Zerak Valley, 2006
This page is still under construction; however, read on:
In 2006, two teachers were invited to the remote valley of Zerak in Ghazni province. We led the first teacher-training held in the valley. The focus was hands-on high school chemistry. The high school in the valley serves 1200 students, mostly Hazara. Girls attend school in the afternoon, boys in the mornings. Teachers are both male and female.
The region is so remote that we appeared to be the first Westerners to visit. The two roads leading into the valley pass through taliban-infested regions.
We two teachers lived for a week in the home of village elders. During the day we taught students and teachers; at night we shared the lessons with the elders and their extended families. The older generation of elders and their wives could neither read nor write, but were extremely interested in the science lessons. They supported the school whole-heartedly, telling us, "We don't want our children to be illiterate like us."
Highlights of the trip: Seeing the teachers' excitement at viewing their first actual "experiments." Rote and book learning were all they had ever known. The lessons were so popular that students invited their parents and townfolk to attend the training seminar - and they did!
What will happen next? We hope to return to Zerak and bring school supplies, plus lead another teacher-training. On the next trip, we would like to pay rent for our stay, instead of offering a token thank-you payment.
