Pennies for Peace
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When I talk about extremist mullahs fiercely opposing girl’s education, I’m talking about the minority. But they fear the pen far more than the sword because they know that when those girls who have an education become mothers they've lost their control over that society.
Greg Mortenson
EVERGREEN, CO- There's an African proverb that says if you educate a boy you educate an individual. But if you educate a girl you educate and help a community. Take the story of Aziza from the Charpusan Valley in Pakistan along the Afghan border as an example.
The first girl to go to school in her whole valley of about 4000 people, when Aziza was in first and second grade the boys threw stones at her trying to get her not to go to school. In third and fourth grade her teachers refused to teach her because she was female. So she sat outside and listened through the window and got school stuff from her brothers. In high school the boys made one last attempt to make sure she didn't graduate by stealing her notebooks.
 Aziza |
The educational work of the Central Asia Institute, founded by former American mountain climber Greg Mortenson, focuses on building schools, providing continuing education for children like Aziza, and educating teachers in the most rural and inaccessible regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan. A 501(c)3 non-profit organization, CAI depends completely upon donations for its work.
Pennies for Peace is a non-profit fundraising arm of the organization that started by accident back in 1993 when Mortenson was trying to raise money for the very first school in Korphe, Pakistan. After he talked to classes at Westside Elementary in River Falls Wisconsin, the children were so touched by his stories that on their own initiative they started raising money for the project by collecting pennies. The children raised $623.45 and were the second largest donors in the construction of the Korphe school.
Today, about 500 schools nationwide have helped fundraise with Pennies for Peace, and in the last five years about 100,000 kids have been involved in raising approximately $135,000 to make stories like Aziza’s possible.
“A penny implies little children to a lot of people, but really the penny is a symbol meaning that something small can really make a difference,” says Pennies for Peace Director, Christiane Leitinger. “We have kids from preschool through high school doing it. This year our fifth college has signed on because they're realizing that a penny is a huge educational tool. It’s a huge realization for them that a penny can buy a pencil. That a penny can start an education, and that an education can totally transform someone's life. So it has a very broad appeal.”
To help people start a fundraising campaign, Pennies from Peace has information kits available on their website. For teachers who want bring the lives of children in Pakistan and Afghanistan into focus during fundraising programs, Pennies for Peace offers an online curriculum covering regional history, geography and culture, complete with extensive recommended reading lists for children first grade through high school. “I wanted to make participating in Pennies for Peace something that was not going to cause teachers a big headache,” says Leitinger, a former Montessori teacher. “I wanted them to be able to implement the program with great ease.”
In addition to its fundraising and educational benefits, one of the most important functions of Pennies for Peace is cultural bridge building. “It's so important for children and adults in Pakistan and Afghanistan to understand that in America there are children and people who care for their well-being, because there's a lot of disinformation on both sides,” says Leitinger. “When we can find commonalities between peoples, those are the bricks in the foundations and the bridge that helps us understand each other. It's always very easy to look at the differences and write things off based on the differences. It takes a little more effort to look at things from the commonalities. But that's what we’re trying to do.”
Mortenson agrees that raising money is probably the least important thing about Pennies for Peace. Most important he says, is that the program is teaching children to think about caring and sharing and philanthropy. It is also broadening student’s cultural horizons, making them aware of the real circumstances in other children’s lives. Pennies for Peace also empowers young people by teaching them how they can reach out and participate in life on a global scale.
Why Pennies for Peace?
Originally called Pennies for Pakistan , Mortenson changed the name to Pennies for Peace when he founded the non-profit organization because he recognized the vital link between education – especially girl’s education – and world peace. “The studies basically show,” says Mortenson, “that if you educate a girl to a fifth-grade level - and of course more is better - but if you can get her to at least the fifth-grade level it does three important things, 1) it reduces infant mortality; 2) it reduces the population explosion, and; 3) it improves the basic quality of health and life itself in a very dramatic way. ( See What Works in Girls Education published by the World Affairs Council and UNICEF )
Greg Mortenson and students from Gultori Refugee Girls School, Bromolo Colony Gultori Valley, on Line of Control (LOC) war zone between India and Pakistan.
Education for girls also has a dramatic impact on world peace because it directly reduces interest in, and the development of, terrorist activities and organizations in the isolated regions of third world countries. That is why in the last 18 months in Afghanistan 240, mostly girls’, schools have been destroyed or rendered unusable by extremist mullahs and other jihadists, including the Taliban. “There's a fierce desire and thirst for education over there,” says Mortenson. “And when I talk about extremist mullahs fiercely opposing girl’s education, I’m talking about the minority. But they fear the pen far more than the sword because they know that when those girls who have an education become mothers they've lost their control over that society.”
As a side effect of its fund-raising, Pennies for Peace teaches Westerners, who tend to take education for granted, just why building schools in places like rural Pakistan is so important. The organization also helps fill in important cultural gaps in our knowledge base. For example we hear about it on the news, but few people in the West know that ‘jihad’ can mean many things, including a noble quest for education or some other type of culturally uplifting endeavor. Even fewer people know that before a young Muslin man can go on any kind of jihad, he needs the permission and blessings of his mother.
“If he doesn't get the blessings of his mother it is very shameful,” Mortenson says. “And if a mother is literate or educated, she's much less likely to condone her son joining a terrorist group like the Taliban. In a bigger context you'll find that even in inner cities in the States and in impoverished areas in countries like Brazil, if a woman is educated her son is less likely to get in the gangs and engage in violence. There have been excellent studies done on this. Women’s education is a very high deterrent.”
Leitinger agrees that a wonderful side benefit of Pennies for Peace is making this kind of information available to individuals, schools and communities across the country. “Sometimes people have such a misunderstanding of what life is like over there, that there is an antagonistic relationship and they don't even think about it,” says Leitinger. “That's part of the beauty of Pennies for Peace… these are kids just like you. They work or go to school just like you. These are mothers who don't want their children to die. These are families who want the best for their children. These are very fundamental emotions that we can all relate to and identify with.”
For more information on how you can start a Pennies for Peace campaign go to penniesforpeace.org or contact the organization at P.O. Box 3567, Evergreen, CO80437-3567; Phone 303.674.7940 or write info@penniesforpeace.org
