Tapping Young Talent
Education is a fundamental human right, and yet in Afghanistan many are denied the right to attend school.
We welcome the many young people involved in supporting our efforts to raise awareness and amplify the voices of Afghans. Thank you for sharing your energy, raising awareness and fundraising! Join us.
Youth Take Action
On September 17, 2021, secondary aged school girls in Afghanistan were banned from attending school.
To raise awareness and stand in solidarity with Afghan secondary school students, CW4WAfghan launched a campaign coinciding with the International Day of the Girl on October 11. Calgary Girls Charter School joined the campaign and remained involved throughout the school year, participating in the UN Status on the Commission of Women, a May 7 library program in Calgary and more.
“The main problem we are focusing on right now is how girls in Afghanistan are getting mistreated,” shared the girls from Grade 7 at the Calgary Charter Girls School.
“We had a walk out that the whole school participated in. We only walked about a block, but the distance didn’t matter. We and every other student knew that it was for a good reason. There were about 370 students and teachers participating, but we made an impact and raised awareness. All of us walked out because girls in Afghanistan can’t walk in.”
Introducing the CW4WAfghan Youth Group
Register to join our group of supporters aged between 14 and 35!
This Youth group is a unique chance for you to contribute towards building advocacy and awareness of our fellow female friends in Afghanistan.
“We never thought that a small option class of 16 students and one teacher could turn into something so big. It’s a worthy cause to all of us, and we will keep trying to increase the recognition of this problem.”
Sincerely,
Kaia, Gillian, Fatima, Sophie, and Eman, Grade 7, Calgary Girls Charter School
“This whole topic of social justice/ equity and of refugees is a deep personal passion of mine,” explained teacher Peter Deiter. “It is a privilege to plant the seeds of activism in the minds of others, especially the girls here at our school.”
Cedar Grove Elementary in BC also came forward to protest the school ban for girls in Afghanistan after reading the biography “Who is Malala Yousafzai? and learning about the situation in Afghanistan.
Access the Campaign Folder to learn how you can get involved. Please email us at newsletter@cw4wafghan.ca and share how you raised awareness. When you post to social media, remember to tag us @CW4WAfghan (on Facebook and Twitter)/ @cw4wafghanistan (on Instagram).
University Involvement
As a second generation Afghan immigrant, Sanam Sekhandary volunteers at CW4WAfghan to empower Afghan girls and women by ensuring they have equal access to education opportunities. “Education is a basic human right that every person should have access to, including the girls and women in Afghanistan,” said Sanam. “I hope to connect and engage with the local community to actively fight for gender equality in Afghanistan, and promote sustainable social change for Afghans using the most powerful tool possible — education.”
Laura Cunningham, a university student in Vancouver, held her first fundraiser on behalf of CW4WAfghan in 2018. Since then, she has raised over $2,000.
Laura first became interested in CW4WAfghan when reading in 2018 that Afghanistan ranked as the ‘worst place in the world to be a woman’. With support from CW4WAfghan, and motivated to improve education and literacy opportunities for women and girls in Afghanistan, Laura launched a campaign event at her local library: screening The Breadwinner, delivering an educational presentation, and leading an interactive audience discussion afterward. This effort enabled her to raise over $1500 and send a 500-book starter library to Afghanistan.
Laura has also donated part of a 2020 Soroptimist International scholarship she was awarded to buy science supplies and additional books for the CW4Afghan effort, and as public health restrictions allow, she continues to lead virtual and outdoor ‘by donation’ themed picnics among friends and family, recently raising another $500.
Global Challenge
Students participating in a Global Challenge hosted by the University of Calgary, chose to support project needs at our organization in 2020 and again in 2021. We were thrilled the group placed third in the overall competition in 2020.
The University of Calgary Global Challenge brought together students from 13 countries to work on a solution for a Calgary community partner.
“None of us knew much about the situation in Afghanistan, but after conversations with Sarah [Keeler] and some outside research, we were all greatly moved with the work that CW4WAfghan does – the type of very real challenges faced, the dangers for individuals, and the volatile political situation that puts their work at risk,” said University of Calgary student, Lauren Ball. “Using this as motivation we put together a proposal that we hoped could give the outreach team some practical ideas backed up with proven techniques to make social media algorithms work in their favour. Our presentation came 3rd out of 24 international teams, which was a great result, but ultimately we hope that the research we pulled together can help the organization reach more people and have a positive impact – for us that would be the true measure of success. Best of luck! From Team 9.”
Internships
CW4WAfghan has offered students internship opportunities in our Technology for Education program. The students enjoyed the experience and extended their internships. This has been a win-win opportunity.
Shravya Reddy enjoyed her internship. “I have learned many things, like how to interact professionally through emails and video, also how to work virtually and manage things and time. I enjoyed working with CW4WAfghan. Thank you very much for the opportunity.”