Dear friends,
I would like to introduce you to Zahra and Nikbakh (photos
below). These two Afghan women deserve our respect. You can read in their faces
the dedication they demonstrate in the face of endless hurdles a deeply
patriarchal society throws at them. Some of you helped a year or so ago when
you made donations to help these women become teachers. You may remember I ran
a couple of marathons to raise some of the funds needed to enable these two
women to attend a teacher-training course.
Mir – the protagonist of my Afghan films – went to a small
school in his remote mountainous village and if it was hard for him and the
other boys, it was far harder for the young girls. I couldn’t leave without
trying to do something for them. It has not been easy organising this and I
would never have managed it without the selfless support of Melanie Bradley at
Afghan Appeal Fund and my film-maker friend Shoaib Sharifi. It took us time to
find two women who were in a position to travel to the northern city of Mazar
to receive training and then bring those skills back to Mir’s village.
Eventually Shoaib found them: Zahra and Nikbakh. It’s just two individuals but
for the young girls now growing up in the village it will be transformational.
Both women have been back from Mazar and in their holidays
have begun teaching. Equally good news is that the school has built a new
additional block just for girls – giving them more space and facilities. The
village as a whole is delighted to have better education for its young girls
which is one small demonstration that Afghan culture is not universally
anti-women’s schooling.
To remind you: parents don’t mind their daughters being
educated but, as they reach their teenage years, it is culturally unacceptable
for young girls to be taught by men. The school needed female teachers. Indeed,
every school in Afghanistan needs female teachers. So thank you to those of you
who made a donation. If we all do one small positive thing every day, it does
make a difference…..
For my part, I had to pull out of the 2015 Brighton marathon
as I hurt my Achilles tendon but am now in training already for the 2016
marathon. We continue to fund the teacher training – and would like to do more
– so please, any donation helps, just follow the link to my Just Giving site
here
