Dear Friends,

It’s that time of year again. I’m back in Afghanistan for my 8th time visiting old friends and checking in on the 14 schools that we’ve helped build or reconstruct!  It’s wonderful to be back again. 

Often times I get so busy that I don’t have time to write until several weeks into my journey or even after my journey.  If you’re interested, you can actually go to the Internet and learn about our adventures on a day-to-day basis.  One of my traveling companions is the principal of Coe Elementary School in Seattle, Washington.  He is doing “podcasts” every day for the 2 weeks of his visit.  The website is web.mac.com/coecougars.  (There’s no www.)  To connect, you’ll need to have QuickTime (a free down load from Apple).  To get this, go to Google and put in QuickTime.   It should bring up the website and you can download the appropriate software from there.

Some of you may have heard this story about Coe’s link to Afghanistan.  I can honestly say that this project would not have gotten off the ground without this community on Queen Anne Hill in Seattle.  They were the first school to participate in the school project and have become a national role model of cross-cultural learning and community service.  They truly have become my heroes, as well as the heroes for many kids in Afghanistan.

At the time I gave my first Afghan show & tell in the spring of 2002, the Coe students were temporarily housed in another school, because their school had burned to the ground.  While most communities would have been focused on simply getting through the year and worrying about their own kids, Coe parents, teachers, students, and staff approached me – asking, “What can we do to help the children in Afghanistan?”  With their encouragement, I went back to my American colleagues working in Afghanistan and asked if they were interested in building a school for girls.  What we started back in 2002 was a small grassroots project called “Journey with an Afghan School.” 

Our partnership with Coe, which started five years, is still going strong.  I would like to share a bit of our story with you, because it is a microcosm of our larger project:

· I have spoken no less than 50 times at Coe, both in classrooms and at assemblies.  Among other things, I taught the students about Afghan history and geography, Afghan houses that lack running water and electricity, the bazaar, water sources and usage, and the overwhelming poverty.  With the teachers’ help, we tried to make the classes as interactive as possible.  In addition to trying on turbans and burkhas and dressing up in Afghan clothing, kids got to visit my (pretend) Afghan house, carry water, and sample Afghan foods.  Consequently, the students have gained an appreciation of the contrasts between America and the developing world and a better understanding of the blessings we have here. 

· After learning about the severe lack of schools in Afghanistan and how girls were forbidden from attending school during the time of the Taliban, the Coe community decided to help me raise funds to build what was then one of the first girls’ in northern Afghanistan.  (Today it serves about 1,000 girls.)  They also committed to raising $3,600 per year for three years to help sustain the school.   

· When we started the project, I challenged the kids to raise $.50 per week for 10 weeks.  This was not a project for their parents but for them.  My hope was that they would learn about the importance of helping others and start giving to other charitable causes in the future.  Much to our amazement and joy, many of the children started emptying their piggy banks and asking classmates to bring money instead of birthday presents to parties.  One little girl and her mother baked 1,000 cookies.  Others sold baked goods or played instruments on street corners; some babysat or washed cars.  Even today, children from the school knock on my door from time to time and hand me a jar filled with pennies, and many now set money aside on a regular basis to help others.  The kids inspired their families and members of the community to give as well.  To date, they have raised almost $20,000.

· When the program first got off the ground in the spring of 2002, Afghanistan was ranked as the poorest country in the world by the United Nations.  Most lived on less than $1 per day.  Few children had shoes or coats.  None had paper or pencils.  Together with other families and schools in the region, like Hamilton Middle School and Three Points Elementary, Coe collected clothes, school supplies, and athletic equipment.  In the spring of 2003, we helped send over four, shipping containers worth over $1 million to Afghanistan.

· We did not only want to build structures; we wanted to build relationships.  In 2003, Coe kids started a cultural exchange program with their sister school in Afghanistan.  The students and families made photo albums, videos, art work, and banners for the kids in Afghanistan.  We also started working with a Seattle non-profit called Bridges to Understanding to help us develop a curriculum focusing on cross-cultural learning.  Our hope is that we would come to understand those who differ vastly in their expressions of religion, culture and scope of opportunities, and they would come to understand us. 

