Category: Blog

By Ruth Yohannes (Sahar Intern)

When I came to the United States as a freshman in 2015, one of my first experiences was an immersion trip with a few students and my college orientation advisor. I had visited Seattle before, but it was my first time seeing Seattle University and its neighborhood. After visiting the historic Central district, we stopped by Bailey Gatzert Elementary school. Growing up in Ethiopia, I viewed schools as a place to learn, and not much more. However, when I first stepped in the Gatzert cafeteria, I could see parents serving food to students, helping them eat and clean up. There was lively conversation around the room, and it looked like a really close-knit community.

Currently, Seattle university’s Center for Community Engagement (CCE), engages more than 250 students to participate in their after-school tutoring program; in the summer, they provide learning opportunities for more than 300 students. This ongoing effort has led Bailey Gatzert to achieve the highest academic growth of any school in Seattle from 2012 to 2013.

I have now been an employee in the Bailey Gatzert after school program for almost a year. Twice a week, I spend the afternoon with 1st graders; along with other student leaders, we lead activities to strengthen their knowledge in math, reading and writing. Our ultimate goal is to have them reach grade level as soon as possible.

Most people would agree that students with stronger family support are better equipped to succeed at school. That probability is further increased when families can lean on individuals and institutions in their neighborhoods. The Bailey Gatzert after school program helps students that do not always have the same opportunities as their counterparts in other neighborhoods. Although students may face hardships outside of school, community involvement gives them a chance to achieve success.

In Afghanistan, Sahar takes the
effort one step further: one of their most important contributions is the rebuilding of schools in order to provide a safe and dignified learning space for girls. I came to Sahar as an intern because I felt like their work was truly empowering girls by giving them an environment where they can grow and expand their horizons. What’s more, Sahar encourages community building through efforts to raise support for girls’ education. Their early marriage prevention program brings together community leaders as well as school officials in order to ensure that girls are educated in a nurturing environment.

The program aims to impact girls beyond the traditional classroom: “girl leaders in schools are identified as candidates for self-esteem programs to encourage them to remain in school, and to spread the awareness of their legal rights to not marry until age 16. At home, the program aims to increase fathers’ awareness of the long-term economic gain of having an educated daughter”.

School-community cooperation has an immense impact on students’ academic improvement and participation. It is an important factor for the return of Afghan girls in the education system. At Bailey Gatzert school, it provides a safe and nurturing environment in which students can thrive.

Sahar is excited to announce that we are the recipient of a $50,000 grant from Dining For Women for our Early Marriage Prevention Initiative.

Chosen from 135 applicants, Sahar’s grant will go towards the second phase of our Early Marriage Prevention Initiative. The second phase will impact 500 girls attending two schools in the northern region of Afghanistan, Balkh Province. The Early Marriage Prevention Program integrates conversations about early marriage and education within the schools and with community leaders, solidifying the long-term importance of educating girls within the cultural framework and teaching girls their rights to not marry and stay in school.

The Dining for Women mission states that, through collective giving circles, the organization inspires, educates and engages people to invest in grassroots programs that make a meaningful difference for women and girls living in extreme poverty in developing countries.

We at Sahar cannot think of a partner that is more mission-aligned. Thank you so much for investing in global girls empowerment!

For more information regarding Dining for Women, please see their website: https://diningforwomen.org/

Sahar is listed during the month of October. Our page can be found here: https://diningforwomen.org/programs/sahar-education/

On March 23rd 2017, Sahar co-hosted an issue briefing with Global Washington, addressing some of the challenges facing global women’s empowerment in the current US political climate. Titled “The Courage to Persist: Standing Firm in Support of Women’s Opportunities Globally”, the talk was led by Sahar Afghan Fellow, Malahat Mazaher and Sahar Board Member, Kelsey Noonan and moderated by Ginna Brelsford, Sahar Executive Director.

There were over fifty people in attendance – we had representatives from many different organizations, including Landesa, Camber Collective, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Women’s Enterprises International.

Kelsey began the issue briefing with the question “Why do we need to talk about this now?” She went on to touch upon the dramatic repositioning of America on the global stage – in both the political and philanthropy spheres – and how this has an outsized effect on women and girls. The current Trump administration has put in place a 37% budget reduction for USAID, a heavy-hitter in supporting women and girls. This reduction will take a toll on many global programs. The administration has suggested other countries should step up as the United States step back, but other western nations already give a larger percentage of their GDP than we do. They are unlikely to be able to increase budgets to account for the United States decrease.

While giving in the United States has increased after the November 8th election, this surge in individual philanthropy has been directed primarily to domestic causes. It’s certainly great news that giving has increased, however, Kelsey warned us: “we need to be careful to not build a wall around our own rights, while women and girls in other countries are blown backward by this political wind.”

Malahat then stepped in to provide the context of Sahar’s work. Sahar is closely connected to education as a tool of empowerment. Malahat noted that the Asia Foundation did a population survey from 2006-2009 to find out what was the biggest challenge women faced. Lack of education was cited as the number one barrier to women’s engagement by women. One way to improve quality of life in a developing nation is to educate girls – the status of women is tied directly to the health and success of a country. Education is the greatest success story of Afghanistan. The literacy rate has increased by 10% since 2001, currently at 38%. The Afghan government goal is to be at 59% by 2020.

This success is possible because of the commitment of the international community, NGOs and the Afghan government’s’ efforts. It is important to continue this challenging work because Afghanistan is one of the world’s youngest countries. 50% of its population is under the age of 15 and 79% of the population is under the age of 35. Without supporting education, there is an incredibly large amount of lost potential.

Malahat also touched upon education as a bridge to understanding the unknown. Education can help resist preconceived notions, biases and discrimination against any group of people. When people don’t know about something, they fear it. An example of this is Islamophobia and fear of Muslims. Malahat has spent time at various schools around Seattle, teaching classes on Islamaphobia. She noted that “To my surprise, many of the students already knew that Islam is somehow something bad but also that people who practice islam are treated badly/unfairly. We talked a lot about muslim Americans and the scarf/hijab that muslim women wear. By the end of the session, I could see that these students were realizing that there is nothing out of the ordinary about muslims. That’s why we are engaging with schools here because global issues are related to local agenda. It continues to be very important and it’s not at odds with domestic issues. We need to do both.  The prejudice here affects people everywhere else.”

Kelsey and Malahat ended with three takeaways for the attendees, that you can also take into consideration!

1. Give more, Seattle! Seattle is in the bottom 10 cities of individual giving. Talk to donors, colleagues and peers about Seattle’s low rank, and why now may be a good time to stretch your giving.
2. Combat Islamaphobia! Call on Sahar as a local resource for education and dialogue to breakdown stereotypes about Islam.
3. Women’s rights are global rights – help us expand the conversation about gender equity to include women and girls beyond our borders.