Photo By Senior Airman Courtney Witt | U.S. Army Pfc. Ryan Warner, Company D, 1st Platoon, 1st Battalion, 181st Infantry...... read more read more
Subscribe
GHAZNI PROVINCE, Afghanistan – A delegation from Hayward, Calif., visited key cultural sites and dignitaries in Ghazni City, Afghanistan March 29 to 30.
The Hayward-Ghazni Sister City Committee’s goal is to increase cultural understanding between Ghazni and San Francisco Bay Area residents and to support residents of Ghazni by providing aid.
Humaira Ghilzai is the co-founder of Afghan Friends Network and the Hayward-Ghazni Sister City Committee. She spearheaded many programs to improve education for women, and children particularly in Ghazni Province.
“The Bay Area has the largest Afghan population,” said Ghilzai. “They should have a direct connection with the people of Afghanistan.”
Between 2003 and 2007, Hayward City board members made several trips to Ghazni where they built relationships with Provincial Gov. Musa Khan, Mayor Sayeed Abdul Basir, Director of Education for Ghazni Province Hazni Mubarahk Azizi and doctors from the Ghazni hospital. In return, Hayward hosted visits for the provincial governor and the minister of education.
The committee is made up of more than 20 active members, about a third of whom are of Afghan descent. The members raised more than $50,000 as of January.
“All the funds we collect go straight to our projects in Ghazni,” said Carol Ruth Silver, co-founder of the Hayward-Ghazni Sister City Committee. “We have donated sports equipment, medical equipment, a blood bank refrigerator and have a program to teach widows how to read and write so they can support their families.”
A majority of the money is raised during an annual fundraiser.
“The event has two purposes corresponding to our two missions; cultural education and fundraising for aid to Ghazni residents,” said Silver.
The committee helped dedicate two new classrooms at the Department of Women’s Affairs in Ghazni City. Ghilzai, Silver and Mohammad Qayoumi, a board member for Hayward-Ghazni Sister City Committee, spoke during the event encouraging the young women to continue their education and become strong leaders.
“There is a Chinese proverb that women hold up half the sky,” said Silver. “It is important that you girls get a good education and reach your potential, so that Afghanistan can reach its potential.”
Continuing their mission, the committee visited eight important historical sites with the help of the Ghazni Provincial Reconstruction Team. These sites will be part of the Ghazni 2013 Center for Islamic Culture celebration as well as the next big project for the committee.
In 2007, the Islamic Scientific, Educational and Cultural Organization designated Ghazni as a Center of Islamic Culture for 2013. The distinction recognizes Ghazni’s rich historical past as a center of progressivism, learning and trade during the Ghaznavid Empire.
“During the next three years our primary activity will be to prepare for a celebration in 2013 of Ghazni as the Asian Center of Islamic Culture,” said Ghilzai.
In June the second part of this State Department-funded exchange program will take place, when a delegation of 10 Afghans will visit the United States and spend a week in Hayward, Calif. During that time, market the Ghazni 2013 celebration, raise money and define projects and activities for further collaboration.
Of the many projects being discussed, two have unique potential to help transform the educational landscape.
Mo Qayoumi, president of San Jose State University, and Dr. Brian Rose, past president of the Archaeological Institute of America and a professor at University of Pennsylvania, have committed to sharing some of the educational resources of those two institutions with students in Ghazni.
One of the activities included a visit to the future home of the Lincoln Learning Center in Ghazni. The LLC is a State Department initiative that provides computers, Internet access, and a library to the public, free of charge.
“Through the Internet, we could provide videotaped lectures from our university professors that would be dubbed or subtitled in to Dari or Pashto by our language departments,” said Rose.
He said providing such high-quality education free of charge, to students in Ghazni would be a huge accomplishment and is just one of the results of this exchange program.
| Date Taken: | 04.07.2011 |
| Date Posted: | 04.06.2011 16:24 |
| Story ID: | 68366 |
| Location: | GHAZNI PROVINCE, AF |
| Web Views: | 156 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, U.S. committee visits Ghazni, by SrA Courtney Witt, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
LEAVE A COMMENT