Two years after Mountain 2 Mountain first dedicated itself to working with the deaf populations in Afghanistan, a breakthrough. Land, glorious land. Not as easy to come by or inexpensive as you may think in a war torn region like Afghanistan. In fact its quite expensive, hard to find and even harder to get firm commitments even if you have the cold hard cash to purchase it outright. Harder still when you are looking for a land donation on which to build a school. Land is notoriously changing hands, it becomes a game of he who builds first, wins. There are many stories of land being donated in a village for school, yet in the time it takes to run things past a Board of Directors and in our case, raise the money, someone else may show up with cash in hand and the land is given to them instead. Its not surprising given the history of broken promises that that the Afghans have endured during thirty-five plus years of occupation and conflict. Reconstruction and education is key to the future of this country, and while M2M is not a building-centric organization, in some cases construction is needed. In the case of the deaf population a sustainable and permanent structure that could house not only a school but a teacher training program for the future meant that the search must first start for land. Several avenues were pursued, until finally, last month... To read the rest of the post visit:
http://mountain2mountain.wordpress.com/2010/05/01/land-for-the-deaf-in-kabul/
About Mountain2Mountain
Mountain 2 Mountain was founded over the Thanksgiving holiday in 2006 by Shannon Galpin. At its inception, the organization supported existing non profits and NGO’s working in remote mountain communities, while it structured its own charter and purpose. Our mission is to use education as an entry point in communities, and implement a cyclical model that includes training, job creation, and microfinance. This cyclical model finishes what many organizations start with, education and vocation training programs. Education and vocational training is only empowering if there is a sustainable and economic output. We believe that unless there is a market for the seamstresses we train, or the teachers we teach, or the agricultural co ops we create, then we aren’t finished. Change and empowerment comes from communities getting the tools to help themselves.