Ayenda Foundation

Dear Friends,

It has been over a year since the dreadful fall of Afghanistan. Much has changed in the life of the Afghan people, especially women and girls. Millions of Afghans are facing the unthinkable and their hope has been replaced with fear and devastation.

The winter has already arrived in the country and for millions of people it will be harsh, cold, and dark. Afghan girls will have little food, no fuel, little access to education, if any, and they will struggle to keep themselves warm and nourished. More than 28 million people – 2/3 of the population – need humanitarian assistance, up from 18 million people just two years ago. Acute food insecurity and malnutrition continue to climb. Poverty and destitution have deepened as people continue to lose their jobs and livelihoods. Families now spend at least 75% of their income on food, leaving little left over for health care and education. Women, the backbone of our society, are fully denied their basic rights. Girls are banned from school. This is an absolute abomination that must end.

The Taliban’s brutal exclusion of women and girls from schools, employment, and political life has terrible humanitarian consequences that will impact our future, unless we educate the next generation of Afghans. The Taliban’s decision to impose even more hard-line measures on women will further damage the mental and physical well-being of women and girls, unless we help them.

I know the challenges confronting us in Afghanistan are severe. But nevertheless, Ayenda Foundation is determined to do its part and committed to staying the course and standing by Afghan girls.

During this time Ayenda was able to provide a $25,000 grant to LSSNCA in support of the Afghan Refugee families. It was heartwarming to know that we were able to bring smiles to the faces of almost 300 children and youths in the Afghan Refugee community in the DC Metropolitan Area.

We were able to provide more than 230 families, and 300 children, with the tools and resources to be safe, healthy, and successful in the early phases of their resettlement process. Most of the grant was used towards purchasing laptops, HP Chromebook, headsets, car seats, booster seats and warm blankets.

Ayenda was also able to provide a $10,000 donation to the American University of Afghanistan in support of the 700 students that are studying online from Afghanistan. Despite the daily threats from the Taliban, the courage’s students continue with their education as they know this is their only way out of the misery they are facing now.

As we approach the holiday season, I would like to seek your support to ensure that we have the funding we need to carry out our educational and humanitarian programs. Afghan families have exhausted all their reserves, and public schools for girls are closing. We must keep educational programs going.

Ayenda is grateful for your support and friendship and counts on your
continues assistance. Ayenda is committed to provide educational opportunity to Afghans inside and outside the country. As we believe through the power of education, Afghans may be able to find a way to peace and stability.
Thank you!

DONATE TO AYENDA FOUNDATION
http://www.ayendafoundation.org/get-involved/donate/

Dear Friends,

I wanted to write to you today but didn’t know where to start, what to say that you haven’t heard on the news before; how to express my deepest sorrow for the loss of my beloved country that you haven’t heard from other devastated Afghans. We are all in morning for our loss. The people of Afghanistan are experiencing one of the worst human tragedies in history. Sixteen million women have lost their freedom, aspirations, and hope for a better future overnight. I am shattered, beyond broken.

I want to thank all of you, my dear friends and many Americans, my longstanding friends, true friends of Afghanistan for your care and support. So many of you have developed great love and enduring relationships to provide and enhance educational opportunities, civil rights, human rights to Afghans.

It is absolutely not true that nothing good had happened in my country. We have achieved many milestones in the past 20 years that unfortunately slipped away from our hands in the blink of an eye. I have received so many messages from most of you and people from all over the US and the world who are so distraught and share their deepest sorrow in this human tragedy. Thank you for sharing our pain.

We lost our Ayenda school that many of you have been supporting in the past 12 years. My heart bleeds for our students and the school community, the beautiful faces of our students are passing in front of my eyes. What will happen to them, I don’t know? But we are not going to give up, we will continue our humanitarian work to support the displaced and refugees that needs our help.

My hope is that we can continue to help each other, extend kindness and tolerance, and remember the value of human dignity. I assure that our work will continue, and we hope that these dark days will be over soon.

With respect, love, and peace
Shamim Jawad

http://www.ayendafoundation.org/get-involved/donate

It has been a devastated few days in the life of so many Afghans, so much loss as a result of this horrific attack. So many devastated families who will never see their daughters again, 68 dreams were shattered. This is beyond sadness, targeting young girl students, this is an attack on the future of Afghanistan. The savages terrorists clearly seek to destroy the achievements that the Afghan gained in the past 20 years, especially girls.

We at the Ayenda Foundation remain committed to continue our work to educate girls in Bamiyan and elsewhere in the country to reach their fullest potential.

