This is from the Jane Jackson at ASU's Physics Modeling list, about teaching
science to Afghan refugees. I thought it might interest some of you, given
the times.
-ML
------ Forwarded Message
From: Jane Jackson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: Modeling - Modeling Workshop Teachers <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Sat, 22 Sep 2001 23:27:39 -0700
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: education of Afghan refugees: MEPO
Want to contribute to the education of Afghan refugees? This would help
reduce the causes of terrorism, long-term. Contact MEPO, a charity
non-profit organization in Nepal. Contributing can be done easily.
I learned about MEPO from Allison Lide, a high school teacher in Nepal who
uses Modeling Instruction. Allison is a volunteer in MEPO (Medical,
Educational and Peace Organization). MEPO was founded by her boyfriend,
Mostafa Vaziri, M.D.
At Allison's suggestion, last year I contributed to MEPO, for a school for
girls in an Afghan refugee camp. Last week I wrote Allison and asked,
"Whatever happened to the school for girls in the Afghan refugee camp, for
which I contributed? How is that progressing? Are you still active in
MEPO?"
Allison replied:
Date: Wed, 19 Sep 2001
From: allison lide <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Dear Jane, so good to hear from you. Yes, I am still very much active in
MEPO... Mostafa went to Pakistan in May; his intent was to go to
Afghanistan. But he couldn't get a visa, so through a good man who works
between Pak and Afghan, he set up 12 more home schools within Afghan. He
also set up more with the school in the refugee camp, as well as assisting
other schools in that area. He also set up two mother-child health care
centers within Afghan, as well as two weaving and sewing vocational
trainings for women inside the country.
I think it would be great to post his letter on the listserve. Thank
you for that idea! Will you do it? Also, regarding a contact, emailing to
the MEPO address is the best place to start: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Carol in
Ohio is still a great contact as well, but she is sometimes out of town.
Mostafa checks the MEPO email regularly.
------------------------------------
Here are excerpts from a letter last week from Mostafa Vaziri of MEPO :
Date: Tue, 18 Sep 2001
From: "medical, educational and peace organization MEPO" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
... " To cultivate peace takes more than just talking about it. If, for
example, in this crucial, bitter and angry period, the US officials and a
selected number of American people, particularly the families of the
victims, could put a team together to go to Afghanistan, Iraq and
Palestine, or for that matter other poor African and Asian countries, to
distribute medicine, food and tents, the tears of the victims in those
countries (namely those of Muslim people) will be shed to an extent that
the American team may be flooded up to their knees in tears of joy. In this
way we have their hearts instead of winning their dead bodies. And the
likelihood of terrorism is drastically reduced and most likely will
disappear, as a result of people reaching out to people. This behavior of
benevolence is unprecedented in the history of any violent actions. ..."
Mostafa Vaziri, MD, PhD
Kathmandu, Nepal
September 17, 2001
*If you are interested in trying to distribute food, medicine and tents,
please contact us. Let's work together to find a way to make the ideas of
peace a reality.
Mostafa Vaziri, M.D. is a volunteer medical doctor with MEPO (Medical,
Educational, and Peace Organization). MEPO is a charity non-profit
organization in Nepal, working both in Nepal and Afghanistan to serve the
needs of the poor and to help bring peace and healing to the world.
Website: <http://mepoonline.org>
-------------------------------------------
Allison Lide described her work in MEPO 1 1/2 years ago, when she was a
Peace Corp volunteer in charge of teacher training in Nepal. She wrote: "I
have been involved in a different kind of work, w/my boyfriend the doctor.
We do health camps, traveling to remote, underserved areas and take
medicines and see patients in the villages. It has been wonderful, and I
have enjoyed it very much. ... These health camps we do are usually held at
schools, and it's a really good situation b/c I am able to get a feel for
the teachers and kids and community and have been able to give microscopes
and equipment to some of the schools ..."
Here's a description of Afghan refugee camps by Mostafa, which I copied
from <http://mepoonline.org>:
"In and around the city of Peshawar, Pakistan (near the Afghanistan
border) there are about 20 Afghan refugee camps ranging from 20,000 to
200,000 settlers in each camp. The settlers of the camps vary in their
social categories from teachers to army officers to farmers to tribesmen to
intellectuals ...
The misery of these refugee camps goes one step further by having few,
if any schools or health centers. The lack of adequate schools in those
camps in the last 20 years has hurt the growing generation of today,
especially the girls. Lack of proper sanitation sewage system, clean water
and hygiene, have made the residents vulnerable to most types of infectious
diseases. ...
To alleviate human sufferings in Afghanistan and in refugee camps
requires not only combatting problems on the food, medical and educational
fronts, but also to have a deeper understanding of their profound
psychological sufferings. These deteriorating factors in Afghan society
have put this desperate population on the top of the agenda of our
conscience ..."
Jane Jackson, Co-Director, Modeling Instruction Program
Box 871504, Dept.of Physics & Astronomy,ASU,Tempe,AZ 85287
480-965-8438/fax:965-7331 <http://modeling.asu.edu>
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