A Life-Changing Opportunity for Silsila Makhfi

In January 2023, Living Wisdom International High School (LWIHS) received an application from an eighteen-year-old Afghan woman, Silsila Makhfi. This application was submitted 18 months after the Taliban recaptured Kabul and prohibited women from receiving education beyond the sixth grade. We accepted Silsila on faith and offered her a full scholarship, convinced by her sincerity. Silsila excelled in all aspects of her studies, choosing to complete her fall semester coursework simultaneously with her spring semester classes to ensure she met all her graduation requirements.

Victory Afghanistan: Expanding Access to Education

The high school admitted 6 more female students from Afghanistan the following school year. All are accomplished in academics and service to their community and mature beyond their years. One of our Afghan graduating seniors referred our school to Victory Afghanistan (VA), a 100% volunteer organization that teaches English to Afghan women as a practical avenue for pursuing their dreams.

A Measured Approach to Growth

A hurdle Victory Afghanistan were facing was finding a way for their students to obtain an accredited high school diploma that could be used for enrolling in an online university. Upon hearing about our school, they contacted us to see what we could offer. We were impressed by the VA leadership and the rigor of their curriculum and agreed to partner with them. For us, we gained the assurance that every student referred to us by Victory Afghanistan possesses competence in the English language, which is a requirement for success in their studies in our school. Victory Afghanistan asked to enroll 100 students for the current fall 2024 semester. The board and our staff realized we need to ramp slowly to maintain the high instructional quality of our fully accredited high school. Then, of course, there is the question of how we would fund our Afghanistan initiative. Every Afghan student is admitted free of charge and in some cases, are provided with financial support for internet access and even laptops.

A Global Responsibility to Defend Education Rights

Since the Afghan Project transcends geographical boundaries, expanding our definition of community is imperative to encompass the entire globe. Both the United Nations and the International Criminal Court -- arbiters of how we behave in the global community -- have condemned the current regime of Afghanistan for its treatment of women. It is a violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Article 26) to deny anyone the right to an education, and Afghanistan is the only country in the world that prohibits women from getting an education beyond the sixth grade.

In light of this global condemnation, it is clear that any efforts to alleviate the suffering and subjugation of Afghan women are welcomed and supported by the worldwide community. The work of Victory Afghanistan and Living Wisdom fills a gap that no government or global organization has yet addressed at any scale -- providing secondary education to Afghan girls. 

Worldwide Support for the Initiative

The rapid growth of this program and Victory Afghanistan programs at large demonstrate the global community's support for these efforts. People from all walks of life and countries worldwide have joined these programs as teachers, resource providers, and donors, showing universal support for providing education to a deeply vulnerable population.

A Dedicated Team with a Shared Mission

Victory Afghanistan and Living Wisdom are supported by a team of dedicated professionals with diverse educational and experiential backgrounds. The board members of Victory Afghanistan are all college-educated Afghan women living abroad, yet they maintain strong connections to their homeland through family ties and professional relationships. They have assembled a community of volunteers worldwide with experience in everything from nonprofit management to data analysis and business development. 

Expertise in Online Education and Teacher Training

Living Wisdom is managed by a team with extensive experience in providing online education to students worldwide and training and certifying nontraditional teachers in the Education for Life model. This combination makes them uniquely qualified to run this program, which will provide an education to Afghan girls and teaching experience to young Afghan women.

Impact and Future of the Program

The Afghanistan high school program has been operating for nearly an entire year, and prior to its launch, Living Wisdom was proud to graduate five Afghan women who have gone on to be admitted to various institutions of higher education in the U.S. and the E.U. This highly innovative program demonstrates how combining the talents and experiences of a global community can create new solutions to existing problems and provide hope where there was none.