School Library for Girls in Northern Afghanistan

Thanks to your generous support, more girls will read. We will be able to help equip a school in Northern Afghanistan with a library that is more than just a space. The books in the library including text books, fiction, poetry and geography teach girls about math and science as well as stories about their own country and the wider world. Educating a girl, which requires books, impacts every family member creating a ripple effect of change. A typical family consists of 7 people in Afghanistan and many are illiterate. 

Mahommoda is an 11th grade student at the school where the new books and equipment for the library will be housed.  Her passion for books started early and stemmed from the fact that she wanted to be first in her class.

She said, "reading books will help me reach my goal. "I always wished to have a room for the library in our school to go borrow books and study books there. When it became known that a fuller library was to established in our school I was very excited to be able read more books. The books help me to better understand people, cultures, ideas, behaviours, wishes and most importantly, their hopes. I think my top position in my class is because of my understanding of general information about class studies and also about the wider world now."

Mohammoda is also a writer of short stories and she attributes her story writing to the process of reading,"after finishing some story books I thought I have lots of thing to say for others."

My father told me to pick up blank paper and write down what I wanted to say." Now I'm  writing short stories and I hope one day I'll  become a famous writer and publish books. The librarian said: "We hope to have more than 500 books in our library and every day that will bring more students into the reading room."

Mahommoda cares a great deal about her country, "this urban school is inside the city and has lots of opportunities like a library for the students. But it is not the same in the villages and rural areas. Even if the school in the village has a small library, there are not many important and interesting books. So, making a program to establish libraries is a great idea and I know there will be lots of improvements in the students after a while."