From the Executive Director

Message from Professor Sakena Yacoobi, Founder and Executive Director of the Afghan Institute of Learning

I am often asked why I do the kind of work I do with the Afghan Institute of Learning.  Each time the question is posed, I am reminded of the children in Peshawar when they first come to school.  In their eyes, I see fear, sadness and hopelessness. But in just a few weeks, the same children are standing taller, laughing and playing with smiles across their faces.  And I answer the question with this: when you make education available to Afghan children, it is like giving them a new life and hope for their future.

A reporter recently asked one of the children what she saw for her future.  She said, “We would have no future or life if not for AIL giving us this opportunity to come to school.”

The women served by AIL experience similar transformations. They come into our programs with nothing and they leave with, not only an education and income-generating skills to help provide for their families, they leave with hope in their hearts and a healing in their souls. 

And that is more than enough reason for me to continue on in my quest to see quality educational opportunities and basic health services offered to the women and children of Afghanistan. I count it a privilege to be helping the Afghan people reach beyond their circumstances to forge a new Afghanistan in the days to come.