This is a powerful image of courage and determination, it says it all...she is holding to her books while running for her life.

Education Prevail!

Tuesday is a global day dedicated to giving back...

OUR WORLD HAS DRAMATICALLY CHANGED:

COVID-19, economic disruption, unemployment, distant learning and more.

OUR STUDENTS WORLD HAS CHANGED TOO:

COVID-19, US Troop Withdrawal from Afghanistan, Taliban negotiations, remote learning and more.

OUR STUDENTS NEED FOR EDUCATION IS GREATER NOW THAN EVER BEFORE.

Ayenda Foundation needs your donation during this challenging time to keep the torch of education ignited. Please help us support our students to stay warm, educated and hopeful.


All of us at AYENDA THANK YOU for your continued support.
Give Now by clicking at the link below:
http://www.ayendafoundation.org/?page_id=692

Donate Donate Make a donation to Ayenda Foundation and make a difference in the life of deprived Afghan Children. Donate By PayPal or Credit Card   Donate By Mail To make your donation by mail, please download and complete this form and return it with your check payable to Ayenda Foundation to: Ayenda Fou...

Ayenda School celebrated the International Day of the Girls on October 11, 2020 while facing the challenges and restriction of COVID 19.
The main objective of this day is to empower young girls everywhere and help them to get their rights so that they can face the challenges all over the world and meet their needs.

August 22, 2020

Ayenda School is so happy to report that our school has reopened today after the prolonged five-months shutdown due to the impact of COVID-19 pandemic. It is so heartwarming for us to see our eager and bright students are back in their classrooms with big smiles and sharp minds.

We are so grateful to our incredibly devoted staff and teachers for working so hard to make this possible by following the guidelines provided by the Ministry of Health and Education and taking personal initiatives. We have been taking all the required and necessary measurement to make sure everyone stays safe. We have been providing hand washing stations and mandatory masks, each students temperature is checked before entering the school with the new thermal thermometers. We are allocating certain number of students per classroom to keep the social distancing requirement in place and the classrooms become disinfected every day.

Currently we have 364 students, combination of boys and girls. Due to social distancing requirements and space difficulties, unfortunately we are not able to reopen our kindergarten class this year and we may have to delay some of our Girls Empowerment Classes as well. It has always been our goal to provide safe education environment for our students.

Again, we would like to thank all of our supporters for their ongoing backing and for staying committed to our mission of educating the young generation of Afghans to build peace and live in a self-reliant Afghanistan. We couldn’t have come this far without your support. We remain grateful and count on your continued support to bring our journey to an end in this challenging time.

To donate, please visit Ayenda Foundation website at www.ayendafoundation.org

Today our students at the Ayenda School joined, for the first time, the 1km in the Center of Bamiyan, in front of the Buddhas statue. It was a beautiful day and quite a remarkable achievement for our students at the Ayenda school.
We are so proud of our students and wish them much more success.

Ayenda School celebrated Teachers Day in a special gatherings today in Bamiyan. Giving recognition to our teacher's for their hard work and commitment to teaching quality education to our students.

Ayenda Foundation's Founder and President, Shamim Jawad, joined a panel discussion on Girls' Education at International Women's Forum Conference in Barcelona, Spain.

The Town Hall session on girls' education.

The new school year started at Ayenda School on April 1st, 2019. We wish all our students much success in the new year.

Celebration of Alphabet and learning at the Ayenda School with First grade students.

Ayenda School Field Trip to Shahr-e Gholghola or Gholghola City (Dari: شهر غلغله‎) also (City of Screams) is 13th century city in Bamyan, Afghanistan which was conquered by Genghis Khan after months of surrounding. The ruins still remain close to the Bamyan town.

Thank you to everyone who came to celebrate Women's History Month and support the Ayenda Foundation at the SOLD OUT panel discussion in partnership with THML Theater Company. Following the beautiful production of "A Second Birth" we discussed women's issues in Afghanistan, tech, music and theater. Our amazing panelists of women founders included Kayla Friend (founder of THML Theater Company), Yelda Ali (co-founder of the Camel Assembly) and Fereshteh Forough (founder of Code to Inspire). A huge thank you to Brian Long for the photos!

Happy Women’s Day to all our beautiful, smart, talented, and courageous young girls and to the heroic and resilient women all over Afghanistan. Today is your day to celebrate you and your achievements, don’t give up and never go back, continue moving forward.

Happy Giving Tuesday! Today is an exciting day because Facebook will be MATCHING any donation made by the friends of the Ayenda Foundation. Every dollar has an incredible impact and we are so grateful to you!

