Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Ellis students raise money to build girls' school in Afghanistan

Thanks to the help of students at The Ellis School in Shadyside, girls at a tent school in Afghanistan may soon be able to have classes in a brick-and-mortar building.

By L.A. Johnson, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The images compelled Alana Rudkin to action.

They were slide-show pictures of burka-clad Afghan young women and girls huddled together and trying to learn under dusty tents that served as makeshift classrooms. Some even studied in sun-baked, open fields.

"You'd see them sitting on the ground with no tables," says Ms. Rudkin, 17, a junior at The Ellis School. "I thought, 'Wow, these women are extremely dedicated to their education.'"

That's when she decided she wanted to help build a brick-and-mortar school for them. And so she is.

During the past two years, Ms. Rudkin and other members of the Asian Culture Club at The Ellis School in Shadyside have raised more than $11,000 for construction of a girls' middle school, Saleh Abad, in the Herat province of Afghanistan.

"I'm very grateful to them," says Fahima Vorgetts, a former chemist, Afghan immigrant and human rights activist from Annapolis, Md., who first addressed the girls at an Ellis School assembly two years ago.

Fahima Vorgetts, who is raising money to build schools in remote regions of Afghanistan, meets with an Afghan student.

Once in operation, the school -- estimated to cost $125,000 -- will serve 1,200 girls and will be the only girls middle school for five villages. The school also will function as a community center in the evenings, offering women's literacy classes.

Construction began this summer but was halted due to a shortage of funds.

"That's why I'm appealing to people to help with money," says Ms. Vorgetts, 51, a board member of Women for Afghan Women and director of the Afghan Women's Fund. "If we don't finish the school, 1,200 girls won't have a school. ... They were deprived of education for so long and still are deprived."

Fighting for women's rights in Afghanistan is an extremely dangerous proposition.

Yesterday, two gunmen killed the southern provincial head of Afghanistan's Ministry of Women's Affairs outside her Kandahar home in apparent retribution for her efforts to help educate women, the Associated Press reported. Safia Ama Jan, known for being an active proponent of women's rights and education, was slain as she walked to her office.

"If we don't finish the school, 1,200 girls won't have a school," said Fahima Vorgetts. "They were deprived of education for so long and still are deprived."

Ms. Vorgetts, who has taken at least two trips a year to her homeland since she first started making return visits home in 2002, realizes her work in support of women's education and women's rights places her life in peril, too.

"Of course, I am very worried about my personal safety, but that does not stop me from working because if you don't do it, you will see a lot more of these things," Ms. Vorgetts says. "We have to change these views and the violence against women and we can only stop it by educating people."

Under the Taliban, Afghan girls and women were denied the right to education and work. In post-Taliban Afghanistan, women slowly but increasingly have been seeking the education and participation in government that they'd been denied.

"For the first time now in Afghanistan, they're having more women in Congress," says Shanti Singh, 15, an Asian Culture Club member and Ellis senior from Allegheny West. "I'd like to see more women in Congress here, too."

Since Ms. Vorgetts left her native Afghanistan in 1979, she has dedicated herself to improving the lives of Afghan women and children through education, job training and health care.

She moved to the United States in 1990 and currently operates a store in Annapolis, Md., where she sells rare, exquisite and extremely affordable Afghan carpets, handcrafted jewelry and other items made by women in her homeland and other countries. All proceeds from the sale of these items are funneled back into programs to help Afghan women and children.

photo by: Bill Wade, Post-Gazette Senior Shanti Singh, 15, left, and juniors Danielle Tomson, 16, and Alana Rudkin, 17, are among members of the Asian Culture Club at The Ellis School who have raised money to help build a girls' middle school in Afghanistan.

The Asian Culture Club has raised money for the Saleh Abad Sister School Project by selling items from Ms. Vorgetts' store to alumnae and the public during each of her three visits and through other school events including craft, Indian skirt and Asian food sales.

A mere $5 can buy a young girl's school supplies for an entire year and $600 can cover a teacher's salary for a year, explained Danielle Tomson, 16, an Ellis junior from Natrona Heights. Ms. Tomson believes she is blessed to receive an Ellis education and feels she should pay it forward and do all she can to help Afghan girls have a stable learning environment.

"They're so incredibly driven," she says. "Look at what education can inspire people to do. Education is empowerment."

Carole Haber, 60, of North Point Breeze first heard of Ms. Vorgetts at a Chatham College speech in 2001 and then met her in Washington, D.C., in 2002. She later suggested to a relative connected with Ellis that Ms. Vorgetts might make a wonderful speaker for the school or be part of a teacher exchange program.

Ms. Vorgetts spoke at the University of Pittsburgh in March 2003 and at the Pittsburgh Friends' Meeting House in December 2003. There, two Ellis faculty members heard her and later approached Ms. Haber about having Ms. Vorgetts speak at the school.

Ms. Vorgetts last visited Ellis in April.

She returned to the states from an August visit to Afghanistan with presents from Afghan girls for the Ellis girls who have helped raise money for the school. In the past, the Ellis girls also have received a hand-embroidered banner from the girls in Afghanistan, thanking them for their fund-raising efforts.

"It was hard for me being from Ellis to understand that these women had nothing," Ms. Singh says. "I felt like I had an obligation and responsibility to do something about it."

The students plan to continue to raise awareness about the importance of women's education and women's rights in Afghanistan in the school and the community. They also plan to raise more money for their Afghan sister school and increase their dialogue with the girls there. They'd like the fund-raising efforts to continue long after they've graduated.

"I plan to be involved with this for the rest of my life, whether it be donating money or helping youth help youth," Ms. Rudkin says.

For more information about Saleh Abad, contact the Afghan Women's Fund, 978 Yachtsman Way, Annapolis, MD 21403. For more information about humanitarian efforts in Afghanistan, visit womenforafghanwomen.org.