The Afghan Scholars Initiative

Photo Credit: Ahmad Massood.

We wanted to provide everyone with a  cool example of the youth culture taking root in Kabul.

You might not believe it, but right now there is a two-month-long music festival going on in Kabul. Two years in the making, the Sound Central music festival is the first to grace Afghanistan’s soil since the late 1970s. The festival’s intent is to expose the nation’s youth to modern music, by inviting numerous music acts of all genres, including metal, blues, western pop, and Bollywood hits.

In addition the the large festival just held in Kabul, there are also several workshops and mini-shows, designed to grant each band a dedicated audience and an opportunity to display their craft.

Organizers hope to see attendance hit anywhere between 1,000-2,000 young Afghans. Despite its seemingly small size, the festival marks an important step for Afghan society and youth culture, which has traditionally been suppressed. ASI views this event as yet another opportunity for Afghanistan’s youth to lead the way towards change for the country.

Learn more about Sound Central here: http://soundcentralfestival.com/.

Dear Friends of ASI:

In selecting Maihan as an Afghan Scholar, we knew that we had found a true leader. In Afghanistan, she served as the leader of the Afghan Women’s Network’s Youth Committee. She is the captain of Afghanistan’s National Women’s Basketball Team, and has represented the country at tournaments and trainings in several nations. In the summer of 2010, she spoke on a panel moderated by actress Ashley Judd at the Women Deliver conference in D.C.

This July, the British Council selected her as a peer facilitator for the first Asian Youth Summit in India. Maihan was selected by the Global Changemakers from an extremely competitive pool of applicants for her experience as a youth leader and organizer.

Next year, Maihan joins fellow Afghan Scholar Hamasa (and alum Sharaf) as a Hotchkiss School student, where they have both received generous scholarships. ASI has no doubt that Maihan will bring the same impressive energy and leadership to the Hotchkiss community.

We will introduce more of these amazing young scholars in the coming weeks. Stay tuned!

Dear Supporters of ASI:

I am so proud to announce that Afghan Scholar, Naimat, graduated from Oregon Episcopal School yesterday. I selected Naimat in January of 2009. He was a very quiet and serious young man, who rarely smiled during the interview. At OES Naimat shined both academically and in social settings. He was even elected as proctor at the end of his first year by his class. He enjoyed playing soccer, and learning how to ski. In Afghanistan, despite lots of snow in the mountains, skiing is not common.

Naimat is an academic superstar. He kept a GPA of 3.8 during his two years at OES. He did independent science research and was awarded $1000 from Oregon State University. During his graduation ceremony, Naimat received the J. Milne Manson Award, which “honors a student whose unusual growth in any or all areas of school life reflects credit on both the student’s own efforts and those of the student’s teachers.”

Naimat was also “selected for membership in Oregon Episcopal School’s chapter of the Cum Laude Honor Society — a significant honor, more unusual for an international student to earn because of the expectations of course rigor and high academic performance in English.” Only a limited number of students are considered for this honor.

Like many of Afghans of his generation, Naimat’s upbringing was difficult. His family moved often during years of war. His achievements, however, highlight the fact that difficult situations can produce talented, inspiring and bright individuals. These men and women of excellence are the ones that will inspire transformational change for Afghanistan’s development and growth.

We just need to give them a chance.

We wish Naimat the best of luck as he starts his first year of college at Colby College in September.

Qiam

Echoing Green, an organization with the goal of accelerating social change through support for social entrepreneurs, has selected ASI as a finalist in their 2011 Fellowship contest! We were selected along with 27 other finalist, from a pool of 2,854 applicants.

In applicants, Echoing Green is looking for organizations that can find “new solutions to society’s most difficult problems.”

We are thrilled to be in the running and will be heading down to D.C. in May for the interview portion of the application. We’re keeping our fingers crossed, and we hope that you will too.

To check out Echoing Green and ASI’s listing, check out this link.

I don’t want to preface this story too much because, as good stories do, this one speaks for itself. I’ll only write that Asma, one of the students currently in our tutorial program, was asked, “Tell a story about yourself by describing an item from your childhood or everyday life… The object you write about could be something small that played a part in a larger event, or it could be something that you had for years.”

Here is her story.

The Memory Of a Cup

I always have a good memory and sometimes a little sadness, when I remember the cup which I have placed in a cupboard in our guest room. Whenever I look at the golden colored cup, which I can carry easily with both hands, I am reminded of the day when I got it. During that time we used to live in Haripur, a small city of Pakistan.

