Greetings!  

For years we've helped distribute free books published by Hoopoe Books, a nonprofit 

organization founded by Sally Mallam. She lives nearby in Los Altos, California. Sally has been supporting and working with Trust in Education for years. Each yearly drive we had to send things to Afghanistan, I knew there'd be donations coming from Sally and her friends.

Tied into 310 packages

 It wasn't surprising that Sally and her husband, Robert, chose to sponsor a family in Afghanistan through our family sponsorship program. By the way we are now sponsoring 46 families, each receiving $100 per month for a year. I knew people would step up. $100 a month assures most of these families of room and board for a year. For us, $100 is now a tank of gas. Learn about the family sponsorship program (click here)  

I gave up trying to summarize Hoopoe Books mission and achievements. Besides, they can be found in a Washington Post article. 

And, Hoopoe Books Mission Statement is "The beginning of education is literacy. The fundamental need is that girls and boys in their homes and in schools have access to quality books, which foster a love of reading and a taste of what reading and learning can offer them." booksforafghanistan.org

What I can describe is our latest distribution of 4,340 Hoopoe Books. There were 14 titles. Mujeeb and Wahidullah, by hand and on their own initiative, tied 310 packages, each consisting of the 14 titles.

Our seven libraries were each given 40 packages which in turn were distributed to children from 280 families. Mujeeb kept the remaining 30 packages for an eighth library we will be opening by the end of the month.

Note there are mostly girls in the photos. A couple of boys are in the group photo, probably sons of the property's owner or a teacher. That is the direct consequence of the Taliban deciding to not allow women to teach boys and men to teach girls. All of our libraries were staffed by women when the Taliban took over. Months later when it was safe we re-opened the libraries and hired them back. Ergo, girls only became our admissions policy, dictated by the Taliban.

Six of the Hoopoe titles recently became available in Dari, Pashto, and English, recorded with page-turn signals so that children can read along with the story.

They can be found and downloaded here: booksforafghanistan.org/audio/

We will download whatever they produce into the computers in our libraries. That way the children will be able to read and discuss the stories together.

Our libraries have always been and continue to be very popular learning centers. How popular are they? Mujeeb gave me the following attendance report for February;

"At the beginning of February, we had 589 students using the libraries

And 98 new students joining classes during the month of February

The average number of absentees per day was 3 students

And 48 students left the classes .

(The reasons for leaving were usually displacement or lack of interest in some students but I am looking for a solution in this case And I hope we can end this problem".

In summary, by the end of February there were 589 + 98 minus 48 = 639 children using the seven libraries with an average absentee rate of 3 students per day. (probably per library). The total direct monthly operating costs of the seven libraries is $2305 plus $100 per library for the cost of wood during the winter months. That's $4.70 a month per child when heated and $3.60 per month when not (nine months out of the year).

We've been making it possible for children to learn their way out of poverty for eighteen years and are now addressing two of Maslow's basic needs, food and shelter, for as many families as we can. Our mission statement grew to meet the times.

Budd

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