The Afghan School Project

Given the numerous challenges presently facing the people of Afghanistan, one might wonder why it is that we chose education as our focus, when we might have elected to address food shortages, health care, the security situation or another pressing need. We realize that these are important issues, but also recognize the role of education in providing long-term solutions to these challenges.

Consider, for instance, the problem of providing access to safe drinking water to rural Afghan communities. According to information from the United Nations, only 11% of Afghans living in the countryside have access to safe drinking water. Safe drinking water has a significant impact on health, including life expectancy, quality of life and infant mortality rates.

Conventional solutions to this problem, such as chlorination or mechanical filtration, are difficult to implement due to the cost of the equipment and supplies required, the maintenance of the equipment and the complex training required to properly implement these methods. As a result of the need for simple yet effective methods of purification, new techniques have been developed that dramatically reduce the cost and complexity of producing safe drinking water.

One such method is SODIS, or Solar Water Disinfection, a method that uses commonly available water bottles and exposure to sunlight to effectively kill bacteria and other micro-organisms that can cause disease. This method has been successfully tested in a number of countries, including Pakistan and Uzbekistan. In the case of projects in these two countries, the SODIS method reduced water-borne diseases by approximatley 50%. With proper light-weight water bottles and by following the simple procedures outlined on the SODIS website, this method could dramatically improve the health of rural Afghans at minimal cost.

This is but one example of the potential benefits of education, including access to skilled teachers and the Internet.