Fwd: kabul travel UNO assistance

Yaseer Jaan Salaam,

I need your advice on a few issues related to Afghanistan and our continuing program to offer educational opportunity for Afghan kids.

It's probably not too early to begin talking about my upcoming return to Kabul and summer program for late July or early August 2006. It usually takes about two years to generate enough funding to carry out a construction project. We are ready to fund the transformation of an elementary school in Wardak, Province into a middle school this summer. This will be the fourth construction project (as well as other support programs like Ted's well at Tajwar Kakar's school and support for PARSA and AID Afghanistan when we were there in 2003) with the support of the Western NY community. As you know, the University of Nebraska at Omaha has player a crucially supportive role in each of them. This summer's construction project will be completed in part, through a contribution from Shirin Ebadi, 2003 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, from a presentation she made last year in Vienna, Austria.

Additionally, a small team (three people, a host mother, son and physician from the Noor Eye Clinic) from WNY will visit Kabul this spring to research the possible support of an orphanage and to offer a scholarship to Zubair Trapzada, one of our exchange students from Kabul, whose mother died while he was an exchange student in the US. Does UNO have a relationship with AISK or another school serving the international community in Kabul? Does UNO have any insight into supporting an orphanage?

Would it be possible to have this small group stay at the UNO Team House, two rooms? Also, how do I begin to make arrangements to stay at the UNO facility this summer? If our visits don't time up with the availability of the UNO facility, can you suggest a safe, reasonably priced quest house?

Wow, I sure just asked a lot of questions. I hope that you can address them soon because our spring team is trying to set up their own procedures and I can't think of a better safer more central location than the UNO facility. Ensh'Allah, we will talk soon.

Peace, Tony

PS Orchard Park students just won a $1000.00 communication grant to help us spread the word about US students supporting Afghan educational projects. Any suggestions from the UNO staff about whom we might contact regarding expanding our program to support Afghan education?

President, Friends of Afghanistan
Director, Schools and Futures, Inc.
Advisor, Western New York
Sister School Coalition
Peace Corps, Afghanistan 1972-75