The Embassy Honors Author and Asia Foundation Partnership
Ambassador Said Jawad recently joined the Asia Foundation in hosting a book signing event at the embassy of Afghanistan with author and former employee of the embassy, Awista Ayub.
In her new book, However Tall the Mountain, Ayub tells the story of how she helped to introduce Afghan girls to playing soccer.
The event was co-hosted by the Asia Foundation's Women's Empowerment program . Under the leadership of Ms. Carol yost, who introduced the organization's long history in Afghanistan, the Foundation has seen the creation and development of numerous programs supporting women and women’s groups throughout the Asia-Pacific region.
Yost particularly focused on the many Asia Foundation initiatives to expand girls' education and opportunities in Afghanistan, and noted that Ayub's efforts in However Tall the Mountain represented an important step toward that shared goal.
Ayub also created the Afghan Youth Sports Exchange in 2003, a program which originally introduced dozens of girls to soccer throughout Kabul. She shared with the embassy audience excerpts from her book, as well as a few minutes of tape from an ESPN documentary. Ayub said she believes soccer will continue to foster confidence and a way forward for hundreds of girls in Afghanistan.
Ambassador Jawad graciously welcomed the crowd, and paused to reflect on the current state of education in Afghanistan. “….through the private endeavors which compliment the government’s work, thousands of Afghan girls, who otherwise may have gone without an education, are now competing with hands-on experiences gained on modern computer equipment, via Internet and in rich library facilities,” Jawad said.
“We are grateful to the Asia Foundation for their continued support of Afghanistan,” he said. The Asia Foundation recently released one of the most accurate, comprehensive and important surveys on Afghanistan in recent time. The survey, which was conducted in all of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces, has been a valuable source to understand the mindset of Afghans and also for presenting an accurate picture of what Afghans feel about the country with the global community.
The Asia Foundation found, too, that Afghans feel positive about the future of education in our country. In fact, 83-percent gave a positive assessment on the government’s efforts to improve schools. To read more about the Asia Foundation’s findings, click on their survey at: http://asiafoundation.org/country/afghanistan/2009-poll.php
