Literacy Classes & Books for Afghan Women & Girls

Latest News!!

Dr. Yacoobi was honored to receive the 2015 WISE Prize for Education. A prestigious award given to those who are tireless advocates for the right to education.  “I know from my life that education gives power, status and opportunity. I see women who are smart, intelligent but did not have opportunity so I gave them that. It is education and not guns that can transform society and give us a peaceful tomorrow. “ Sakena

Dear Friends,

It is Giving Tuesday and we greatly appreciate any support you can give!

All the AIL Learning Centers aspire to have a library to help their students with their studies. The centers are creative in their use of the books and library they have. The students at M. center created a timetable for book usage so everyone has the opportunity to read. They manage the timetable according to student free time between classes. As well as alternating use of the books the students who have studied a particular book will tell their class mates about the book and give a presentation on the main ideas. M center is preparing to do an update of its library. They are fortunate to have a large number of books, all of which are well used.

At the Y center students have been creative too, and set up a book reading program last month. They chose certain books and began studying with a competition to see who would get through the book the fastest and be able to explain to the class the main ideas in the book. The benefits are  two-fold, gaining knowledge and for some reading English and gaining confidence in explaining ideas and giving opinions to others.

One student said, "I feel great physically and mentally and see changes in myself since attending the literacy class at the  AIL Learning Center in the last two months. I used to stay home all day and complain about families. My life was so boring, but since I came to this center, I have gained new ideas and inspiration about myself. I like reading books and am getting better at reading. I thank AIL for changing my life.”

Thanks for your continued interest in the promotion of reading.

Dear Friends,

Bonus Day September 16^th!  30% matching funds available for this project!

Can you help?

Donate between 9am- midnight ET September 16^th and get a 30% match up to $1,000 per donor per organization!

AIL’s most recent magazine – a 36 page glossy print run of 1,000 copies,  continues to be passed from person to person. Originally, the copies were delivered to government and non governmental organizations, including private and public schools, AIL Learning Centers, local offices including AIL office in Kabul, ministries, the Department of Women’s Affairs, Department of Culture and Information, the Human Rights Commission, social activist offices and clinics. This shows the breadth of the readership of the magazine. This breadth of readers is also reflected in the  content of each edition which have many varied topics from news to art to self help and education.

AIL is promoting literacy and educating people through its magazines, book publishing and library support. In June, there were 320 visitors to the AIL supported library at The Citadel in Herat. 120 of these visitors were female and 153 were students with the remaining 65 being visitors to the larger historic complex. Incidentally, AIL also has a Learning Center at the Citadel which provides classes in traditional Afghan crafts such as, glass blowing, tile making, calligraphy and miniature painting.

Thank you for your interest in literacy in Afghanistan.