Over three decades of conflict in Afghanistan, education has particularly suffered. Many schools have been either destroyed because it was girls’ school or left in a state of despair. Some schools were turned to either Taliban or other malicious parties’ military bases. In a result, Afghanistan’s literacy rates ranked among the world’s lowest. However, Eskar, a small remote village located in district of Dowshi in Baghlan, has never even had schools to be destroyed during the wars. Education was never a tradition in the history of Eskar until 2004. Girls are engaged when they are newborn and married as soon as they are at their early puberty age. The average marriage age for girls in Eskar is 15. Girls are trained how to be a “good” wife by their mothers while some boys go for their primary schoolings in the cities or to some other neighboring village to at least learn how to read and write. Soon after, girls get busy with taking care of large in-laws households. Women in Eskar believe that they are born to be illiterate and their only duty is to serve men whether it is their father, brother, husband, son or relatives, and the very few who does not think that serving men is their only natural duty, often believe there is nothing possible concerning their rights for education, freedom of choice and living independently. Everything in their lives remains dreams, and dreams are therefore, seen as world of impossibilities, negativity, and sighs. Many generations of women engraved those dreams with themselves. Domestic violence such as beating wives and children on as small issues as preparing food a little later are not only common but perceived as keeping wives and children “straight”. “A man, who can not keep his wife and children straight (obedient) is not a real man,” this is a common attitude in Eskar village and even in other villages and cities of Afghanistan that I have been.

Afghan Youth Leadership members developed the 100s Mothers Literacy Program to give a spark of hope to those unfortunate mothers who do not have the motivation and the resources for primary education. The 100s Mothers Literacy will serve the least privileged young mothers in rural villages of Afghanistan. This program will provide Afghan undergraduate students with winter internship positions to teach 100 women under intensive and innovative literacy curriculum equivalent to grades 1-5 over the period of three months. The 100s Women Literacy Program will offer its initial services but not limited for widowed women, handicapped women, women with handicapped husbands, and women who are at least mother of two children in Eskar, one of the most excluded villages located in north Afghanistan.

Short-term objectives and Goals:

1.  1. Empower women through literacy programs.
2.  2. Reduce the increasing gabs and understanding problems between literate children and illiterate mothers.
3. 3. Provide employment for graduated mothers from 100s Mothers Literacy program in local elementary schools and other sectors of local offices.
4. 4. Ensure that literate women can continue enhancing their literacy skills by joining other programs like local healthcare consultants which require minimum elementary education.
5. 5. Provide guidance and resources on how they can use their literacy skills after graduating from 100s Mothers Literacy Program.

 Long-term objectives and goals:

1. 1. Implement many such literacy programs in different villages across Afghanistan.
2. 2. Divert NGOs, development stakeholders and government’s attention to the most isolated and ignored villages of Afghanistan like Eskar.
3. 3. Act as a source of connection and partnership between isolated communities and government, universities, and other sectors of Afghan society to leverage the available resources.