Participant Schools
The BIG PictureThe Canadian International Development Agency - CIDA - approached Rotary in 2008 with a request to participate in their Afghanistan Challenge Program. The plan to build a school was formed!
Why did we choose to build a school?Before you begin a project you must be sure that the community needs and wants whatever it is that you are offering them. The simple solution to accomplish sustainability is to ask the community members what they need most! CRCID contacted the Nangarhar Ministry of Education in Afghanistan and requested a needs assessment (Nangarhar is an Afghanistan province). We learned that there were hundreds of students in the area studying outside, sitting on the hard ground and exposed to extreme weather. The Ministry of Education stated that the greatest need in Afghanistan in general was for new schools. As a result, CRCID decided to initiate a project to build and furnish a two-story school in Afghanistan to help celebrate 100 years of Rotary in Canada and thus was chosen as the Canadian Rotary Centennial Afghanistan Challenge. Education is the foundation for change, allowing communities to grow economically. Employment rates rise as education facilities and curriculum improve. Sustainability is key to successful development work: this means whatever program has been initiated must be able to continue in a community long after the people who implemented it have left the area. A school can help generation after generation. According to UNICEF, only 28% of Afghan adults are literate. Only 18% of girls (ages 15-24) and 49% of boys (ages 15-24) are literate. In many areas of Afghanistan, girls are not even allowed to go to school. What is CIDA and what is the Afghanistan Challenge?The Canadian International Development Agency - CIDA - developed the Afghanistan Challenge to bring stronger development initiatives to Afghanistan, and to implement projects that help to improve the lives of Afghans. CIDA's aim is to manage Canada's support and resources effectively and accountably to achieve meaningful, sustainable results and engage in policy development in Canada and internationally, enabling Canada's effort to realize its development objectives. CIDA was established in 1968 to administer the bulk of Canada's official development assistance (ODA) program. CIDA works in concert with its development partners, fragile states and countries in crisis, countries of focus, and the Canadian population and institutions. Extending Hands of Friendship - Building a School[download the pdf]The plan to build a school started on December 15, 2008 when CRCID Chief Administrative Officer Kevin Webb contacted Steve Brown, Past District Governor of Rotary District 5340. From his office in London, Ontario Kevin needed someone with on-the-ground experience in Afghanistan and he knew that Steve and his Rotary Club in La Jolla Golden Triangle, located in Southern California, had already been responsible for building one school in Afghanistan. Steve was invited to give a presentation to the Canadian District Governor Elects who were in San Diego for the International Assembly in January 2009. The International Assembly brings together all 532 District Governor Elects from around the world for training. The Canadian DGE's enthusiastically committed to the project − agreeing to fundraise with Rotary Clubs across Canada, choosing the project to celebrate the Centennial of Rotary in Canada. “Fary Moini and I went to Afghanistan to meet with Mr. Azizi, the Provincial Director of Education in Nangarhar Province on March 31, 2009 and the site was selected,” explains Steve. Fary Moini is a Rotarian with the Rotary Club of La Jolla Golden Triangle with a passion for helping the people of Afghanistan. A groundbreaking ceremony took place January 3, 2010 and just nine months later a dedication ceremony and grand opening was held September 26, 2010. “Rotarian Fary attended both the groundbreaking and dedication ceremony representing the Canadian interests,” adds Steve. Fary Moini filed this report on Opening Day:
Throughout the building process CRCID kept a close eye on the project with reports from Steve Brown who visited the site twice; and from Fary, who traveled to meet with planners and officials four separate times. The man with his ear to the ground throughout the project was Mohammed Ishaq Niazmand, Administrative Assistant Program Manager for the Afghanistan Agribusiness Development Team. Working out of the Borlaug Institute for International Agriculture, a division of Texas A&M University, he had internet communication with CRCID executives, committee members and staff weekly and sometimes daily. “During the project implementation and other meetings with the Education Directorate no hurdles were experienced and the Nangarhar Department of Education and the school management officials were very cooperative,” explains Ishaq. Never in danger of missing the deadline, the school was completed six months ahead of schedule. The team worked hard. On average 20 people were working at the school site each day: “We estimate the total skilled and unskilled man days were 5,200 man days,” says Ishaq. “The contractor would increase the number of workers during some days like when they poured the concrete for the roof.” The school has 20 classrooms and each one can accommodate 40 students at a time. The students do not have individual computers but a computer lab which will be connected to the internet has been planned for the school. The computers will be provided through Rotary International Matching Grant funds. The construction of toilet blocks was included in the building contract but the plans did not include running water. This is just one instance where Fary Moini was able to speak to the officials and make a formal recommendation on behalf of Canadian Rotarians. As a result, the decision was made to have the bathrooms upgraded to include running water. Fary has also made recommendations to install a drinking system for the students, to obtain quotes to install a playing field, and to convert one classroom into a nursery to attract more female teachers. These are all enhancements that could be funded through the newly dedicated Afghanistan School Legacy Fund. This fund is supported through public donations and through a fundraising initiative to sell official campaign bracelets. At just $5 each including shipping, the stamped medallion bracelets are affordable and popular with Canadian youth. Before they had this school, the children were studying under the trees for shade and in the courtyard of the school on plastic mats. Even during construction of the school the teachers saw some benefits. Ishaq explains, “Thanks to the building materials on site, teachers could lean their blackboards against steel bars or stones or bricks.” This alone was an improvement in the teaching conditions! However, amenities such as a school gymnasium and cafeteria are facilities that will not be part of the new school. So while Canadian youth can see similarities to their own school experience there are some very big differences as well. Besides the obvious solution of providing students with desks and classrooms so they could focus on their studies, there were other issues that building the new school resolved. “The school building provided a sound environment for the students. It has contributed to the decrease of sun exposure and to the decrease in exposure to diseases caused by contact with wet land,” says Ishaq. Sanitation is extremely poor throughout Afghanistan. Local food and water sources are heavily contaminated with pathogenic bacteria, parasites, and viruses. “They were sitting in the open air and were always exposed to sun and rain,” he adds. It is the students' own words that best describe how grateful they are. The following is the translation of the interviews with a girl, a boy, and another girl at the new school in Jalalabad: 1: What excites you the most about your new school? Susan: “The entire school excites us very much. We are very happy about our new building. It is much easier for us to study now, because we are saved from rain, wind, storms and all the noises of the other classes. Now we can learn in peace, paying full attention and we are all very grateful to the people who made this possible.” 2: Can you tell us how you felt about going to school before the building was built? Rukhssar: “Before there was no building all the students sat in the yard under the trees and I was not very interested in coming to school regularly, because our school didn't look like a school. One time, one of my cousins took me to her school − it was so nice and she told me about her classes. She said, “One day I will come with you to see your school.” I was very ashamed because we study under the trees − how could I take her to my school? I was almost making excuses but now I can proudly invite her to my school and I can show her every part of our new school and I am not ashamed anymore. Thank you!” 3: What do you want to do − or be − when you are finished school? Sunbul: “In the future I want to be a teacher. I love teaching and I think teaching is a very neat job and a good way of serving the community, because teachers are the ones who train the doctors, engineers, lawyers and so on. Thank you Canadian Rotarians for this chance you have given us.” “It has been said that if you want to touch the past, you touch a rock. If you want to touch the present, you touch a flower. If you want to touch the future, you touch a life. With the opening of this school, we begin to touch the future as many, many lives will be enriched by what they will be taught there.” School Construction Details
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