College students help learning in Afghanistan

By Sarah Reitz\nIndiana Daily Student\nThe Academy for Educational Development recently launched the BluePack Project, supplying Afghan children with tools to pursue their educational needs. \nAcross the country, college students who are already on their way to a solid education are reaching out and getting involved in BluePack due to AED's promotion of the project. \n"I think it is a great idea not only to help children in Afghanistan, but education is one of the most effective ways to help them," freshman Jenna Stevenson said.\nThe New England Association of Schools and Colleges, with 1800 members, recently sent out informative letters for the creation of school wide campaigns. Anna Marie College in Paxton, Mass., implemented a "Skip a Meal" program where students sign up to skip one or more meals with proceeds going to BluePack.\n"College students have the desire to make a difference, and they will with this project," said Mary Maguire, vice president and director of communications for AED.\nEach BluePack costs $10, with portions of the funds going to teacher training, development and other initiatives to restore Afghanistan's educational systems. The BluePacks contain a chalkboard, regular and colored pencils, sharpener, eraser, notebooks, ruler, writing tablet, traditional bamboo pens, ink, wooden takhti, personal hygiene products and a few toys. The packs have a blank space where each individual child can write their name.\n"These are things we take for granted: paper, pencils, and a piece of chalk and a slate. These children have nothing to call their own -- a piece of paper is an unbelievable luxury," Maguire said. "The charge daffier in the Afghan embassy in Washington told us that when he taught in Kabul, his second grade students would not write on the paper he handed out because it was the only clean thing they had." \nBluePack's initial goal is to raise $2 million and distribute 200,000 packs by the end of this calendar year. Last spring, 40,000 Afghan children staying in refugee camps along the Pakistan border received BluePacks. \n"The BluePack addresses both the immediate need to provide school supplies to children and the ongoing need to rebuild the overall education system in Afghanistan," AED President Stephen F. Moseley said.\nOver the past 20 years, Afghanistan's educational system has declined due to struggles with war, poverty and social conflict. Relief workers and educators hope the recent regime change will encourage and strengthen the grassroots educational movement. AED joined forces with Pakistan to promote education in a country that once held one of the highest illiteracy rates in the world.\nRepresentatives in Washington, D.C. worked alongside AED and Pakistan for five months, beginning shortly after the war started in October.\n"We wanted to do something to help the displaced children in the camps who are under tremendous stress as a result of the war," Moseley said.\nAED's Education Quality Improvement through Community Participation project, led by project director Zahid Afridi, worked closely with Pakistani partner NGOs to transformed an idea into a reality. Afridi witnessed firsthand the effect BluePacks had on the children. \n"When we started distributing BluePacks," he said, "one could see the shining faces and the glitter in the eyes of the children while receiving such a valuable thing."\nShocked by the horrible living conditions in the camps, Afridi said despite all the support from various organizations, the camps were simply rows of tents with children running around half-dressed in the extreme cold.\n"I always say that my true emotions were translated by first lady Laura Bush when she said that BluePack was the only thing of worth to these children," Afridi said.\nLaura Bush gave an endorsement speech for the BluePack Project at United Nations headquarters commemorating International Women's Day on March 8.\n"Children who receive these backpacks may have never owned or even seen books and toys," Bush said. "This great effort deserves our support. Education is the single most important long-term investment we can make in the future."\nStudents can go online to www.aed.org, and then click on BluePack and there is information about how a group or organization can become involved. You can donate either directly online or print out the donation form on .