A girl covers her face with a scarf during class in the town of Kunjak in southern Afghanistan's Helmand province, February 21, 2011.FINBARR O'REILLY
Every morning before I get ready for school, I watch the morning news with my parents. I have done this since I was 6. When I was 9, I watched the news showing Afghanistan being continuously attacked by suicide bombers and saw NATO forces walk the streets of Kandahar. My thoughts were of a war-torn country where peace seemed impossible.
In the fall of 2006, I went to a speech by author and journalist Sally Armstrong when she came to Kelowna, B.C. That speech changed my life. She spoke about Afghanistan and all the terrible human-rights violations, especially the right to an education that women and girls in that country had lost. I was utterly horrified, and I knew I had to do something. I decided that night that I would found an organization called Little Women for Little Women in Afghanistan, and I contacted Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan to see whether I could work in partnership with it. CW4WA looks after all the projects we fund and support in Afghanistan.
I've always believed that education is the only way we can move toward peace. In the five years since I founded Little Women, we have raised more than $300,000 and, as a result, we have changed the lives of many Afghans.
When I first started my work, I was convinced we had the power to make a difference. And I've since seen the proof that this hunch was correct. Through raising funds and awareness, we were able to help educate Afghan girls and women by building schools and libraries, training more than 1,700 teachers and paying their salaries. I feel hopeful when I see the power of taking action.
For the past decade, Canada and other NATO countries have worked side by side in Afghanistan toward building security and infrastructure, as well as protecting the Afghan people and the aid workers implementing our projects on the ground. We couldn't do the work we've done in Afghanistan had it not been for the help of NATO countries. They've made it safe enough for our team and our partners to run schools and other projects without Taliban attacks, they've swept for land mines, and they've built the roads we use to access rural project sites.
But as they make their plans to leave Afghanistan, I'm left with a sense of panic. Afghanistan was on the news almost every day and, from that, we were made aware of the dire need for our help. But, in the past year, Afghanistan is no longer making headlines. I fear that once the troops pull out, Afghanistan will be forgotten, that we'll slowly lose sight of the fact that it's our duty to take action, to spread awareness, to change the lives of those who aren't lucky enough to live in peace. That once we leave, the Taliban will rise again to continue to commit their barbaric acts against the innocent.
Do Canadians see the good that has come from NATO's presence on the ground? In the five years we've been doing our work in Afghanistan, Canada's presence has made a difference - to our team members training teachers and building schools and libraries, and to the Afghans trying to rebuild their lives and access education.
I know this is true. Afghan teachers and the girls they're teaching tell us how grateful they are to have the chance to finally live a freer life, with access to education. These are the voices we must listen to. We obviously couldn't do the work we do without security. But when NATO eventually leaves, Canadians must not abandon Afghanistan. We should continue to support the aid projects that are changing lives, especially the right to education - because that's the only way we'll create and sustain peace.
Alaina Podmorow is a 14-year-old Grade 8 student in Kelowna, B.C.