Several months ago I was contacted by Azita Rahim, an Afghan living in the Bay Area, who supports our work. She had availed herself of porch privileges. My porch is open by the way and will be until Jil Plummer's garage and mine are full.

Azita wanted to help TIE and was particularly interested in our computer libraries. Her sister in law, Fereba Rahim, lives in the village of Ali Hahbad. Azita readily embraced the challenge of establishing a computer library in Ali Hahbad. 

Knowing how important it is that everyone get back to the news coming out of Washington DC, I'll keep this short. Seriously though, am I the only one watching and listening to less news? Question: Is tweeting a constitutionally protected right or a privilege that can be banned? 

Last week Azita sent me these photos. The library is open!!  They named the library ''Neda'' which means ''voice''.  They have enrolled twenty boys for the morning session and 20 girls for the afternoon. They provide snacks - something we will consider doing.

 

Projecting onto a screen. Memo to Basir -- Great idea!!

They're the lucky ones!

Check out the heating system.

This is the first computer library established, financially supported and operated  by others that will have every video we produce. Currently that's 1,001 Khan Academy Math videos translated into Dari. We are now producing English language videos that will be added later. 

Our voice was heard and Azita responded!!  Anyone else want to take on a library? They add tremendous value to education in Afghanistan. Children attending government schools are in school no more than four hours a day, due to capacity limitations. And, teachers are expected to cover seventeen subjects!!!

Budd