AED has successfully wrapped up the distribution of 200,000 BluePacks to Afghan children in the poorest and most remote areas, While AED is not actively soliciting funds for The BluePack Project, we are still accepting contributions to help defray the costs of this distribution and expand teacher training programs.

In November 2003 AED was awarded a $350,000 grant from America's Fund for Afghan Children to expand the Teacher Training component of the BluePack Project. This grant, coupled with the many other donations to the program, will support teacher training in Afghanistan next year and allow children who received BluePacks to maximize their educational experience.

We will soon be launching a new initiative, Change Through Children which will focus on children's health and education, and HIV/AIDS. There will be many funding opportunities to directly help children in developing countries through this effort. Please check back periodically for updates about this exciting and important program.

2003 | 2002

Click here to see how schools are participating in The BluePack Project

SUMMER 2003

Educational Partnerships

We would like to thank our educational partners without whose support we would not have been as successful: American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education, American Association of School Administrators, International Reading Association, National Association of Elementary School Principals, National Association of Secondary School Principals, the New England Association of Schools and Colleges, The Campus Compact and the National Education Association, International Division. These organizations encouraged their members to donate by printing articles in their newsletters and including information on their websites. The New England Association of Schools and Colleges reprinted informational school kits for all of their 1,800 members and affiliates.

School Participants

Over 200 schools expressed an interest in raising funds for The BluePack Project. To date, 138 schools with over 30,000 students participating from across the United States and from several foreign countries (Canada, Jordan & Greece) have donated $60,000 to The BluePack Project.

Many teachers implemented service-learning projects to teach their students about life in Afghanistan, while encouraging them to collect donations. Monies were raised through a variety of different ways - bakes sales, silent auctions, Change for Change collections, etc. Extracurricular school clubs, national honor societies, community service clubs, Rotary/Interact Clubs, future teachers and student councils joined with AED to raise funds.

The students were very moved by the plight of these children and were grateful for the opportunity to help. Following are a few of the many quotes we have received from students and teachers:

Ms. McCormick's third grade class at Nottingham Country Elementary School - (Katy, TX):
"What a fitting idea! We're glad to have an avenue for helping others."

Mrs. Rowe's elementary class at Encinitas Country Day School - (Encinitas, CA):
"My students felt very excited to be able to contribute to such a wonderful cause. Thank you for the opportunity. Good Luck!"

Deta Pearce, Service Learning Coordinator, Orono High School - (Orono, ME):
"The students learned a lot about Afghanistan in the process of working on this unit and I hope AED continues The BluePack concept there and in other countries."

The Convent of the Sacred Heart, Middle School Student Council - (New York, NY):
"We are very happy to give you this money that we raised through bake sales and other events at our school. We admire your effort and work for the children of Afghanistan and hope that our money will help aid them in their time of need."

The third grade class at St. Frances Cabrini Elementary School - (Oshkosh, WI):
"Our class read about this project in Scholastic News. The class consists of 17 girls and 7 boys. When the girls realized that females in Afghanistan had been excluded from receiving an education, our Lenten project was set. We carried it to the end of the school year to collect more money. We hope and pray this allows a child to develop and become a leader - our world needs true leaders. Thank you for letting us help."

Donors

We would also like to acknowledge the hundreds of individual donors who contributed so generously to our success. Thanks to everyone's generosity, The BluePack Project has raised a total of $833,411 to date with more contributions arriving daily.

Website & Media Activity

The campaign's website, www.bluepack.org was launched in July, 2002. Since then, the site has received more than 699,927 hits.

Many local and national newspapers featured articles on The BluePack Project. The BluePack was presented as a holiday gift idea in Newsday and The Washington Post. Articles also appeared in the Boston Globe and Boston Herald. Students' fundraising efforts were featured in many local newspapers such as the Holbrook Sun, Central Maine Morning Sentinel, the Kennebec Journal, The Wenatchee World, Weekly Packet and Indiana Student Review. Radio and television stations in Georgia, Illinois, Maine, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and others featured segments on The BluePack Project. Scholastic magazine and website featured the project on four occasions.

MAY 2003

To date, 180,000 BluePacks have been distributed to eager first and second grade students in 20 of Afghanistan's 32 provinces and to Afghan children in refugee camps. AED selected the most remote villages in various districts and distributed the BluePacks to the poorest schools in those areas. Among them, Kandahar and Helmand in the south, Heart and Anjiel in the west, Mazar-i-Shareef and Sar-I-Pul in the north and Konarha, Laghman and Kabul in the east. The final 20,000 BluePacks will be distributed shortly as the fundraising continues.

The AED BluePack Project Director, Sara Amiryar, reports: "The joy expressed on the children's faces as they received their BluePacks was well worth any difficulty incurred in the journey. The children were curious about the contents of the BluePacks and eager to receive them. In Punjshir Valley and in Bamyan province each child must walk at least two hours each way to get to school. The roads are not paved and the children do not have proper or good walking shoes. Their commitment to education and their determination to get to school regardless of the conditions is admirable."

