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Dear Friend,

We’re happy to share that we’ve just reopened our Herat Center after being closed for a few months. During the closure, we worked on reorganizing the center with a better system that fits the new authority’s requirements and aligns more closely with our Social Circus Network. This month, we’ve slowly restarted activities and are now working with over 100 children and youth, three days a week.

To mark the reopening, we invited parents and community leaders to an official event and celebrated World Circus Day with good media coverage.

Over the past three years, the Herat Center has supported hundreds of girls and boys with fun, educational, and recreational activities. During this time, we’ve constantly had to adapt to new restrictions to keep supporting as many girls as possible. Unfortunately, at the beginning of this year, the limitations imposed by the authorities became too strict for us to work around. As a result, we had to send many older girls home and pause our programs for a few months.

In early April, we restarted operations under a new management system. With the help of the local community, we’re expecting to include girls again in the coming weeks.

Restrictions have been in place for a long time, especially those targeting girls' age groups and limiting their activities. But in January, a new rule banned female staff from working in NGOs. Because of this, we had to let go of both our female teachers and our female cook. This affected our center deeply. While many NGOs are struggling with these challenges, we are proud to be one of the few still working hard to adapt, innovate, and continue most of our programs.

At the moment, we’ve started with two boys’ teams (over 100 children). This setup is easier to manage while we test solutions and prepare. In the coming weeks, we will start a girls’ team as well, with separate shift times.

We’re doing our best to adjust to the situation and find new ways to serve children and communities in need. This includes providing nutrition support through food packages, snacks, refreshments, and other basic help for children.

Thank you for standing by us through all the ups and downs. Your support means everything.

Warm regards,

Dear Friend,

Hope is what the children need and hope is at the heart of everything we do. It fuels our innovation, strengthens our resilience, and inspires us to continue supporting the children of Afghanistan, especially the girls, despite overwhelming challenges.

Our Herat Center keeps providing lunch for children and is a big success as it has been able to adjust and function regardless of all new challenges and restrictions. 400 girls and boys attend the activities in this center in two different shifts every day.

Here is a glimpse of our work at the Herat Center (and also beyond): Watch Here.

Unfortunately, the situation remains dire. Girls above sixth grade are already banned from government schools, and authorities in Herat province have now extended this restriction to private education centers. With your continued support, we will keep manufacturing hope—turning challenges into opportunities and despair into optimism. Thank you for being part of this journey. Together, we are building brighter futures and proving that hope can thrive even in the most difficult times.

Wishing you peace, fun, and an abundance of hope in the year ahead,