Year-End Update from the Afghan Girls Financial Assistance Fund

October 21, 2014

The below update is from our friends at the Afghan Girls Financial Assistance Fund.  We are proud to work with this wonderful organization making a real difference for young women.

 


Summer internships, academic research, volunteer work, travel and relaxation – our students did it all this summer.   Before we get too wrapped up in the new year, we want to take a moment to look back at some of the highlights…

 

Fatima R., Bucknell ’17, packed it all in this summer while home in Afghanistan.  She interned in the marketing department of Apex2Consulting and volunteered as an English instructor at Glory High School in Kabul (pictured above, in the center, with her students) and found time to vacation with family. To read about her summer in her own words, click here.

 

Two AGFAF students interned with Roshan, Afghanistan’s leading telecommunications provider. Zahra, Washington and Lee ’17 (seated far left) and Masheed, Muhlenberg ’17 (seated far right).  Want to read more about Zahra’s summer?

 

AHG also had two AGFAF interns – Mursal, Smith ’16 was in their Afghanistan Research Division and Narges, Muhlenberg ’18 worked in the Afghanistan Center for Excellence Division (ACE).

 

Fatima H., St. Timothy’s ’15, and Yasameen, Blair ’16, were selected to participate in the Pioneer Academics Global Research Program, an independent-study program pairing American college faculty with exceptional international high school students.  The girls were able to participate in the program via internet while home in Kabul.  While Fatima studied Number Theory, Cryptography and Secret Codes through Washington & Lee, Yasameen studied European Integration in Comparative Perspective through NYU.

 

Husnia, Hollins University ’16, finished up summer classes and went right to work with Solace for the Children: “Solace for the Children also had 10 kids for medical treatment. Once my classes ended, the timing worked perfectly and I was able to organize an Eid celebration party for the kids. I cooked Afghan food, played games, visit mosque, and helped them get comfortable connecting back to Afghan traditions. I was particularly touched by little four year old Nawid who was born pre-mature with serious digestive issues, but he was a quite happy kid. As he would entertain all the other kids and sometimes waking up at 2:00 am saying: ‘I feel like swimming…..'”

 

Our Graduates Have Been Busy Too…

Our 2014 graduates are off to a great start!  Mariam H., Mt. Holyoke ’14 (left) has begun her career at TOLOnews, Afghanistan’s first news and current affairs network and has had two of her blogs, Is the East Becoming Westernized and Justice or Revenge, published. Another is currently a Woodbridge Fellow at Yale while a third has started a masters program in journalism at American University.

 

2014 finds us with 20 college students at Bucknell, Goucher, Hollins, Lafayette, Lynchburg, Mt. Holyoke, Muhlenberg, Oberlin, Skidmore, Smith, U. of Pacific, Washington & Lee and 4 high school students at Blair, St. Margaret’s, St. Timothy’s and Wyoming Seminary.

We are thrilled to have such a diverse community of students and support.  We look forward to sharing another amazing year with all of you!