SERVE Afghanistan

Literacy Award

2009-10-12T20:50:06Z

On September 8, 2009, UNESCO awarded SERVE Afghanistan’s Pashai Language Development Project the Confucius Prize for Literacy. This award is given in recognition of excellence and innovation in literacy. The theme for this year’s prizes was “Literacy and Empowerment”. The Prize consisted of US$20,000, a medal and a diploma.

We are proud of and thankful for our hard-working staff. Our special thanks to Ju Hong, Sabir, Ahad, Sohrab and the entire team for their amazing work.

The Pashai Language Development Project’s History (ERCDP, SERVE Afghanistan)

The project’s literacy program started in 1999 with Pashto (one of Afghanistan’s official languages). The Pashai are a minority people group and Pashai is the name of their language. Since the start of the project, there have been many hindrances and difficulties. Permission was not granted for minority languages and the project’s linguist was ordered to leave the country. But now the program has been encouraged. The community wanted the project to open the Pashai literacy class for their girls as well as boys and adults. Since the time the Pashai language development project started with an orthography seminar (July 2003), the project has published 22 kinds of books and around 1,500 students have graduated from the course or are studying in the course at this moment. The Pashai language development project got its permission in 2006 and 2007 respectively from the local government and the central government. There will be the Pashai pre-primary schools for children between 5~6 years old and we hope that a bilingual education program for children up to the 5^th grade will be set up with the government’s support. The community sees the benefits of the literacy program. It is not just to increase their chance to find employment, but also for keeping their history and culture alive for generations to come. Furthermore, it will enable them to actively participate and contribute to the prosperity of their country, Afghanistan.

Since 1999, over 100 Pashto classes have been run (3,500 graduates), and since 2006, 32 Pashai classes have been run by the project. Currently around 1,730 participants are studying in the programs. More than half of the participants are girls and women.
Since 2003, 22 kinds of Pashai books (20,000) have been published such as primer, pictorial dictionary, a proverb book, and story books.
Currently (2009), there are 104 project staff members: 10 full time members, 15 part time and other volunteers, and two expat Technical Advisors.

Ali’s Story:

Ali (pseudo name) lives in K village in Dara-i-Noor district of Nangarhar province, Afghanistan. His native language is Pashai. When he was 13 years old he was taken out of 7^th grade and put into 4^th grade because, despite being in school for over six years, he was illiterate. In the 4th grade he still couldn't understand Pashto, the official language. He hated school and felt ashamed to be with younger children in his new class. So he often spent time out of school in the mountains while other students studied; and when other students went home, he came down from the mountain. Ali didn’t want his father, who was a teacher at his school, to be disappointed in him or lose face in such a shame and honor culture.

His father knew that his son was struggling and was very concerned about him. In early 2006, when the Pashai primer class started in his village, his father sent Ali to the Pashai mother-tongue literacy course with little hope. But amazingly Ali became enthusiastic about learning and became literate within several months in his mother tongue, Pashai. He gained confidence studying Pashai, and he became literate with the official language, Pashto, almost at the same time. Just several months ago he was illiterate but now he can read and write Pashai and Pashto both. His school teacher got advice from many teachers in the school and then put Ali in the 5th grade as encouragement. Three months later, when the students had their final semester examination, even in the 5^th grade he was the 4^th from the top of his class of 26 students. For several years he hated going to school, but now he goes to school 30 minutes earlier than others. Now attending school is a pleasure for him.

There are many students who have the same experience as Ali. Pashai children's drop-out rate is over 50% in primary schools due to the instructional language of schools being in Pashto which is like a foreign language to them. Because of Ali’s case many parents send their children to the mother-tongue literacy course, and most of the students of the mother-tongue course become literate.

A Miracle World: A Child Sees for the First Time Since Birth

2009-06-19T12:35:58Z

The PBL (Prevention of Blindness) mobile team recently did an eye camp in Badakhshan province of northern Afghanistan. The team was touched by the great need of the people. Health care is not readily available and so people walk for hours or days to find treatment. The team was grateful to be able to help the people even though they had to walk for hours because their car was stuck in the mud due to flooding in the region.

In the Ashkashim district, in the village of Bazgir, lives a five-year-old boy by the name of Ahmad Zai. His parents had three daughters before him and had high hopes for him. The family was very happy when their son was safely delivered in their home by an elderly lady. In remote areas of the country it is common for an elderly lady to deliver babies because of a lack of health facilities or trained midwives. But the time came, when the boy was two, that the family noticed he had a white spot on the center of both of his eyes. The family took him to the person in the village who practiced folk medicine and made a lot of traditional medicine for him, but it did not help him.

In May 2009, SERVE and AKHS decided to do an eye camp for the Ashkashim district to provide eye care services for this poor and marginalized people who are very far from health facilities such as eye care. Our MST (Mobile Screening Team) went to the Bazger village on the 4^th of May 2009 and did screening and found that Ahmad Zai suffered from congenital cataracts that he had from birth. The MST team referred the child to the MOT (Mobile Operation Team) to perform surgery on one of his eyes. After the surgery, the boy opened his eye and was very surprised that he could see. He pointed to the light and asked, “What is that?” And he pointed to a pen and other objects and asked what they were. His parents had tears in their eyes from happiness and prayed for the two organisations for providing eye care for the poor and marginalised community. They said: “It is a miracle for our child to see this world for the first time since his birth!”

Gayle Williams

2009-06-15T13:40:31Z

Gayle was not a woman who thought of herself. Her time and energy were always spent on behalf of others. She spent many years caring one to one for severely special needs students, but in the last few years she made the brave decision to offer her skills and time to care for the many disabled and disadvantaged in Afghanistan as a volunteer. Gayle worked for nearly two years in Kandahar and Kabul directing projects to integrate the disabled into mainstream education and provide them with opportunities for a better life. She never spoke of the rigours and privations of aid work in Kandahar, one of the most difficult places for a young woman to work in the world, but she kept a smile on her face and always had a good humoured chuckle at the difficulties she must have endured.

As a British South African Gayle had the plucky adventurous spirit of the country she loved so much. Accustomed to the risks of South Africa today, the dangers of the Afghan warzone did not phase her, but she pressed on. A highly trained fitness instructor, Gayle was never happier than climbing a mountain, playing sports or going for a run.

Gayle was a loving daughter and sister and a devoted friend to many. She was always so fun to be with and laughter and jokes came easily as we would sit having coffee. People were so important to Gayle; she cared deeply for her friends and family and would always go out of her way to help and support her loved ones.

Gayle will be remembered as one of the inspiring people of the world who truly put others before herself. She was killed violently while caring for the most forgotten people in the world; the poor and the disabled. She herself would not regret taking the risk of working in Afghanistan. She was where she wanted to be – holding out a helping hand to those in need.

C & E

08:00, Monday, October 20 2008, Kabul, Afghanistan, Gayle Williams, 34 years old, one of the women workers of the SERVE Afghanistan team, a joint South African UK national, was walking to work. Gayle was shot and killed shortly before she was due to arrive at the office. Reports say that two men on a motorcycle shot her and then fled the scene. She died almost immediately. She was a person who always loved the Afghans and was dedicated to serving those who are disabled. Needless to say we were all in shock.