Help Fund Scholarships for Afghan Students

Dear Friends, 

The private high school in Herat gave us its 2015 report and included this information on the success and transformative effects of the sports program.Many of the scholarship students participate in sports at the school.

The school sport teams had a very good year in 2015. The football team won many  local matches with regular schools and private universities. They were awarded gold and silver cups by the Sports Federation of Herat.In addition, students benefited from changes in their minds and behavior since joining the sport teams. For example, young students who wasted their time on the streets and sometimes fought in the past, are now disciplined, energetic and have happy faces as they visit their friends in the gym and compete to win against each other. They have developed very positive feelings about life since they started sport sessions. Their school lessons and behavior are getting better and they get good marks in their exams. These students also have a sense of responsibility about their families and communities. Their experienced coach motivated them to make educational plans for the next few years at least and help them making big decisions about their futures. 

One student who recently joined the Yacoobi School football team said:” My name is Habib. I am 20 years old. I am a senior student at the Prof. Yacoobi School. I have been playing in the football team for six months now. I am changing every day I exercise with this team. In fact, I am completely changed as compared to my life before. Before joining this team, I always failed in my exams and I could not memorize the words and my homework assignments were the worst. I got some kind of depression, but after joining the team, my life got better day by day. I changed to one of the top students in three months and got out of depression. I feel myself in a new world. The coach is a very nice man. He advises us and helps us make decisions. My mind is working very well now and I am so interested in my lessons. I hear very good news from my friend when I play in the gym. I learned about football stars and try to be inspired by them in my life. I hope I will be a football star. I thank Prof. Yacoobi for renting us the gym to exercise and refresh our minds in.”   

Please read the attached  2015 Newsletter for information on activities last year.

 Thank you for your support.

• CHI_Newsletter_2015.pdf (PDF)
  

Latest News!!

Dr. Yacoobi was honored to receive the 2015 WISE Prize for Education. A prestigious award given to those who are tireless advocates for the right to education.  “I know from my life that education gives power, status and opportunity. I see women who are smart, intelligent but did not have opportunity so I gave them that. It is education and not guns that can transform society and give us a peaceful tomorrow. “ Sakena

Dear Friends,

It’s Giving Tuesday  - can you support Afghan youth?

It was a particularly exciting time at one Yacoobi Private School in Herat this past September as a ceremony was held to honor the top students with gold medals.The event was attended by Dr. Yacoobi, the Governor of Herat and the Head of the Women's Affairs Department among many others. The awards went to the top student in each of the following: logic, chemistry/physics, sport, speech/music, English and the leadership project. There were 300 people at the event including 155 females.  The ceremony continued with songs and music by the students from the school. There was recitation of poems and reading of articles about peace in English and Persian, along with the appreciation and congratulations of other speakers during the ceremony.

There were seven other students honored either from the gold medal program or the cash prize program who are in the third to eleventh class. These seven of the best students also had great grades but couldn’t quite meet the gold medal program requirements. They were gifted with a cash prize as a congratulation for what they had achieved and as an encouragement. These were the students with the best behavior, attitude, morals and personalities who were also the best in at least one subject.

Dr. Yacoobi had this to say about one of the students, “Four years ago we hired a widow as a cleaner for the school.  When she started, we found out that she had a small daughter, Zahra, who was not going to school.  Her mother said, I don’t have the money to send her to school, so we gave her a scholarship. She is now in the 4^th grade and is the first in her class.  She is very little and very smart and creative.   Recently, we had a school-wide competition in many areas of study.  The top students in each category received gold medals and the second-place students received cash awards.  Zahra won second place in two of the categories—art and calligraphy. And, even though she is young and very little, she was chosen to be the announcer for the ceremony because of her presence and speaking ability.  She was amazing as an announcer!  It brought tears to my eyes as I watched this tiny, little girl confidently and with great self assurance announce better than most adults. Zahra, I thought, is a future leader of Afghanistan."

Thank for your continued support.