· In addition to me speaking in the classroom, Coe held several large assemblies and invited various Afghan guests to the school.  Last year they honored the Director of Women’s Affairs from the Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who is also a member of the U.S.-Afghan Women’s Council.  They’ve also hosted other visiting guests and linked with members of the Afghan community in the Northwest.

· To show other kids that they, too, could make a difference in the world, the Coe Community agreed to have students speak on the radio and television.  Several were also interviewed for local newspapers and national magazines.  One of these magazines, called FACES, did an entire article about the Coe kids.   I can say from first hand experience that even top-ranking officials at the State Department and the Afghan Government have heard about Coe’s work in Afghanistan.  Many other communities around the U.S. heard about our work as well.

· Finally, several of the kids have written letters to their Congressman and one former student even went to Washington, D.C. with me one summer to lobby Congress on the importance of educating kids and ensuring equal access to school for girls.  I’m proud to say that several are now grassroots activists. 

Although the kids have gotten much of the attention in the media, a great deal of credit is owed to Coe parents, teachers and staff.  There is no question that they have a huge heart for making this world a better place.  It is an extremely unique community, starting with the principal, David Elliott.  His passion for education and compassion for children in need really radiates throughout the school.  It’s clear that this isn’t a place where children are learning to simply read and write, but learning about the bigger world and their responsibility for helping others, albeit their neighbor or someone on the other side of the world.

Interestingly, when we speak to the Afghan teachers, students and principal in Afghanistan about Coe, eyes simply light up.  Despite the miles, this community has managed to bring hope and opportunity to one of the most desperate places on earth.   Last time I was in Afghanistan, I received a beautiful, handmade rug from the principal of the Afghan school for Mr. Elliott.  Woven into the design are two flags:  one American and one Afghan, showing the friendship that has been formed between these two communities.  Given that this is a country where there was such hatred against the United States, this simple gift speaks volumes.   

When I heard that David might be interested in visiting Afghanistan, we were all thrilled and extremely grateful that his family, the Coe community, and the Seattle Public School System gave him the opportunity to visit.  Last week he met up with our team in Kabul.  Altogether, he’ll be staying about two weeks in Mazar.  It’s fair to say that traveling in Afghanistan is more than a wee difficult in the best of times.  He’s been a wonderful traveling companion for us all.  Not only has he served as an exemplary ambassador, but he has helped us immensely in building bridges and breaking down barriers here.  Despite the difference in languages, teachers and principals around the world understand that education is key for transforming communities socially, politically, and economically.  It is also a building block for eliminating poverty and oppression.

Although I have highlighted the Coe community in this letter, because of David’s visit and his podcasts, I would be remiss if I didn’t say that we are extraordinarily fortunate to have several “Coe-type” communities involved with our project, including ones from Austin and Houston, Texas; Rancho Palos Verdes, California; Madison, Wisconsin; Vail and Aspen, Colorado; and Washington, D.C.  Together, our little grassroots movement has now reached some 90,000 students and family members in Afghanistan and over 50,000 in America, including several dozen public and private schools, various colleges and universities across the country, a multitude of religious institutions, clubs (like Rotary, DAR, and the Lions Club), my former law firm and legal colleagues, family foundations, and a several businesses.  We even received a grant from National Geographic Society’s Afghan Girls Fund this year to help build a new school building and repair a campus serving 3,600 kids in Mazar. 

Margaret Mead once wrote, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”  On behalf of the children of Afghanistan, thank you from the bottom of my heart for your support over the years.  There’s no question -- you have made a difference in this part of the world!

Tashakor (thank you),

Julie

PS:  If you’d like to learn more about American Friendship Foundation’s work in Afghanistan or how to make a donation to our school project, please go to http://www.affhope.org.