Afghanistan is a country with a history of war. Its most recent started with bombing by the Americans in 2001, leading eventually to the downfall of the Taliban regime, and its replacement by a new and disparate leadership, presided over by Hamid Karzai. Since then Afghanistan has faded from the headlines, whilst other conflicts and natural disasters have taken its place.
But conditions in Afghanistan are still grave. It has virtually the world's lowest life expectancy and literacy rates and the highest rates of infant, child, and maternal mortality. Its infrastructure has been largely obliterated, and the country is littered with landmines. There are sporadic outbreaks of violence, the population is undernourished after years of drought and conflict. People are struggling to cope with millions of returned refugees. So far a good deal of aid has gone into emergency relief work, but the Afghan government now recognises that it needs to rebuild the country's legal, education and health systems if the country is to prosper in the long term.
Thankfully, despite the hardships, Christians are working alongside Afghan colleagues to bring hope of a better life to ordinary people. One of the major problems is that many Afghan people are unable to read and write. The government struggles to function in a country where, in many cases, even the village elders (the traditional leaders) are illiterate and cannot read the communiqués sent from the capital, Kabul.
Shaheen is one such leader who lives in Safar Qala village, in the east of the country.
‘I am the Malik (elder) of Safar Qala village. But due to war and other problems I couldn't learn how to read and write. Now reading and writing is one of my priorities because if I receive a letter from the authorities or an invitation card I have to look for an educated person to read it to me.’
Today, Shaheen can read and write, and lead his village with dignity, thanks to SPCK Worldwide's partner SERVE, and its work in the Dara-i-Noor (DIN) region. SERVE (Serving Emergency Relief and Vocational Enterprise) is an inter-denominational Christian charity based in Afghanistan. The DIN project provides literacy classes to help both men and women learn to read and write, together with livestock and farming advice to families to help generate income and improve diet. The Dara-i-Noor region is a relatively poor area and it also houses a number of returned refugees. This project has recently restarted at the request of the local people, following suspension during the war.
SPCK worldwide recently gave a grant of £15,000 towards the literacy work of the DIN programme, which teaches people to read and write Pashto, one of the two main official languages of Afghanistan.
During 2005, SERVE plans to provide 72 Pashto literacy classes in a number of villages in the region, including 25 reading clubs and 22 Pashto women's classes. The women's literacy classes are the only adult women's literacy programmes in East Afghanistan.
Having mastered an 'official' language, the grant will also assist the local people to record their history in their own tribal language, Pashai. An alphabet book, primers and a simple Pashai dictionary are currently being developed and should be produced by the end of the year. This is the first time that the Pashai language has ever been written down and published!
SPCK Worldwide gratefully acknowledges the support of Oxford Diocese in funding this work.
Glynys Sykes is projects funding manager for SPCK Worldwide
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