Send 1,700 Children to Elementary School

Every spring we have a turn over of programs in Afghanistan. The programs in the mountains resume after being on winter break while the programs in the lower areas go on summer break. We do this to ensure that students that live in the mountains are able to get to and from school without having to worry about snow and the students in the low areas don't have to travel in extreme heat. So while most students around the world are on summer break we are still continuing to offer an education to that want it. Our Mullah Karim school falls into the category of programs that are on summer break while our Besh Kapa school just resumed classes in March and will be continuing through out the summer. 

Later in July we will be graduating 47 students from our Mullah Karim school. We will be having 18 girls and 29 boys participating in the ceremony. While many schools held graduations earlier this year with many more students, here at Barakat we feel that having 47 students 18 of which are girls is a pretty great accomplishment considering all of the hurdles that are put in front of our students. We think it's a pretty big deal to just have 10 girls graduate from high school, but we're estatic that we have 18 graduating this year. Photos will be posted when that graduation happens in a few weeks. 

The most noteable hurdle that our students have to overcome is the fear of the schools being attacked by the Taliban or other rebel forces in the area and as a result we're constantly working to reasure the families that trust us with their child's education that we do every thing we possibly can to keep them safe. While we can't be prepared for all potential problems we work hard to do our part to be prepared for what does happen. 

Stay tuned for more stories about students!

Meet Nadira, age eight! Nadira is currrently enrolled in the second grade at our Mullah Karim School. She is the youngest of six children. Nadira has one brother and four sisters, however only one of her sisters is currently enrolled in school. The rest of her sibilings have either married or left school to help support her family. 

While her parents and the community are supportive of her getting an education, her father is a shop keeper and her mother takes care of the home, as a result her family is heavily influenced by the economy. Which means in a world of uncertainty or hard times Nadira may be forced to leave school earlier than she would otherwise. She believes that an education is something that is needed to make a better life for herself and her family. Nadira dreams of growing up to become a doctor, which means she'll need many more years of school. 

Our goal by offering free education and basic medical attention to all of our students regardless of age or background is so that we can help them get closer to their dreams one grade at a time. By having a docotor do check ups regularly we are able to ensure that students that get sick are able to get the help they need and stay in school when they normally may have dropped out.

Girls are far more likely to get pulled from school to either get married off or to get a job to help support their family. While we can't predict the stability of the economy we can fight to keep girls in school by giving families fewer reasons to pull them from gaining an education. Studies have shown an educated mother is four times more likely to send her own children which in turn helps lift them out of poverty and help the community around them. 

Stay tuned for more stories about the students that attend our schools!