"Family members and officials in the Department of Education in each province commented that the BluePack Project not only provides the children with some school supplies for the school year but, more importantly, gave them hope for the future. The children sensed that they held in their hands the keys to a more successful tomorrow - for themselves, their families and their country."

From the beginning, the difficulty in transporting the BluePacks was of great concern. The roads were treacherous and cars and supply trucks had great difficulty getting around. Flights were not available to all cities on a regular basis.

AED was fortunate to establish excellent working relationships with many of the high ranking officials in Afghanistan. These ministers and governors helped AED acquire the documents necessary to facilitate the distribution process, including assistance travel, security, accommodations and other issues.

AED was also able to renovate two large warehouses in Kabul and a small room in the Ministry of Higher Education to store the BluePack supplies and to provide a safe place for 115 war widows to assemble the BluePacks. According to Sara Amiryar, the widows were most grateful for the opportunity to provide for their families and wept when they received their wages. The BluePack Project also generated income for local citizens, including laborers who loaded and unloaded the supplies and helped with the distribution; security guards, including two women who watched the warehouses; and supervisors, who oversaw quality control and assurance.

In a letter, Mr. Quanooni, the Minister of Education, stated that AED is "the first organization to have made a commitment and fulfilled its promise in the best possible way." He expressed his gratitude for AED's initiative and commitment to education and to the United States for its generosity. He also indicated in this letter that the children of Afghanistan are deeply touched with these gifts.

The BluePack Project continues to receive much positive attention within Afghanistan. Sara Amiryar, BluePack Project Director in Afghanistan, has been contacted by President Karzai's office and will be meeting with him shortly.

Click link to view photographs of students in Heraat during recent distribution of 12,000 BluePacks.

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March 2003

SATURDAY, MARCH 22 MARKED THE BEGINNING OF THE SCHOOL YEAR FOR THE CHILDREN OF AFGHANISTAN

In March, Sara Amiryar, BluePack Project Director, visited with Ismail Khan, the Governor of Herat and presented him with a BluePack. The governor personally examined the contents of the BluePack and expressed much gratitude to AED for choosing Herat for the distribution of BluePacks as well as a very special thank you to those responsible for the project. Governor Khan requested an additional 5,000-10,000 BluePacks for the children of Herat.

While in Herat, AED representatives distributed 4,000 BluePacks to three schools in one and a half days. Local TV and radio stations covered the distribution - a gift from America's children to the children of Afghanistan. An additional 2,000 BluePacks were distributed in five schools in Logar. Arrangements have also been made for Amiryar to go the Punjshir Valley on Saturday, April 5th and then to Parwaan and Kapisa.

In Mazari Sharif, Amiryar was invited by the Department of Education to participate in the Education Celebration & Teacher Day and to address the group.

According to Amiryar, "there is so much demand for it - I can't tell you how much the people and the teachers appreciate this wonderful gesture. The children seem so much happier after receiving the bags."

See photos of school classrooms

February 2003

AED distributed 11,000 BluePacks in early February, and an additional 19,000 are ready for distribution. Plans are underway to deliver these BluePacks in the next few weeks.

During the first week of February, the first 5,000 BluePacks were delivered to five schools in Jalalabad, Afghanistan. Another 3,000 were delivered to five more schools in the eastern and western districts, and the final 3,000 BluePacks went to Kunar. BluePack project director Sara Amiryar, who oversaw the distribution, said, "The villages were extremely poor, and the children seemed happy and anxious to receive the BluePacks. They had not received supplies from any other sources."

Amiryar explains that "it is hard for me to express my feelings about the happy faces of the little kids, who were eager to attend school, to learn, to be somebody tomorrow, but didn't have any school supplies, or my happiness about the creation of jobs for widows, for poor women, who were the head of their families, but jobless."

The Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Interior, the City of Jalalabad, and the Central Department of Education in Jalalabad have been very helpful in facilitating the delivery and distribution of the BluePacks.

Click here to view photos of the first 11,000 Afghan children receiving their BluePacks.

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January 2003

Currently, AED has raised nearly $800,000 dollars for The BluePack Project. AED expects to begin distribution of the next 30,000 BluePacks by the end of January.

According to Sarah Amiryar, who is heading up The BluePack Project in Kabul, the war widows who are assembling the BluePacks, "are very appreciative and extremely happy to have a job and earn some money to buy food for their family members."

"When we paid the women, each one prayed for us, for the people who provided them with this work and paid them," Amiryar wrote from Kabul. "They appreciated it so much that it is hard to explain. One even cried out in happiness because she was able to buy better food and a blanket to keep her six children warm."

"Those who have contributed to The BluePack Project, particularly the children, should know how much their contribution helped the widows, as well as the children who go to school but don't have any stationary," Amiryar added.

Children will return to school in Afghanistan on March 22 and AED hopes to distribute as many BluePacks as possible by that time. Supplies are still scarce. Please continue to spread the word about The BluePack Project and the urgent need this initiative is attempting to fulfill for the children of Afghanistan. We will continue our efforts throughout the spring.

Click here to view photos of BluePack production

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