Benefit for Afghan children Saturday

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. » The Giving Circle, an all-volunteer Saratoga Springs based non-profit, will host a fundraiser at 1 p.m. Saturday at Caffe Lena to help children in Afghanistan.

The event will benefit The Giving Circle Afghanistan, a new project with a goal of building three new classrooms for the Wardak High School outside of Kabul, Afghanistan.

The expansion will give 150 children access to the school, a number the current facility cannot support.

The benefit event will also fund a training program in Kabul for young women to become teachers, so they can return to their communities as educators and role models, a news release said.

The training program will run for three months. The Giving Circle Afghanistan will cover the full cost of tuition, transportation, books and stationery, and lodging for 50 young women.

Nangyalai Attal, founder of Hode Educational and Social Services Organization in Kabul, will be the featured speaker on Saturday. “Training teachers is just another step forward in our struggle for peace,” he said. “I believe that a determined struggle always has the chance of victory. At some point the longest war in the U.S. history will be over. The only thing Afghan people will be remember are the schools built by the American people where future generations of Afghans will ring their hopes to freedom and prosperity”

Attal is the 2014 recipient of the United Nations’ Youth Courage Award and the Award of Hopes and Challenges from the former president of Afghanistan. He was selected as one of 12 emerging leaders in Asia by the Asia Foundations Development Fellows in 2016.

He has worked as director of Presidential Decrees and Orders at the Office of the President of Afghanistan. A Fulbright Scholar and author of “The State of the Labor Movement in Afghanistan,” Attal is currently pursuing his doctorate in policy and leadership in international education at the University of MassachusettsAmherst College of Education.

Following his presentation, there will be a screening of the documentary “Girl Rising,” which weaves the stories of nine young women from around the world, including Amina from Afghanistan, and details the struggles they face and overcome to get an education.

Also, an additional guest speaker named Mursal Ayobi will join the event through Skype after the film screening. Mursal is a survivor of the 2016 Taliban attack on American University of Afghanistan in Kabul.

Mursal was injured in the attack, but has recovered and is currently studying in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. She is living proof of the determination and bravery shown by thousands of young women in Afghanistan in the face of a traditional patriarchy and historic oppression.

Admission, which will help get The Giving Circle Afghanistan established, is $25. Tickets can be purchased at the door on the day of the event, as well as online through the Caffe Lena website.

Tickets are available online at: https://www. brownpapertickets.com/ event/3390419