Why I'm trying to help young Afghans.

• Author: Grauel, Shawn
• Position: Voices

GILL, MASSACHUSETTS -- At a bomb-damaged high school in the heart of Kabul, the most basic tools of education are in short supply: notebooks, pencils, textbooks, chalk, blackboards, to say nothing of computers. Yet just like Americans, young Afghans dream of becoming doctors, journalists, engineers, and politicians, as I discovered in a visit to the capital of Afghanistan.

I was traveling with my mother, who works with a humanitarian organization. I decided to help in my own way by aiding the recovery of the country's schools.

After decades of war and oppression, many of Kabul's children had been denied a broad education, and many were forced to work to support their families. I was surprised, for example, to see elementary school kids selling cigarettes on the streets.

At the high school I visited, the students' enthusiasm was easy to see. The potential future of these bright young Afghans flashed before my eyes.

On another occasion, I was riding through the dusty streets of Kabul with Zilguy, our 17-year-old driver, looking for working teens. I was particularly struck by one boy we found in a bakery, where many teens find jobs. When I asked him if he'd like to go to school, he answered, "Nah." He had little to say, but I could tell that he was bright; he was well practiced in the highly prized skill of...