges of schooling during COVID-19 times. Through their coursework, these students explored leadership, women’s rights, reproductive health, and girls’ education. 

“When girls get an education, their families and their countries are promoted as well. The educated girls not only change their own life, but also the world,” says Zulikha, a recent EMPP graduate, who has big ambitions for the future. One of eleven children, Zulkiha was born in a remote village in Faryab province where the Taliban prohibited girls’ education. When she was 8 years old, Zulikha’s family moved to Mazar-e-Sharif so that she and her seven sisters could go to school. Now in the 10th grade, Zulikha would eventually like to return to her village to build a girls’ school. She also hopes to become a writer so she can share the bravery and resilience of Afghan women.

We alsolook forward to continuing to promote gender equity through coding classes, digital literacy courses, teacher training and the state-of-the-art girls’ boarding school we are building for girls like Zulikha. Thanks to your generous support, more and more Afghan girls will have the tools, resources and knowledge they need to advocate for themselves and for their futures.

On behalf of the whole Sahar team, thank you for your support. We could not fight for girls’ education in Afghanistan without you, especially not now.

Gratefully,

Ginna Brelsford