This fall throughout Kabul and Herat provinces, the first of more than 9,000 Afghan women enrolled in Learning for Life (LfL), an accelerated adult literacy initiative, are completing their classes. Among them are the 29 women enrolled in the village of BegToot, in Kabul Province's Paghman district, who are gathering in their classroom for the final time.

As they have done every morning, six days a week for the past nine months, the women walk in twos and threes to a mud-brick building set amidst mulberry trees, after which their village is named, and climb the narrow stairs to a second-floor room. Throwing back their pale blue chadris, they slip off their shoes and enter. As always, the class facilitator, Qodsia Jan—"dear Qodsia" awaits them, but with her today are three visitors from Kabul: LfL and REACH staff who have come to see the learners receive the certificates that will attest to their successful completion of the course. The three women visitors have been to the class before and are warmly greeted.

The room is full of mixed emotions. The women of BegToot have always had the ability and desire to learn, and LfL has given them the opportunity. In Afghanistan, where an overall female literacy rate of 21 percent drops to 4 percent in some rural areas, LfL, funded by USAID through the REACH Program, uses health-based materials to teach women how to read and write and do basic arithmetic. This class has opened a door for these learners, and they are determined that it not be closed.

The women, aged 16 to 50, sit close together along three walls. Simple scarves drape their heads and shoulders, and they wear bright, colorful clothing. Among them are Fariba, widowed during the country's long years of war; Zohra, newly married; and Zeba Gul and Seema, two of the six community health workers (CHWs) in the class. CHWs like Zeba Gul and Seema are models, and Zeba Gul's teen-aged daughter and several others her age are also in the class. Learning is respected in Afghanistan, and Seema reports an increase in the number of women coming to her health post since she's been attending the LfL class.

Through REACH, USAID has now trained nearly 5,000 CHWs, but many more female health providers are needed if the country is to lower its maternal mortality rate, one of the world's highest, and save the lives of the thousands of children under five who die each year from diseases that could be prevented. By increasing the rate of female literacy and exposing women to important information on healthy practices and behaviors, LfL aims to build a larger pool of women better qualified for training as CHWs or community midwives.

Nine months ago, not a single one of the learners in BegToot could read or write. Their transactions in the marketplace were done by counting on their fingers. When they or their children fell ill, many felt utterly helpless, not knowing what measures they could take by themselves. Now, along with a map of the world, a Dari alphabet chart, and glossy, REACH-produced posters depicting healthy practices, hang sheet upon sheet of newsprint displaying sentences and short stories the women have written; posters on child care, personal hygiene, and food preparation that they've drawn themselves; and rows of neatly formed numbers and fractions. The attendance sheet also hangs there, faithfully marked by the learners at the beginning of every class, including this one, its final day.

Having reached milestone after milestone in each subject area, the women have passed LfL reading, writing, math, and health examinations. They are ready—but reluctant—to graduate.

As Qodsia Jan calls the women's names—names they can now write—each woman comes forward to receive her certificate and a gift of toiletries brought from Kabul—soap, shampoo, lotion, toothpaste, a toothbrush, and a comb. The learners applaud each other's achievement. The LfL staff representative also presents each woman with four books, one on each subject the class studied: reading, arithmetic, health, and Islam. In return, the women gift their visitors and Qodsia Jan with bags of walnuts and sacks filled with apples and ripe, yellow quince.

"How do you feel about what you've accomplished?" the REACH visitors ask. The answer comes in the form of really big smiles, and one woman speaks out, "We want to learn more!" The women join in a chorus of agreement, energized and raising their hands: "One class is not enough!" "We want to continue!" And then, from the folds of their long dresses, several women produce letters—the first letters they have ever written—to say how important LfL has been to them and how much they would like to have additional classes.

"And I," says Qodsia Jan, smiling, but eyes filled with tears, "would dearly love to go on being their teacher."

Learning for Life was piloted in 61 classes in Kabul and Herat provinces. Their learners are the first to finish the program, which will continue in 10 other Afghan provinces until March 2006.

Learning for Life, developed and managed by the Center for International Education at the University of Massachusetts/Amherst, is implemented by the International Rescue Committee (IRC) as part of the USAID-funded REACH Program.

REACH is a USAID-funded program implemented by Management Sciences for Health (MSH) and the Afghan Ministry of Public Health (MOPH). Partners include the Academy for Educational Development (AED); JHPIEGO; Technical Assistance, Inc. (TAI); and the University of Massachusetts/Amherst.

» Story: Learning for Life at Work in the Classroom

» Read more about the REACH Learning for Life Program

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