One of the things we sometimes forget when we look at the war in Afghanistan is how the women of the country were treated under the Taliban. One of the projects our soldiers have taken on in that country is to restore some basic rights to the women of Afghanistan.
On January 11, Stars and Stripes reported on a radio program based in Southern Afghanistan which will help bring literacy to the people of the country.
The article reports:
“Afghanistan has the third lowest literacy rate in the world, with less than 30 percent of its population able to read or write. According to a 2007 United Nations report, in rural Helmand province, the rate is even lower: 8 percent for men and just 1 percent for women.
“Maj. Nina D’Amato, ISAF Regional Command — Southwest’s education officer and gender adviser, said Soviet and Taliban rulers intentionally crippled the education system.
“”You just don’t get literacy rates that low doing nothing,” she said. “You have to bring them down.””
This is one of the places where we can truly make a difference in Afghanistan. One of the non-military people attempting to bring literacy to Afghanistan in recent years is Greg Mortenson, author of the book, THREE CUPS OF TEA. He also focuses on teaching women and children how to read.
The article at Stars and Stripes reports:
“(Maj.) D’Amato said about 21,000 girls now are attending elementary schools. But they must be separated and taught by female teachers after the sixth grade. The Taliban twice burned down a girls’ school in Helmand last spring, she said — and twice it was rebuilt — and supplies and teachers, especially female teachers, are often scarce.
“But the main target for the radio program is women 25 to 40 years old, D’Amato said, who’ve never set foot in a school, or many other places without a male relative escort. “If they’re not going to come to us, we’ll go to them,” she said.
“Being literate could elevate the women’s status in a tribal culture that treats them as property, almost like livestock.
“”You become valuable: Now you have a skill,” she said. “You can make a greater contribution to the well-being of the family, you can understand things like public health issues. If you can read a land document, you become a lot more valuable than a donkey.”
“It’s unclear how effective the new program will be, but there’s nowhere to go but up.”
There are cultural gaps between the West and the East that we may never be able to bridge or understand, but helping people learn and giving them the ability to learn is a gift that will change lives. I wish the military much success with this program.