Before I deployed to Afghanistan I had the pleasure to visit the staff and students at Westglen Elementary School in Edmonton, Alberta. With the help of two wonderful assistants I was able to make presentations to all of the Westglen classes. I really tried to give the students some idea of what it was like to be a kid growing up in Afghanistan. We looked at pictures of schools, teachers, and students in Afghanistan. We drew some comparisons between schooling and education in Afghanistan with their experiences in Westglen. My goal was to demonstrate that despite horrible poverty and insecurity the kids in Afghanistan share many of the same interests as the kids at Westglen. Although they may live far away from each other kids in Kabul are not really that different from Westglen kids. It was an effective lesson in equality and empathy, for all of us. The Westglen students had many good questions and observations. One young student told me that it made him mad that kids in Kabul didn’t get the same chances that kids in Edmonton had. That my friends is the wisdom of youth.
It hasn’t taken me long to find practical examples in Kabul of just how similar kids in these two cities really are. I’ve seen many groups of kids playing soccer and cricket in vacant dirt lots, schoolyards, paved streets, and even in a cemetery. I’ve also seen kids skateboarding, playing tag, and riding bikes. I’ve been driving through Kabul when school lets out and I’ve seen the kids walking home.
Skateboarding with friends in Kabul. Note the security checkpoint and the barbed wire on the walls behind these boys. Along this stretch of road boys and girls as young as 6 work selling trinkets and souvenirs to Westerners. That is what the 2 girls in the background were doing when I took this photo.
There are no green spaces in Kabul where kids can play. But kids will usually find a way. In this photo a group of boys are playing soccer in an empty dirt lot.
However, I’ve also seen how poverty affects the young children in Kabul. This is where the similarities end and the reality of life in Afghanistan is clear for all to see. There is a particularly bumpy stretch of dirt road not too far from my camp where traffic needs to slow down. Almost everyday, standing in the middle of traffic is a woman with her young son. I think he is maybe 5 years old. She holds out her hand hoping that drivers will stop and give her some money. Her young son sits at her feet in the dirt surrounded by dust and exhaust. When it’s raining he sits in the mud on a rock at his mother’s feet. They are there for hours at a time almost every day. Tonight after dark, while driving home we stopped for a very young girl, maybe 6 years old, who was standing on the side of another very busy road selling eggs. Traffic was very slow because the police had a checkpoint in the area. Even though it’s against the rules I cracked open the door just wide enough to hand the girl two American dollars. Believe it or not $2 dollars will buy 18 large loaves of naan bread in Kabul. That is enough bread to feed a family for a week.
These are sad things for us to see everyday but it helps all of us to recognize how fortunate we are. So on those occasions when I see Afghan kids at play I stop and watch them for as long as I can. It reminds me that kids are kids the world over and they ought to be playing, not working the streets.
This sentiment is shared by the staff and the students at Westglen. As part of their “Go Global” theme they have decided to reach out to the kids in Kabul in a meaningful way. In the coming months I will be fortunate enough to do my part to “bring” Westglen to Kabul and help facilitate Westglen's interaction with a group of Kabul’s kids. Please stay tuned and check back in to see how Westglen truly lives up to the school’s motto: “We’ve Got Character”.
Here is the link for the finest elementary school in Edmonton: Westglen Elementary: http://westglen.epsb.ca/
Thanks for checking in.
Ken.
