Thanks so much for thinking about all of this! I will make sure that this is addressed after the 17th, when Brenda will start facilitating. 
Daphne


>>> smilin7 at direcway.com 11/4/2005 1:38 PM >>>

Wonderful idea!   I have a question that may seem ignorant -- but regarding Brenda's work:

<<<Literacy for Community Empowerment Program, a project of Education Development Center in partnership with UN Habitat.  This is Brenda's third trip to Afghanistan in the past ten months.
The LCEP, active in five Afghan provinces, links literacy with governance and economic development activities in 200 rural villages.  Literacy teachers, for women's and men's classes, are from the villages, and often have less than a 10th grade education.  They are supported by training and mentoring provided by facilitators at the district and national level.>>

... is any of the program taught in English, or is it taught in native Dari or Farsi language?  or both?  In my pondering, my questions are different depending upon whether she and others involved in the project are teaching community-based interventions and working to build literacy in native language(s) or in English, or both?   My questions are very different * this makes me ponder, why should they be?  Would/why would outcomes be different?  

Some of my most rewarding experiences in ESOL have been working with adult women and families who were newly-arrived refugees from Afghanistan.   To come from rural Afghanistan --- after witnessing horrific war battles, having your husband/father/brother/relative/friend/neighbor murdered in front of you one week, flying on a plane to NYC the next week, spend less than 24 hours there seeing/hearing/experiencing "all" things new, then flying again to Washington, DC, and then taking a car ride from there to your new 'home' in an oh-so-different land * and having learned most of the American alphabet during this two-week transitional period*  -- and many without even ONE DAY of anything close to what is considered formal education (a la USA standards) in your life!!!     It has been so humbling for me to be any part of the transformation of these women's lives * to go from pre-literate in their native Dari or Farsi to literate in both of these and some Urdu and English * to watc
h them learn to navigate the paperwork trails of life in the USA, to buy cars (paying hard-earned cash), to buying homes, to having their children pass SOLs (Standards of Learning tests), watching them as they help other families*  and maintaining strong ties to preserving their culture, their struggles as they watch their children acclimate differently*  

How much of this learning is opportunity, is related to (re)location, is innate intelligence, is individual aptitude and determination, etc.?   Would these same families, if relocated to Kabul, make similar gains * in learning in Dari/Farsi, in learning in English, in socio-economic status?  And how would they effect change if they return to their rural homeland areas?  

How are the challenges different, how the same, for refugee families here versus the population Brenda is involved with (who are remaining in Afghanistan)? 

So many questions!  I realize I should hold most of these until the 17th, but would like to know if the LCEP is taught in English or not.  Thanks!
Holly






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