Support Children's Literacy in Afghanistan

August 15th, 2023 marked two years since the Taliban entered Kabul and drastically altered the future trajectory of Afghanistan, as well as the lives of our team, the families, children, and communities we serve.

What hasn't changed, however, is our dedication and drive to bring literacy, learning, and critical thinking to Afghan children. Six days a week, our team continues to provide young Afghans with books, games, arts and crafts, and literacy and numeracy instruction, preparing them to be agents of change in their own lives.

So far in 2023, our Mobile Libraries have reached nearly 194,000 child visitors, and about 54% of visitors have been girls.

This month, children visiting Charmaghz’s libraries have particularly enjoyed the story “Sleep Teddy Bear,” which is about a tired Teddy Bear who tries to find a calm place to sleep and runs into many misadventures along the way.

To further support children's literacy, our team has recently been working to document the many different games that Librarians play with childern to support their reading skills; play and activity-based learning is a critical strategy for supporting childern to learn the fundamentals of reading. We hope to compile a central database that Librarians can refer to and utilize when planning activities with children, ensuring all children who visit Charmaghz's libraries receive quality literacy instruction

Dear Friends of Charmaghz, 

We are so grateful for your ongoing support of our literacy project in Afghanistan. Your donations make it possible for us to help marginalized children in Kabul learn to read, and develop a love of books.

Updates From Our Libraries

Over the past few months our team has been hard at work upgrading our libraries to support an even more impactful literacy program. We have been redecorating and refurnishing the libraries to ensure we are offering children the best possible learning environment.

In addition, Charmaghz is partnering with Boum-e-Dana, an Afghan children's book publisher, to provide books for our literacy program that feature Afghan storytellers and illustrators. Boum-e-Dana and Charmaghz share a belief that all children should see themselves in the books they read, and that such books contribute to a culture of reading and storytelling in Afghanistan.

Opening Three New Education Centers to Support Girls’ Literacy

We are thrilled to announce that in the coming months, in partnership with Malala Fund, Charmaghz is opening three new education centers, which will support 500 young girls to learn to read and do basic math. We are in the process of developing a new, tailored literacy and numeracy curriculum for this program, hiring teachers, and setting up the education centers. It is a busy time at Charmaghz, but we are so excited for the opportunity to make a real difference in the lives of these young girls.

World Literacy Summit

Charmaghz’s Founder and Director, Freshta Karim, presented at the World Literacy Summit in Oxford, UK, in April 2023. Her talk focused on the challenges that Charmaghz has encountered under the Taliban government, and our determination to continue supporting children’s literacy in Afghanistan. The Summit was a productive opportunity to meet other literacy-focused organizations from around the world, and to share Charmaghz’s story.

Meet Our Student: Hamid

11 year old Hamid* is a regular visitor to Charmaghz’s libraries. He is clever and has a deep passion to learn. Hamid starts to look for new books to read as soon as he enters the library and has read most of the books in the library. He enjoys playing cricket, and when he grows up he wants to write a book. In the attached picture, Hamid is holding his favorite book, The Wisdom of Ahmad Shaah Baba written by Idriss Shah.

*Name has been changed

Thank You!

Charmaghz is so grateful for your ongoing support - your donations help children learn to read every day in our libraries. We have an ambitious plan for 2023 to help even more children become lifelong readers, and every dollar counts. Please share Charmaghz’s story with friends and family, and encourage them to donate!

Links:

• Charmaghz's founder speaks with Missing Perspectives
• Charmaghz's founder profiled by Girl Up India