COVID-19 Aid for Education in Afghanistan

Dear Friends,

COVID-19 resulted to significant challenges in our partner schools in 2020. Thanks to your support, we provided a lifeline in the form of stipends to teachers and staff, and scholarships to students that helped keep our partner schools solvent. Detailed information on the usage of the funds were provided in the previous quarterly reports (please see the first quarter and the second quarter reports).

Thanks to your generous support, our partner schools were able to keep their trained and valued teachers and staff. They are very grateful to you for being there during a difficult time. We have heard from some of them, and we would like to share their stories with you.

Mariam:

Mariam has been teaching at Marefat since 2006 after obtaining her degree in Economics. Being the only breadwinner for her family, the school closure due to the pandemic (March 2020 – August 2020) was a challenging time for her and her family of four. She is appreciative of the support from the Foundation and recounts that the stipend was the only income she had to provide basic sustenance for her family.   

Masoma:

Masoma has been teaching at Marefat since 2004. She has a Masters degree in International Relations and would like to start her PhD in the future. She is thankful to the Foundation as the stipend helped her with the basic needs, i.e. food and medicine during the lockdown/school closure.

Nadir:

Nadir is the director of Exams and Evaluation at Marefat. Being a father of five, he moved his family to his home province during the lockdown. He was glad to see the stipend in his bank account as he was “suffering from shortage of money in his home province to provide for his family”. 

Mohammad:

Mohammad, a father of three, has been an employee at Marefat since 2003, when the school had moved from Pakistan to Afghanistan. Mohammad was featured as the mechanic in Jeffery Stern’s book “The Last Thousand” and he is known and endeared to the Marefat family. Mohammad appreciates the assistance from the Foundation and recounts his thoughts on the pandemic and the school closure, “I wish such a nightmare is never repeated in one’s life”.

Chaman A:

Chaman is 65 years old and one of the senior employees at Marefat. He provides janitorial services and supports his family of five. His daughter is a student at Marefat. Chaman is grateful to the Foundation and our supporters to help him and his family during a time of need. 

Once again, we are grateful for your generosity to support the Bamyan Foundation's "COVID-19 Aid for Education in Afghanistan". Together, we helped mitigate the worst impacts of the pandemic at our schools.