Afghan women graduating with SAIT diplomas
Posted Mar 8, 2012 3:56 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
SAIT Polytechnic marked International Women’s Day with a Skype call halfway around the world, to those whose lives they’ve changed with a post-secondary education.
Sixteen women in Kandahar, Afghanistan will graduate this week from the Afghan-Canadian Community Center (ACCC) with business management diplomas from SAIT.
Heena, 18, whose last name can’t be used for security reasons, says getting to and from school is dangerous in the volatile region, but her education has allowed her to help provide for her five sisters and two brothers. She says she wants to continue her education and become a doctor.
Maryam, 19, who also can’t reveal her last name, has been studying at the ACCC since 2008, and also began teaching there in 2011.
Robyn Crawford with the Canadian International Learning Foundation, a charity teamed up with SAIT to help fund ACCC courses, says those women brave enough to go to school are making a major impact after graduating.
“They’re working for the UN, they’re working for other international organizations, they’re working for the Afghan government, as well as local businesses,” said Crawford. “So the impact for the overall community as well as the individual family is quite amazing.
