Greetings!
On August 15th the Taliban seized control of the country and our 8 libraries closed. We’ve been working on reopening them ever since Nabi found a way to get money to his cousin, Wahidullah, living in Kabul. Six of the eight libraries reopened this week. Two decided to wait before opening because “There are too many Taliban in the area”. The six that opened did not seek the approval of the Taliban. They just opened.
Currently, the Taliban are not allowing men to teach girls or women to teach boys. All of our teachers are women and we've rehired them. For now, our libraries will be utilized only by girls. The teachers, children and parents have courageously taken a stand for the education of girls. We're providing the funds to make that possible.
Your response to our support a family program has been very encouraging. I asked Wahidullah to send me profiles and photos of 20 families. We have support for more than half of them We’ll keep adding families until “the well runs dry”.
As most of you know, 100% of what goes into the program will go directly to families. Can a zero sum charitable program last? After 18 years, we’ve earned the trust of enough empathetic and compassionate people to make that possible.
My annual report this year began with August 15th, when we were shut down. The past is the past. What everone wants to know is, what is our future?
I’m very pleased to report that after four months of reconstruction, the street children are receiving their money, everyone we owed will soon be paid, six of the eight libraries are open, and we’ve unearthed a well that, I'm confident, will never run dry.
An extremely happy ending for 2021!
Budd
