Shakeela Khan is the daughter of Aslam Khan, an elder in Pakistan's remote Hushe Valley who helped Greg Mortenson build one of CAI's first schools almost a decade ago. After graduating from Hushe school, Shakeela went to Lahore to study science and health care. Now she has returned home and plans to open a health care clinic in nearby Khapalu.
"She is the first and only trained lady health worker from her village," says Ghulam Parvi, CAI operations director in Baltistan. "She will provide much-needed health care for women and children in her region and be a good role model for other girls." (Journal of Hope, III, p.37f)
Stories of Pakistani Girls Who Went to CAI Schools
Greg Mortenson, co-founder of the Central Asia Institute, says at the heart of his work are the stories of the girls whose lives have been changed through education: "In the end, the thing I care most about — the flame that burns at the center of my work, the heat around which I cup my hands— are their stories."
Jahan Ali, 23, is the granddaughter of Haju Ali, Korphe's village chief who became Greg Mortenson's mentor. When Greg first met Jahan in September of 1993, she made him promise that if she graduated, she could attend a maternal health-care program. After finishing school in Korphe, she enrolled in advanced studies in public policy administration. While her father back home wants to marry her off, she first intends to become a community leader and a member of Pakistan's parliament. "I am not going to get married until I achieve my goal," she says "Inshallah (God willing ), someday I will become a super-lady." (Stones into Schools, p.16)
Investing in Girls' Education Improves Health and National Income
In Pakistan and Afghanistan female literacy rates are at 36 and 13 percent, respectively. Religious extremists obstruct female education and want to keep women out of public life. Poverty and distance also keep parents from sending their daughters to school. Greg Mortenson and CAI not only build schools, but also provide vocational training for women, especially in maternal health. Last summer CAI held a midwife training program at a clinic in Pakistan's Charpursan Valley near the Afghan border. It has been shown that girls who receive quality primary education lead more productive lives and contribute to the health of their families.
Investing in Girls' Education Yields High Returns
Greg Mortenson often points to three areas where increased female literacy makes a difference in society:
- Infant mortality rate: the better educated women are, the less likely their babies are to die
- Population growth: educated women tend to have fewer babies. A 2000 study in Brazil found that literate women had an average of 2.5 children, while illiterate women had an average of 6 children, according to UNESCO
- Quality of Life: Girls' education leads to increased income for the girls themselves and for nations as a whole. Educated farmers are more efficient and their farms are more productive.
Teaching girls to read and write reduces the ignorance and poverty that fuel religious extremism and lays a groundwork for prosperity and peace. Greg Mortenson believes that sustainable peace is a viable option in the region, but military might alone will certainly not do it. Sustainable peace will result from good relationships with the elders and local communities. To build good relationships often demands "titanic patience," Mortenson says.
Read more about Greg Mortenson's new book: Stones into Schools
Greg Mortenson, Stones Into Schools: Promoting Peace With Books, Not Bombs, In Afghanistan and Pakistan, Viking Adult, 2009.
Central Asia Institute, Journal Of Hope III (CAI annual publication), November 2009
Herz, Barbara, Sperling, Gene B., What Works in Girls' Education: Evidence and Policies from the Developing World, Council of Foreign Relations Press, 2004.
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