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In 2010 Lailee was one of the first children sponsored through TIE. Her family of six, one brother, two sisters, father and mother, were relying on her mother for income. Her father no longer worked. Lailee, like most of the children sponsored, was working on the streets of Kabul.
Lailee wrote "I am really thankful from the family who are helping me to not work on the street. After your support I only study my school lessons and I spend $20 a month for English and computer classes. I am crazy about soccer and I am one of the members of the national football teams for women. I like chemistry and I have lots of difficulties in Math".
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| Afghanistan's National under 17 soccer team. |
Eight years later Lailee is a college graduate and coaches the team. Nabi sent me the photo above, taken during a tournament in India. Lailee is standing on the far right in the photo (red scarf). The team had just defeated an Indian team 5-0.
In 2013 Lailee and another girl in the program, Zohra, had graduated from high school and wanted to go to college. Their monthly support would need to be increased to an outrageous $80 a month for them to attend! Around the same time, I learned that a girl had dropped out of the sponsorship program because she was being forced to marry. I decided to require Lailee's and Zohra's mothers to meet with me while I was in Kabul.
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Zohra, Lailee and their mothers |
I explained to them through Nabi that for me to seek the money they were requesting, I needed their assurance that their daughters would be allowed to go as far as they could go, even if they were to marry. As Nabi translated my request and the reason for my concern, Zohra's mother kept looking at me with a knowing smile. She said, "tell Budd not to worry, I don't want Zohra to turn out like me. I married when I was fourteen years old."
I realized then that there was no need to ask for their assurance. They knew more than I how important education was for their daughters.
I haven't had this discussion with Afghan mothers since.
We did, however, add a gender neutral clause to our sponsorship contract that obligates parents to allow their children to stay in school as long as they want and can. We know the clause is unenforceable and not necessary for most families. But, it's there to advocate for the few unfortunate girls who are born into families that think it's more important for girls to find a good man than be educated. In those families, if you marry, you drop out of school.
The good news is we aren't aware of any other girls who dropped out of the sponsorship program because they married.
What happened to Zohra? She graduated from college and is now a midwife.
Treat yourself to a news free weekend and see the movie
Free Solo -- a documentary about the mountain climber, Alex Honnold, who climbs El Capitan's 3,000 foot vertical rock face without ropes. Seriously, this is one that shouldn't be missed.
Budd
