I have just returned from a lightning visit to Afghanistan to see the school I have been supporting for almost 10 years. I will write more about it in time but this is a quick note to record a (to me extraordinary) co-incidence.
I have blogged about the setting up of this school which has 50% girls and is situated in one of Kabul’s poorest and most criminal districts. The school is a serious and successful effort to educate now nearly 3,000 students in liberal arts, science, philosopy, and the recent almost 96% success in gaining entrance to the competitive Kabul University testifies to its calibre. However, it was attacked about three weeks ago by a motley group of fanatics and zealots gathered from and around a huge Madrassa funded by Iranians – the attack was in response to a peaceful demonstration by the older students, males and females, against a recent ruling on an aspect of Sharia law which spells out womens’ marital duties and clearly, in this interpretation at least, denigrates women.
A vist might, I thought, boost morale and to a large extent it did. However, back to the co-incidence. The previous blog had been read by an Afghan medical student in the US. He found out more about the school and then decided to spend a few months, before his new term at Yale began, in Kabul as a teacher in the school. He is currently the head of Science and I met him on Sunday. He is training other teachers in basic biological methods and has developed a system whereby the students are now able to determine their own blood groups – an essential piece of information in this bureaucratic country.
Having left on Saturday and returned early this morning with hours and hours of intense discussions in between, I am going to leave further details on this heart warming education programme for another time – but couldn’t resist conveying what I think is an important function of lordsoftheblog.net?
Having used the bulletin board system prior to the rise of the www it’s been my experience that you should never be surprised who reads and where.
I head about the marital law change some time back but was rather lost as to the status now as it was placed under review.
I’m slightly puzzled by your comment that they can ‘determine their own blood groups – an essential piece of information in this bureaucratic country.’ Why exactly would the bureaucratic nature of the country impact on the need to determine blood groups. I can’t imagine the majority of the people are close enough to a functioning hospital for the time saving of them not having to test for type to matter. Perhaps I’m wrong or missing something obvious?
Thanks for that encouraging story, and for your good work. We could do with a few more encouraging stories, in these dire times.
Croft, yes I should have been more explicit.
Afghanistan is security mad for good reasons, I counted six security check as I left the the country (beginning about half a mile from the airport). I understand that almost all official papers – visas, passports, student cards, voter registration forms etc. require blood groups. The hospitals are overwhelmed and sometimes chaotic so the fact that students can do their own blood typing is not only a useful skill but a time saver too.
How difficult was it for you to get there and back with the security as it is?
Is there a reason all their forms require a blood group? As personally identifying information it’s next to useless unless you have a blood group of rarer than AB-. I wonder what happens to those few individuals who change blood groups during their lifetime 😕
Croft, but pretty useful to know your blood group if you are in need of a transfusion (not uncommon in these violent times) and the hospital labs for one reason or another (lack of electricity, staff, equipment etc) cannot do any analysis?