Shopping-for-Dosti

On the significance of Literacy

Kids have to be reading before they start school to be really literate. Giving a baby a book to hold makes a difference.

Any society can reduce infant and maternal mortality, birth rate, and violence by educating its girls. One educated girl educates three generations—her mother and her children. Sons will obey mothers who tell them not to join the haters and fighters.

On Living Conditions in Afghanistan and Pakistan

The two countries are the same people – the division into two countries was a “divide and conquer” strategy of the British

Only half of the children of Pakistan ever go to school. Half of those finish 6th grade. Their 6th grade is more like our second grade.

Pakistan has no teacher college – pretty much anyone can read and write can teach.

The average woman in Afghanistan has 7 children, often without medical care. Most women are anemic.

The Taliban had a strict system of rules when they were in power, but now women are often subjected to brutality with no system at all. 80% of women in Afghanistan have recently been subjected to violence. Some girls dress up as boys so they can leave their homes to provide for their families.

Afghanistan is the most dangerous place to be born. One in four Afghan children die before age 5, of mostly curable diseases. The average lifespan is 43 years.

The city of Peshawar has good doctors, but the more rural the area, the rarer good medical care.

Some parents are desperate enough to survive to sell their children into sexual slavery for forced labor. Even boys are frequently purchased as sex slaves for wealthy lords.

Children are held in forced labor by confinement or debt bondage, but in Afghanistan these are the lucky ones because they have the basic necessities.

The lack of infrastructure – including hospitals – means that people will do anything to survive, and often “whoever has the biggest gun is boss.”

Power is out more often than it is working. Kids are so thirsty for education that they will sit in school in the dark. (Rachel witnessed this.)

On the So-Called Taliban and So-Called Religious Extremists and How they Came to Power

The U.S. funded madrassas—schools that taught hate supposedly in the name of Islam—in Afghanistan and Pakistan during the Cold War in order to fight the Russians. The U.S. stirred up Afghan hatred of Russians by portraying the Russians as “godless.” At these schools, children were given basic food and shelter but were abused, and were not taught to read. Rather they were told what the Qur’an (Holy Scripture of Islam) supposedly said. They also never interacted with women. Now these madrassas continue to operate with private Saudi money. Abuse of children is still common.

In 1989 when the U.S. left, Afghanistan was the most armed and mined country in the world

On Media Distortion of Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Islam

The Qur’an actually admonishes sons to respect their mothers. (“Heaven is found beneath the souls of your mother’s feet.”) Some Muslim countries, like West Sumatra, are very women-driven and advanced. Even in Pakistan, some educated women have power. Rachel herself has never met anyone who didn’t want their daughter educated. Even the Taliban have asked humanitarians to build schools for their girls.

Most Pakistanis are very hospitable and philanthropic-minded, and most don’t hate Americans. In fact, they attended receptions for Rachel even though bombs were falling in their areas.