www.oakvillebeaver.com The Oakville Beaver, Friday November 10, 2006 - 5 Only five per cent of Afghanistan is educated Continued from page 1 yet they are hungry and desperate to learn, to read, write, study sciences and generally excel in academics. Bravely, for more than 25 years Jabarkhil has been working diligently to boost the merely five per cent of her country's population that is educated. During her last stay in Afghanistan she endured rigorous travel throughout the countryside on hard terrain that has since caused back problems. Under constant threat Jabarkhil was forced to vary the routes she took to each of the schools and back home, to change her headdress and clothing routinely and leave and arrive at alternate times. Following routine could potentially put her in danger. She called her husband Sayed and son Hamid, 9 who stayed behind in their home in the U.S., to assure them daily that she was unharmed. Teaching has long been a way of life for Jabarkhil. Shortly after graduating with her teaching qualifications from Kandahar University in 1978, Jabarkhil and her fam- ily were forced to flee from their home and a lifetime of familiarity in Jalalabad when the Russian army invaded. They made it to a refugee camp in Peshawar, Pakistan. It is Nazaneen here where Jabarkhil put her diploma to work. She Jabarkhil gathered a few children together initially and began teaching them. The circle of learning expanded quickly. Today there is still a makeshift school in that refugee camp, which houses 1,200 students. Eighteen females graduated this year. Many of the students who have finished school under her tutelage have gone on to become doctors, teachers and engineers and some have returned to their homeland to help others, just as Jabarkhil did for them. It's a feat of determination for both teachers and students to have made it through elementary and high school years. Teachers put in more than 100 hours of their time per month earning around $35 to $40 pay. With little by way of materials they do the best they can in tents and rustic buildings, which are sometimes destroyed. "Our teachers need better pay so that they can afford to live and they need retraining, especially in sciences," Jabarkhil told the group. (A $750 donation pays for a teacher's annual salary in Afghanistan.) Bev LaFrancoise formed Canadians in Support of Afghan Women in 1988, shortly after she became aware of the plight of Afghan women impacted by the Taliban rulers. Since then a core group of 10 women and plenty of supporters have collectively raised $380,000. The group meets every second Thursday of every month to find ways to help Jabarkhil and her fellow Afghanis. For more information about Canadians in Support of Afghan Women, phone 905-825-3622, or email info@canadianssupportafghanwomen.ca. Tired of Your Old Fireplace? 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