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| A street in downtown Kabul. |
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MY CITY
Samiala Baracatula
12 years old |
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| A devastated neighborhood in Kabul. |
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MY CITY
(An American plane bombed a school by mistake and a family
died)
Husnia
14 years old |
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| Hazara children in the district of Korte
Se, Kabul. |
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MY CITY
(The Talibs are fighting, while a man is trying to catch
fish to eat)
Anisa
13 years old |
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| Pashtun girls in a school of Makroyan, central
Kabul, master the art of folding paper. |
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MY DREAM CITY
Otika Abdula
11 years old |
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| Children in the district of Dashti Barchi
enjoy origami. |
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| After long years of civil war and a repressive
Islamic regime, finally there is peace. And after returning
from the refugee camps, finally the children (and even
the girls who were banned from school) are returning to
classes. |
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| However, there are not enough schools. Therefore,
children study in overcrowded classrooms, in the corridors,
in tents or under the trees. |
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| Since there are no blackboards teachers
write on the wall and, as there are no tables nor chairs,
children sit on the floor. But the children lack notebooks
and pencils..! Moreover, there are not enough teachers
either. |
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| And when there are teachers, Afghan children
are given indoctrinating religious education! |
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| In Dashti Barchi, or Korte Se, in downtown
Kabul, in the orphanage Parwareshga in Taimaskan, or in
Bamyan, more than 10,000 children received badly needed
school supplies and learnt how to create toys and, as
the same children said, "share joy with others through
a piece of paper" (ORIGAMI). |
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| Pashtoon, Tadjik, Hazara, Kazelbosh, Sayeed,
Turkmen... children of all the ethnic groups living in
Kabul, Jalalabad and Bamyan participated in ARTISTS
WITHOUT BORDERS' workshops and had the opportunity
to experience another culture. |
| It was a beautiful blue morning... all of
a sudden, the world shook! |
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| THE GREAT BUDDHAS ARE STANDING! |
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| They were built fourteen centuries ago...
but the intolerants destroyed them! |
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| Yet by destroying the two ancient sculptures,
they made them more important! The Bamyan Buddhas were
great, but the attention of the whole world is gigantic! |
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| As the UNESCO and Afghan authorities prepare for the restoration
of the cultural heritage of Afghanistan, the reconstruction of the Great Buddhas
becomes a real possibility. |
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| During ARTISTS WITHOUT
BORDERS' art workshops, not only did children see
crayons for the first time, for most of them it was the
first opportunity to draw in their lives! And, incredibly,
the children of Bamyan when asked to draw
"MY CITY", they would only draw the Great
Buddhas standing. |
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| The caves may be empty, but in the mind
of the Bamyan community and specially in the hearts of
Bamyan children |
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| The Great Buddhas are standing!
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Our mission in Afghanistan
has been possible
thanks to the generous support of |
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| PAKISTAN
INTERNATIONAL AIRLINES |
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| TAKAMATSU
YOSHIYUKI |
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| MICHIKO NEGISHI |
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| INTERNATIONAL
COMMITTEE OF THE RED CROSS |
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| SolidaritEs |
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| KIDS
EARTH FUND |
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| Aid
for War Orphans in Asia |
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