Aid for Afghan Women and Children (AAWC)

Partner: Aid for Afghan Women and Chidren (AAWC)
Project: Fatema Tul Zahra Schools
Location: Kabul and Maimana City
Canadian Donor Support: US$40,000 per annum

AAWC is a small organization founded in 1997- to assist Afghan widows, orphans and other children unable to be cared for by their destitute families. Funding supported by Canadian donors goes to two schools, one located in Maimana City of Faryab Province in Northern Afghanistan and the other in Kabul. Both schools are named Fatema Tul Zahra. Some orphaned children live at the school in Faryab.  This school holds four classes each day for 80 students. The school in Kabul has a total of 297 students with two sets of classes each day for grades 1-7, taught by eleven qualified teachers. Over half the students are female. Additional employees include a head master, a cook, security guard and a messenger. The students are provided with health services, stationery, clothes and books at no cost.

“When you see what this school is accomplishing with so little in the way of funding, it is amazing. The students are eager to learn and, in the most difficult of situations, are learning. Some of these students are very bright. Ask them what they want to be when they grow up and they answer, ‘doctors, teachers and engineers’. With the right help some of them could accomplish their goal.”

Janis Rapchuk, Board Member