Your donation of $100 will help provide winter clothing and shoes for Ayenda Children.

Your donation of $300 provides school supplies and educational videos for all classes for one year.

Your donation of $1,000 feeds the entire school breakfast and lunch for one month.

Ayenda School's Science class on creation of leaves.

Ayenda Foundation celebrated its 13th Annual Benefit Dinner at the Danish Embassy on May 30th, hosted by H. E. Ambassador Lars Gert Lose and Mrs. Ulla Ronberg. The Evening started with a warm welcoming remark by Ambassador Lose, highlighting Denmark’s Key support for Afghanistan. Mrs. Shamim Jawad, Founder of the Ayenda Foundation thanked Ambassador Lose and the government of Denmark for their support for Afghanistan. Mrs. Jawad said, "we are grateful for Denmark’s ongoing commitment to support growth, employment, education, democracy building and human rights in Afghanistan”.
Mrs. Jawad updated guest on Ayenda's achievements, she stated that "currently we have 20 children in our pre-school program. As you might be aware, pre-school is not offered through the public-school system in Afghanistan. However, we believe that preparing children for first grade education is critical in order to develop early literacy and learning skills.

This year, Ayenda School has been registered with the Ministry of Education as a Middle School. We are taking this expansion one step at the time by adding only one new grade each year, we added 7th grade to our school this year. At the moment, we have 21 students in our 7th grade, and we admitted a total of 97 new students this year. In total, we have 306 students in our school. This is a tremendous achievement for us, and it would not have been possible without your support. We are also proud that the Ayenda School offers mixed primary education, as we believe it is important for boys and girls to study together to establish mutual respect. Undeniably, when you teach boys at a young age to respect girls and women, it will stay with them for life".

Incredibly beautiful photos of our Afghan children!

Photos of Afghan Children / Sylvia - Afghanistan on my mind

Meet Afghanistan's first female skiers!
Thank you Bamyan Ski Club and Henriette Bjorge for supporting female empowerment programmes that improve Afghan girls' and women's self-esteem by challenging gender stereotypes.

Meet Afghanistan's first female skiers Henriette Bjorge, 38, from Norway, went out to Bamyan in central Afghanistan to teach skiing at the Bamyan Ski Club back in 2013 and help introduce Afghan women to the sport.

Ascending Afghanistan: Rising Women

Ascend Athletics trains Afghan girls ages 18 - 23 in leadership and mountaineering skills. Afghan girls are scaling the tallest peaks in Afghanistan. A huge accomplishment in our culture that has traditionally held many women back.

eventbrite.com An HBO Vice Impact production following Afghanistan's first female mountaineering team as they attempt their first ascent of a previously unclimbed peak in stunning Panjshir province, conquer the complext social boundaries of being a young woman in Kabul, and return home victoriously. Watch the film...

Zohra - Afghanistan’s first all-female orchestra

Unity, Love, Hope and NEVER to Give Up!
The story of Zohra, deeply inspiring and promising...

zohra-music.org Discover the extraordinary story of Zohra, the first Afghan Women’s Orchestra, and the international tour that captured the world by storm.

Support Ayenda Foundation by shopping at AmazonSmile.

Ayenda Foundation is excited to announce we are officially registered on AmazonSmile! Everytime you shop on Amazon.com, a percentage of what you pay goes directly to support the Ayenda Foundation! Please take the simple step of selecting us as your cause, by clicking on this link: https://smile.amazon.com/ch/26-0509581

smile.amazon.com

Afghanistan's All-Girl Robotics Team Wins A Second Major Award At Robotex

So inspired by these incredible girls! The future generation of women gives us hope.

forbes.com Afghanistan's Girl Robotics Team just won the Entrepreneur Challenge at Europe's largest robotics festival, the Robotex festival in Tallinn, Estonia.

Happy Giving Tuesday! On this day where so many are contributing to causes to make the world a better place,
we turn to you, friends of the Ayenda Foundation.

Ayenda Foundation needs your donation in this winter to keep the torch of education ignited, and to keep the
classrooms for our underprivileged girls warm and flourishing. The winters are harsher and the nights are colder
these days in our global village. Please share and help us support our students to stay warm, educated and hopeful.

Your donation of $100 will help provide winter clothing and shoes for Ayenda Children.

Your donation of $300 provides school supplies and educational ​​videos for all classes for one year.

Your donation of $500 feeds the entire school a warm meal for one month​​​.

Any amount makes a difference in the life of one of our students. Please join us this Giving Tuesday by donating here. www.ayendafoundation.org