We are including a computer center in our new school in Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan. The center will be available to the 5,000+ girls who attend the school and the surrounding community. The girls learn valuable skills that make them eligible for more types of employment. The computer center will have an internet connection, enabling the girls to research, connect, and learn of the world outside Afghanistan.
Afghan girls need a stronger skill set to enter the workforce, and pursue higher education. Afghan girls lack the educational opportunities that boys have, and are greatly disadvantaged as a result of this difference.
By installing a computer center at our school, we are providing the means to offer vocational training, and a stronger education through access to the internet. If girls have vocational skills, they can enter the workforce and be independent. A higher earning potential, and higher education for girls will increase their status in society. Afghanistan has long held the title of being one of the worst places on earth to be a women. We can fix this through education.
A well built, functioning school provides a healthy and safe environment for a community's children, and a place where they learn the skills they need to become productive and peaceful adults. Many school buildings have been constructed in Afghanistan in recent years. But a building alone does not make a school. To be successful, it must be supplied, have qualified teachers, be fully supported by its community, and become fully sustained by its community. That's our long-term goal.
