Kids of Kabul
Page 9
Afghan Youth Initiative
www.afghanyouth.org
An organization that supports Afghan youth in Kabul.
Aina
www.ainaworld.org
Former publishers of Parvaz, the only children’s magazine in Afghanistan, Aina now works in partnership with Aschiana to provide writing, photojournalism and reading training to Afghan children.
Aschiana Foundation
www.aschiana-foundation.org
An organization that provides food, education, drug counseling, job training and micro-credit to street children.
Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan
www.cw4wafghan.ca
Supports educational opportunities for Afghan women and their families.
International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY)
www.ibby.org
IBBY is working with Afghans to create an Afghan National IBBY section that would house a major center for reading promotion and train Afghans in reading promotion, writing, illustrating and publishing of local children’s books.
Little Women for Little Women in Afghanistan
www.littlewomenforlittlewomen.com
Founded by Alaina Podmorow, this kid-run organization raises money for Afghan schools and orphanages. Members produced a book (Through Our Eyes) of their own poetry next to images of girls from an Afghan orphanage. They welcome new members and branches.
Noor Educational and Capacity Development Organization
www.necdo.org.af
Provides women, youth and children in Kabul, Ghazni and Jalalabad with health, literacy, vocational, internet, English-language and other educational support.
PARSA
www.afghanistan-parsa.org
Since 1996, PARSA has been working in Afghanistan with war victims, widows, orphans and other disadvantaged people.
Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan
www.rawa.org
Started in 1977, RAWA advocates political action, runs schools and supports women’s rights.
Shuhada
www.shuhada.org.af
Begun in 1989 by Dr. Sima Samar, Shuhada works to improve health, education and women’s rights in Afghanistan and in the refugee camps.
SOLA School of Leadership Afghanistan
www.sola-afghanistan.org
An NGO that provides educational opportunities to train Afghanistan’s future leaders.
Women for Afghan Women
www.womenforafghanwomen.org
A human rights organization based in New York and Kabul. Recently opened two new Children’s Support Centers where children whose mothers are in prison can live and attend school.
Books
(although written for adults, the following books are suitable for grade 8 and up):
A Bed of Red Flowers: In Search of My Afghanistan by Nelofer Pazira, Random House, 2005. A filmmaker recounts her life through the many stages of war in Afghanistan.
Kabul in Winter: Life Without Peace in Afghanistan by Ann Jones, Metropolitan/Henry Holt, 2006. An American aid worker tells the stories of women in Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban, and describes how little has changed.
My Forbidden Face — Growing Up Under the Taliban: A Young Woman’s Story by Latifa, Virago, 2002. Writing under a fake name, sixteen-year-old Latifa tells the story of how she survived in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.
Veiled Threat: The Hidden Power of the Women of Afghanistan by Sally Armstrong, Penguin, 2002. A Canadian journalist writes about her trips to Afghanistan and the women who have affected her with their stories of survival and resistance.
Women of the Afghan War by Deborah Ellis, Praeger, 2000. Interviews with Afghan women living in refugee camps in Pakistan and Russia.
Glossary
afghani — The currency of Afghanistan. One Canadian dollar is the rough equivalent of 45 afghanis.
Allah — The Islamic name for God.
al-Qaeda — A network of terrorists who believe in a radical, and un-Islamic, version of Islam.
Buddha — Siddhartha Gautama, the founder of the Buddhist religion, who lived around 400 BC.
burqa — A long tent-like garment worn by women. It covers the entire body and has a narrow mesh screen over the eyes.
chador — A piece of cloth worn by women and girls to cover their hair and shoulders.
Communist — Someone who believes in the philosophy of Communism — that people should contribute according to their individual abilities and receive according to their needs.
Dari — One of the two main languages spoken in Afghanistan.
despot — Someone who holds onto absolute power, often in a brutal way.
djinn — An invisible spirit, a supernatural being.
exiles — Individuals who are banned from living in their native country.
guerrilla — An armed fighter in a small military group.
hafiz (pl. huffaz) — A Muslim who can recite the entire Qur’an from memory.
hashish — A black tar-like substance made from the marijuana plant.
heroin — An illegal, addictive narcotic made from a certain kind of poppy.
insurgents — A group that uses military force to oppose a government.
Islam — A religion that follows the holy book of the Qur’an and the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad.
land mine — A bomb planted in the ground, so it explodes if it is stepped on.
Maristoon — An Afghan term that refers to a place where destitute people can find help and refuge.
mosque — A place where Muslims go to pray.
mullah — A religious expert and teacher of Islam.
Muslim — Someone who follows the religion of Islam.
nan — Afghan flatbread.
NATO — North Atlantic Treaty Organization, an alliance of North American and European countries formed after World War II.
NGO — Non-governmental organization.
opium — An illegal drug made from a kind of poppy.
Pashtu — One of the two main languages spoken in Afghanistan.
Qur’an — The holy book of Islam, believed to be the word of God as revealed to the Prophet Muhammad.
refugees — People who must leave their home country because their lives are in danger.
Soviet — A citizen of the former Soviet Union or USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics), including Russia and other Communist countries.
surah — A chapter or section of the Qur’an.
Taliban — The army that took over Afghanistan in September 1996. Although it was forced from power at the end of 2011, it continues to fight against the government and foreign forces.
terrorist — Someone who uses violence or the threat of violence to force others to behave in a certain way. In general, terrorists target civilian populations.
toshak — A narrow mattress used in Afghan homes as a chair or bed.
tuberculosis — A contagious bacterial infection that usually attacks the lungs.
UN — The United Nations, an international organization that promotes peace, security and economic development.
UNHCR — The United Nations High Commission on Refugees.
UNICEF — The United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund, an agency that helps governments (especially in developing countries) improve the health and education of children and mothers.
visa — A document that allows a person to enter another country.
warlord — A military commander who acts in his own interests rather than in the interests of the national government.
About the Author
DEBORAH ELLIS is best known for her Breadwinner Trilogy, set in Afghanistan and Pakistan — a series that has been publi
shed in twenty-five languages, with more than one million dollars in royalties donated to Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan and Street Kids International. She has won the Governor General’s Award, the Ruth Schwartz Award, the University of California’s Middle East Book Award, Sweden’s Peter Pan Prize, the Jane Addams Children’s Book Award and the Vicky Metcalf Award for a Body of Work. She recently received the Ontario Library Association’s President’s Award for Exceptional Achievement, and she has been named to the Order of Ontario.
Deborah lives in Simcoe, Ontario.
About the Publisher
GROUNDWOOD BOOKS, established in 1978, is dedicated to the production of children’s books for all ages, including fiction, picture books and non-fiction. We publish in Canada, the United States and Latin America. Our books aim to be of the highest possible quality in both language and illustration. Our primary focus has been on works by Canadians, though we sometimes also buy outstanding books from other countries.
Many of our books tell the stories of people whose voices are not always heard in this age of global publishing by media conglomerates. Books by the First Peoples of this hemisphere have always been a special interest, as have those of others who through circumstance have been marginalized and whose contribution to our society is not always visible. Since 1998 we have been publishing works by people of Latin American origin living in the Americas both in English and in Spanish under our Libros Tigrillo imprint.
We believe that by reflecting intensely individual experiences, our books are of universal interest. The fact that our authors are published around the world attests to this and to their quality. Even more important, our books are read and loved by children all over the globe.