Kabul, Sat 10 Jan, 2009

Through the year 2008 we have had 200 female students, in eight classes of 25 in each who have learned to read and write.

These literacy classes are for ladies who have never been to school and who live very restricted lives in an extended family situation. The culture requires that these ladies never go far away from the area immediately around their homes and because of this these literacy classes are perhaps the only opportunity for social interaction outside the family that these women have.

At these classes they meet other ladies who may only live a few streets away, but who would never otherwise meet. They talk about their efforts to try to earn money, swap ideas, ask questions and gain more knowledge about business skills. Literacy not only gives women the ability to read and write, it gives them the self esteem to interact with the society they live in, expands their understanding of the world around them, and enables them to explore new opportunities with confidence.