For those that do not know, I have been teaching a course for many years now. It is what is called an FYE (Freshman Year Experience) course or as some Universities such as ours calls it University Success. It is an intro to life in a 4-year American institution of higher education institutions. Some universities require it some don't. I have seen it as a 1, 2, or even 3 hour course. At the University here it is a 3 hour required course. Everything from time management, career choices, personality development, taking notes, taking tests, and even money management are covered in this course.
Part of my course has always been a service-learning component. What is service-learning? It is a philosophy adopted at many colleges and Universities in which students apply what they have learned by doing a community service project. Each of my 7 semesters of teaching we have done some sort of service-learning project as part of the requirements of the course. It is built into the course as part of the learning outcomes. These outcomes are getting to know oneself, getting to know those immediately around you, getting to know the University, and getting to know the community around the University. Of course the class project fits into the latter of these outcomes.
Each semester, my students research, design, and implement one project as voted on by the class. In past semesters they have done things to benefit the homeless, women shelters, and even the red cross. As I approached this project in Afghanistan I had my doubts. Community service is something that is a bit foreign to this culture. Rather than doing so themselves they tithe money to the mosque who is supposed to do the community service as it is the center of the community. I had no idea how Islamic students would react to doing hands on work within the community. Boy, was I surprised.
As always I divide my class up into groups and each group proposes a service-learning project. At the end the class votes on the project and the groups are brought back together for implementation of the winning project. The groups here in Afghanistan blew me away with their project proposals. From building a road to improve road conditions, to helping schools, and to the winning proposal, helping Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), otherwise known as refugees, in one of the camps around Kabul.
If you have not read of the plight of IDPs in Afghanistan you really should. Sanitation and hygiene is a major issue in the camps. It is an issue country wide, I would say, but a very big issue in the camps. In fact as the students were proposing this project the issue of such hit the news. http://www.rawa.org/temp/runews/2009/04/23/afghanistan-sanitation-woes-in-makeshift-idp-camps.html. This is just one of many articles you can find on the net. So the students proposed that they raise money to provide the families in these camps hygiene kits and a modicum of education to assist in these woes.
The students went to work. To raise money they proposed a "fun fair day" in which the campus would be turned into a carnival. Live music, a mini circus, vendor stalls, games, etc. On top of that they started hitting up major donors for support. They raised quite a bit of money on the outset. However, one of the students works at the Ministry of Public Health who happened to have a stockpile of premade hygiene kits. GOLD! The Ministry donated these kits, valued at about 55,000 USD to the students in one fail swoop. They had proposed one kit per family but this donation gave them 6 times that amount. Although the end goal was accomplished with this, they still had to to through with their fundraising as they proposed. In addition to the kits they raised almost $2000 in cash, which was their original goal. Instead of using this money for the kits they will be able to use it to assist with getting the camp some clean water trucks in and to help with waste water evacuation.
So needless to say my doubts about community service in an Islamic country have been decimated. By far, even without the donated kits, this has been the most successful project in 7 semesters of my classes. I can tell you the students here are amazing. They not only grasp concepts you give them they actually run with them. This is just one example of many I could give you.
So as to the Spring Fling Fun Fair, it was not only a success monetarily it was a success in general. Lots of folks on campus on a Saturday which is great. Although today my feet hurt, I am sunburned, and my body is sore from 9 hours of hard work, I am proud that it was such an overwhelming success. Unfortunately, I was too busy to take photos. However, my students have all promised me some CDs of the festivities to share later. So I promise that will happen soon!
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