Provide Care for Afghanistan's Abandoned Children

Dear supporters,

In Afghanistan, sending a teenage girl to school can still attract the attention of the police.

Recently, two of our teenage students were stopped by a police officer while shopping at a bazaar near our flagship school in Northern Afghanistan. When the officer learned that the girls were coming home from school, he ordered them to take him there.

For a moment, the girls didn't know what would happen next.

Fortunately, one of our administrators was still at the school. He welcomed the officer, made him tea, and showed him our approval documentation from the Ministry of Agriculture.

The officer's attitude quickly changed.

“So it’s because of the food!” he said, delighted that he had figured out why girls were attending school despite the nationwide ban on secondary education for girls.

He then toured the school. He saw the greenhouse. He saw the chicken run. He saw the beekeeping project. And finally, he saw our classrooms, where adolescent girls were studying.

Before he left, he asked a question we will not soon forget:

“Can I enroll my daughter here?”

Think about that for a moment. A police officer arrived to investigate why teenage girls were going to school. He left wondering how he could get his own daughter into the program.

That moment captures something important about our work in Northern Afghanistan.

Our learning centers are not secret schools. All our schools operate openly and with the necessary approvals. We have built a program that combines education with agriculture and food production, creating an opportunity for girls to continue learning while providing something their communities desperately need.

And the demand is growing. This year, we have already added 1,000 girls to our education program.

For girls who were forced out of school, this means they are learning again. They are studying mathematics, English, science, Dari, and critical thinking. They are also gaining practical skills through home gardens, greenhouses, beekeeping, and other agricultural activities.

The agricultural component is part of what makes the program possible. Afghan families are facing economic pressure. By helping communities produce food and develop livelihoods, we are addressing some of the challenges that make education difficult while creating a pathway for girls to continue learning.

We are also seeing something we did not expect at this scale. Village elders are now coming to us. They are asking how they can create similar opportunities for girls in their own communities, and we are showing them how. Where communities have the capacity, we help them understand how the model works. Where they cannot afford to establish the program themselves, we are raising the funds needed to help them get started.

This is how change spreads: by showing communities what is possible and giving them the tools to make it happen.

One of our students, Bushra, knows exactly what it means to have that opportunity taken away. Bushra is 15 years old. At 14, she watched her education come to an end while her brothers continued going to school. Like so many Afghan girls, she was suddenly left wondering what her future would look like.

Then she was given another chance. Bushra is now back in school through our program. Recently, she volunteered to join a gathering of Global Roots supporters in California by Zoom. About 40 people had gathered to learn about our work, but Bushra was the person who made the greatest impression.

She spoke to them directly from Afghanistan about what it means to be back in school.

That is what your support makes possible. A 15-year-old girl who once thought her education was over can once again imagine a future for herself.

As we continue expanding the program, we are also working to ensure that growth is sustainable and rooted in the communities we serve. The need is enormous. But so is the response from Afghan families and communities.

Parents continue sending their daughters to our classrooms. Village elders are asking for programs of their own. And even a police officer who arrived questioning our work left asking whether his daughter could join.

There is still a long way to go. But every girl who walks into one of our classrooms is a reminder that an education denied is not necessarily an education lost.

Thank you for helping us give Afghan girls another chance.

With gratitude,

The Global Roots Team