I got this cup in my school when I was almost 6 years old, my teacher chose me among the other students to give a speech in English on the occasion of Pakistan’s Independence Day. I practiced and memorized my one page speech for four days. Whenever I practiced I was making mistakes and I was not sure that I would be able to do it as I wanted. My parents and my teacher encouraged me and were saying “do more practice as you can, and don’t worry you will be fine.”

Finally, the day of my speech arrived, and I was so nervous when the teacher announced my name to come on the stage. When I climbed the stairs and I reached the stage and stood up behind the speech table, I couldn’t see the people because the table was taller than my height. Then my teacher brought a chair and told me to stand up on it. When I stood up and saw all the students, teachers and principal, everybody was looking at me and waiting for my speech. I was nervous and quiet for a few seconds, then I heard my teacher’s voice calling me silently in Urdu “Asma shoro karo, tum bohot achha kar sakti ho”, Asma start, you can do it very well. Then I started my speech and it was the first speech of my life in front of many people. When I finished the speech, everybody clapped for me, the teachers and the principle kissed my face and the principal gave me the cup. I did not expect to earn a cup because I was the only Afghan among many Pakistani students. Therefore, I still carry the cup with a good feeling of happiness and pride.

However, when I think about the time when my family came back to Afghanistan and I returned to school there, I realized the distinction between my country in a post conflict situation and Pakistan, in terms of teacher’s attitude, behavior, and how they approach the students. In Afghanistan most of the teachers do not encourage the students and some of them do not let the students ask questions in the class. For instance, I cannot forget the day when I was in the 8^th grade in Afghanistan. One of my classmates asked the chemistry teacher a question about the lesson. She requested the teacher to explain, then the teacher said, “Girl do you have a mind? Or maybe you are foolish that you cannot understand the lesson. Pay attention and don’t ask me anymore questions.”After that time I did not dare to ask the teachers any questions even if I didn’t understand the lesson. There is no motivation and encouragement in most of the schools.

Indeed, whenever I look at the cup I think about my Pakistani teachers and how much they encouraged me. I get hopeful and I say to myself that I was able to give speech in front of people when I was much younger than now. I have to try to develop and progress although I am in a different and difficult situation, but I have the ability, the cup tells me that I have the ability. I should not be disappointed, although sometimes it hurts me when I think about some of my teachers in Afghanistan. So I carry the cup with both my good feelings and a little sadness.

Earlier this month, John and Qiam returned to Waterville, Maine (ASI’s founding place!) to present at the Mid Maine Global Forum. The MMGF was founded in 1997 by Linda Cotter to promote the discussion of international affairs in Central Maine.  The MMGF organizes lectures, study groups and discussions on timely global topics. Its events are open to the public.

Their talk, Building Bridges: The Afghan Scholars Initiative and Access to Education in the 21^st Century, focused on ASI’s founding, its current programs, and our goals for the future.

Big thanks to Joan Sanzenbacher, who helped to coordinate the event and to the many friends and supporters who came out to hear the talk.

Naimat at the head of the class

With January at an end, all of our students are hard at work in their Spring semester classes. In the picture above, Naimat does some group work with a few new classmates.

Our first week of 2011 has really been incredible.  First,through your generous donations, we were able to meet our $3500 challenge grant, and, now, ASI has been named one of the 2011 Echoing Green Semifinalists.

The full list is here.

It has been a busy few months here at ASI, and we’re excited to announce that we’re about to begin beta testing our new ScholarBox tutorial program next week in Kabul.

In order to announce beta testing of the ScholarBox, we first have to explain what it is.  The ScholarBox is the next (exciting!) step in ASI’s tutorial program.  It enables us, for the first time, to connect our students in Afghanistan  directly with tutors in the US.  The netbook included in each ScholarBox is equipped with a wireless data card, so students will no longer need to travel to an internet cafe to submit assignments.  The audio, video, and written exercises on the netbook will expand the students’ opportunities by integrating English listening and speaking exercises into the tutorial curriculum.

We have included a link to pictures that show the beta computer for the scholarbox.  We’ll have more pictures and updates soon as we work to put the finishing touches on the ScholarBox prototype before we start beta testing over the next few months in Kabul.

Click here for pictures of the ScholarBox’s beta netbook.

Hey everyone. I’m excited to announce that the fall 2010 update of afghanscholars.org is now complete. While we put a few finishing touches on the site, be sure to check out our newly updated student pages. Stay tuned to the blog for further updates from students, news from partner schools, program info, and a good deal of original, insightful content.

With seven scholars in schools from Oregon to New England to India, a newly improved tutorial program connecting volunteers across the US with students in Afghanistan, and new and exciting additions to the organization, the past few months have been a flurry of activity here @ ASI. As the next few months promise even more, we’ll do our best to keep you updated and informed on all things ASI.

Cheers,

John, Qiam and the ASI team.