AFGHANISTAN: Women's Mentorship Program Reaches Far Into Afghanistan

Sakena Yacoobi has worked tirelessly to educate the women of Afghanistan. Now, she hopes to bring some of them to Saskatoon.

A program designed to pair Afghan women with Saskatchewan mentors is underway and despite the hurdles, organizers are hoping to launch the project this fall.

Yacoobi, a renowned Afghan educator, met Betty-Ann Heggie two years ago while both women spoke on a panel about gender equity at a conference in Italy. Heggie, a former senior vice-president of Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc., founded a mentorship program for women through the Edwards school of business.

"Mentorship is important. If you ask a successful man if they've had a mentor, fewer than 35 per cent say that they have. If you ask a successful women, 98 per cent say that they have," said Heggie. She believes women need help navigating the "minefield" of a patriarchal society.

After Heggie's speech to the conference, Yacoobi suggested women from Afghanistan would benefit from the mentorship project. She hopes to bring six women, who are now master trainers at the non-profit Afghan Institute of Learning, which began as a secret school when education for women was outlawed under the Taliban.

Heggie said yes to the partnership almost immediately - she could fly the women to the city with her frequent flyer miles and the women could stay at her house.

The process proved far more difficult. European law will not allow the women in without a visa. They are not allowed to take connecting flights that land on European soil.

"I organized the program, I raised the money, but I can't get visas," said Heggie.

This is the second time Yacoobi has visited Saskatoon in two years to speak about the project, with the hope it will help get the mentorship program underway. The group hopes to bring six women to the city this September.

The women will be taught student-centred learning and health care teaching initiatives, meet with Canadian leaders and educators, and return home to share their new knowledge and experience.

"If they come here they will be able to pick up different activities or different methodologies from the people in Saskatoon and then they will be able to go back to Afghanistan and apply those techniques that they learned here," said Yacoobi. "I really believe education is the key issue for Afghanistan, if we really want to change Afghanistan, if we really want to bring change, especially if we want to bring peace to Afghanistan, we must educate the society."

On Thursday, the group appealed to Rob Norris, provincial minister of advanced education, employment and immigration and minister responsible for international co-operation, during a round table session. Norris pledged to send a letter to federal Immigration Minister Jason Kenney to work on the visa process.

Yacoobi also met with Lauryn Oates, a human rights activist and director for Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan.

Once the teachers arrive in Canada, they will take part in the Edwards' school of business "womentorship' program.

"They are doing a wonderful job right now in Afghanistan . . . but if they come here and they are exposed to a different system and different environment, they will be able to be very creative and innovative," said Yacoobi. "They will have a great impact in the society of Afghanistan."

After education was outlawed for Afghan women under the Taliban rule in the early 1990s, Yacoobi began the Afghan Institute of Learning and organized 80 underground schools to secretly teach girls and women, bringing them the power of education.

Those women have grown up to become doctors and engineers and civil servants in the country, preventing a generation of lost learning.

After the Taliban fell in 2001, the Afghan Institute of Learning expanded with preschools, primary schools and learning centres for women. It also operates teacher training programs and health clinics in the country, providing service to about 350,000 women and children each year.

"The women of Afghanistan are very strong, they are very intelligent," said Yacoobi. "If the environment is given to them they are very fast learners."

She believes the program will build a bridge between Canada and Afghanistan, creating a better sense of understanding between both countries.

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