WEATHERING THE STORM

WE'RE STILL STANDING

Dear Budd,

It's that time of year again, time to send our annual report. We're doing great. Afghans, particularly the women and girls aren't. As you know Afghan girls are not receiving an education beyond the sixth grade. It was hoped that they would be able to go to school when the schools open next Spring. It doesn't look promising.

The recently appointed Minister of Higher Education, Neda Mohammad Nadeem, during a two-day visit to the universities in Herat province, refused to meet with any female students and professors. Just before his trip to Herat, he claimed that girls going to school is against Afghan culture and Islam. He added that girls’ education is a source of corruption and indecency in society. Before taking the higher education position, Nadeem was the Taliban governor of Kabul, when he asserted that opposing the Taliban government is forbidden according to sharia law and those who oppose the Taliban should be beheaded. (link to article -- www.zantimes.com/2022/12/04/taliban-education-minister-refuses-to-meet-female-students/)

This newsletter was just about to be sent out when I learned that Need Mohammad Nadeem today announced that they are closing the universities to women "until further notice".

Trust in Education is actively involved in educating girls in our ten computer libraries, utilized by over 1,000 girls a day, with an absentee rate of 2%. This year, Mujeeb, over a two month period, found and downloaded educational software that covers everything taught in the schools from the first through twelfth grade. In addition, there is material students need to study to prepare for their university entrance exam.

Our libraries improved this year, thanks to Mujeeb. When we first began years ago we provided computers loaded with educational software that enabled students to learn a on their own time and at their own speed. We also provided English classes. This year, Mujeeb added computer and more structured English courses.

Students enrolled in the computer course learn the office package (word, access, powerpoint and excel). Completion of the course takes between seven and eight months.

The English course consists of eight books. There are tests for each book. Successful completion of all eight takes between twelve and fourteen months.

Students who successfully compete a course receive a certificate from Trust in Education. Mujeeb pointed out that students are not dropped from either course for failing tests. They just won't receive a certificate until they pass.

Essentially our rooms have become libraries and schools. Students come, study whatever they chose and leave whenever they want. They can also take our computer and English courses.

Our libraries lack the capacity to include all the girls who want to use them. Next year we'll be working on bringing education into homes. It's only a 500 gigabyte flashdrive, laptop and charging source away. (not every household has electricity).

The decision to make education accessible in homes came before the announcement that the universities were being closed to women. It is no longer a good thing to do. It's essential.

Happy Holidays and Thank You for your support throughout the years, all nineteen of them. The many who have supported TIE for all those years know how far we've come.

Join us and support our 20th;

Use the Giving Fund: www.paypal.com/us/fundraiser/charity/1624160 or

or mail a check to:

Trust in Education, 985 Moraga Rd, ste 207, Lafayette CA 94549-4433

Budd

What we can and have accomplished together over the past year.

In 2003 we raised funds to build a school in Lalander, Afghanistan, not intending to do more. Upon completion in 2005, I visited the school. That trip proved to be life altering. I met with families, saw the conditions they were living in, and by then knew that our decision to support the mujahideen in 1979 to wage war against the Russians inside Afghanistan contributed significantly to those conditions. I could not return to the life I’d lived before.

Our objectives in Afghanistan were simple. Supply training and weapons to the mujahideen (“freedom fighters”) in support of their “jihad” (holy war) against the Soviet “infidels” and thereby “turn Afghanistan into the Soviet Union’s Vietnam”. Basically, we financed a proxy war.

"By the time the Soviets were driven out of Afghanistan in January,1989, the mujahideen were well trained, seasoned fighters, armed to the hilt with modern weaponry, and beholden to no external control. As many as 30,000 holy warriors had traveled from other countries to join in the war."

Nine months after the Soviet Union was driven out, the Berlin Wall came down. By December 1991, the Soviet Union ceased to exist.

While historians may disagree on the extent, all recognize the positive impact the war in Afghanistan had on the outcome of the “cold war” and central Europe. The cost to Afghanistan included 1,500,000 lives and 5,000,000 Afghans fleeing the country.

The United States “washed its hands of any responsibility” in Afghanistan as of 1993, when all humanitarian aid was withdrawn. Mission accomplished. “There were no roads, no schools, just a destroyed country. Warlords, Islamic extremists, drug lords, and defenseless Afghans fought over what little remained”.

The Taliban, seized control of Kabul in 1996. They were driven out in 2001, in our search for Bin Laden. Twenty years later of nation building and war we withdrew our forces and the Taliban regained control on August 15th, 2021.

The economy has collapsed, "forty-three percent of the country is surviving on one meal a day", nearly all woman-headed households have lost their income, schools in Afghanistan are currently closed to girls above the sixth grade, and families are selling their daughters so that other members of their family can survive. It's currently the sixth poorest country in the world.

Computer Libraries

Last December we had five computer libraries open. Today we have ten, utilized by over 1,000 girls a day. The absentee rate is 2%. Our libraries have become the only location to be educated outside their home, for the girls above the sixth grade . They are also social centers for girls whose ability to be outside their home is extremely limited and often dangerous.

An overview of our past programs and contributions

TIE’s overwhelmingly successful Sponsorship Programs are possible because of your support.

Student and Family Sponsorship Programs

Sponsored Street Children — Over the past ten years 154 street children have been able to get off the streets and go to school through TIE’s sponsorship program. Many of the sponsored street children fled the country or returned to their villages. We still have 54 children receiving support from their sponsors. Fifteen students are currently enrolled in University, eleven of whom are women. Fifteen girls are using their sponsorship funds to support private tutoring at home. Our lessons will be downloaded for anyone who brings us a flash drive for free.

Sponsoring Families — Last November, upon watching a CNN report on a family who sold their daughter for $2,000, we created a family sponsorship program. Sponsored families receive $100 per month for a year. Mujeeb and Wahidullah, our program directors in Kabul, send us photos and profiles of the families they recommend be supported. So far we are sponsoring 42 families headed by widows. Sponsors who wish to sponsor a family are sent a profile and decide whether to support the family or wait for another. The total cost to provide $100 a month for a year is $1200. We ask sponsors to provide at least half this amount. We'll find someone to contribute the other half. This is a zero sum program for TIE, 100% of what is contributed goes directly to families. Bear in mind when deciding on your contribution that TIE also funds ten libraries and operating expenses.

Last December Six families were being sponsored

Today there are Seventy-Eight — consisting of 117 Adults & 254 Children

I'm very pleased to report that we have increased our aid to Afghan children and families with the permission and support of those in power. Their only condition was that we have an office, which we now have.

TIE was created 19 years ago to provide a link (tie) between Afghan families and compassionate Americans. We began by impacting the lives of hundreds. Together we're now well into the thousands. Tie's supporters have resolved to not abandon Afghan families again, as our government did in 1993.

Budd

How Can You Help TIE?

Support a Family

Learn about the Family Support Program

Send TIE an Email

Donate with PayPal Giving Fund and 100% goes to TIE (No Fees!)

Trust in Education | www.TrustinEducation.org