Help Educate Women & Girls in Afghanistan

Dear Friends of Sahar,

It has been a trying and difficult year for the people of Afghanistan and for those of us who hoped and worked for a peaceful and more stable Afghanistan. The financial, political, and social well-being of Afghans has declined drastically since the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan last year. Women and girls have borne the brunt of oppression and poverty. We acknowledge and commend the bravery they show in loud, continued protests and in quiet daily struggles to help their families survive. 

Inspired by the girls and women of Afghanistan, SAHAR has doubled down on our mission to educate and empower. We are immensely grateful for your support that has enabled us to fund and support three different programs for Afghan girls. We are so grateful to be able to share our program updates with you. 

English, Digital literacy and Women’s Empowerment & Health Program

"I am one of the students of the women empowerment workshop. This program is an excellent opportunity for us, especially for Afghan women living under the Taliban government. The Women Empowerment workshop is introducing new topics about our rights; the topics are awakening and essential for us to learn. It’s our responsibility to share the information and what we learn from this workshop with our family and friends. We also communicate with other women outside of this program. We learned so much from the program."   shares Nadia* one of our students from Mazar-i-Sharif. 

In partnership with a private school in Mazar-i-Sharif, our 20 program participants are learning English and computer skills and becoming more aware their rights and health. Students were recruited from public schools and have limited English and computer abilities.

Our girsl are now familiar with computer components; such as the different features of windows, creating folders, arranging icons, and storing and organizing data on computer. In MS word, they learned about the program's tabs. Students can now create tables in a word document; they can insert charts, pictures, shapes, header, footer, and more. Students are also able to create their Word documents and set up the printer to print them out. Students are now learning Excel sheets and running formulas on Excel.

Sewing, Literacy and Women’s Empowerment & Health program

In partnership with Afghanistan Relief Organization in Kabul, our 20 students are learning and practicing literacy and sewing skills along with topics related to women’s empowerment, mental health, reproductive health and menstrual hygiene. SAHAR provides Afghanistan Relief Organization, with the curriculum for women’s empowerment and health workshops, training on delivering the material, project management support and funding for the program. 

Our students have improved their reading and writing skills since the workshop started. Students can now read the text from their Dari book fluently and write dictation. Students' math skills have improved as well. They are now learning to multiply and divide numbers.

Last quarter, our Women empowerment & health workshop focused on menstrual hygiene and pregnancy. Talking about menstruation remains one of the social taboos in Afghanistan's traditional society leading to misinformation about periods. Women and girls believe in myths regarding periods, for example, not taking frequent showers during periods. This workshop focused on addressing the misconceptions and  encouraged women to educate their daughters and sisters on this topic. Similarly, students got to learn about pregnancy, complications of pregnancy, pregnancy precautions, medical care during pregnancy and miscarriage. 

Mobile Schools

Our two mobile schools provide basic literacy skills for around 500 nomadic boys and girls who have not had the opportunity to get an education prior to this effort. The nomadic families move from one village to another throughout the year and the mobile schools travel with them, assuring that the students have access to education. Sahar is supporting this program by funding the curriculum and school operations. We also provide program management and oversight support for the mobile schools. 

As the school year comes to an end, our moblile school students are finishing up their final exams. We are happy to see our students promote to the next grade and we plan to continue the program on the management side.

It has been rewarding to watch our girls  improve their self-confidence and become aware of their rights. SAHAR has provided opportunities for students to express their needs and learn how to help themselves and other women in their community. We COULD NOT have done this without you. Thank YOU for making a difference in the lives of Afghans girls today!

* The student's name was changed to protect her identity.