The Afghan School Project

Staff and students of the Afghan-Canadian Community Centre will begin a project on behalf of members of “A Journey of Peace” (www.journeyofpeace.ca) to translate material and provide feedback related to the illustrated stories that promote peace and reconciliation in Afghanistan.

The Journey of Peace stories are part of a larger Peace and Reconciliation Education Project created by the authors and others working from at the Centre for Peace Studies at McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario.

Faculty members of the Centre for Peace Studies at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada sought to develop a means to ameliorate the mental and emotional distress of war-torn families in Afghanistan. Alongside these themes was the wish to strengthen possibilities for peace through understanding and valuing peaceful processes.

With the direction and assistance of Dr. Seddiq Weera, who patiently and diligently immersed the writing team in details of life in Afghanistan before the Russian invasion and experiences of ethnic and international conflict since, the authors have, with greatest respect and humility, attempted to offer these stories of hope, healing, and peace to those who live with war. Since beginning with the refugee communities in Peshawar, it was later possible to focus the project in several cities in Afghanistan.

Staff and students at the ACCC are excited about this opportunity, as it will provide our students with the chance to contribute to the welfare of others in Afghanistan, while also gaining valuable experience in working with an established international organization. We will write more as the project progresses.