BAGRAM AIR FIELD, Afghanistan (August 21, 2008) – A small group of people were on hand for a ground-breaking ceremony for the $130,000 Haish Saidqi eight-room schoolhouse, Aug. 20, on a hillside overlooking the picturesque stepped farmlands of Rokha District, Panjshir province, Afghanistan.

Among those in attendance at the ceremony were Hajji Kabiri, the province’s deputy governor, and Zolmaid Shahid, the provincial director of education. Of special importance was the attendance of Abdul Rahman Panjshiri.  He and his wife donated the land for the school.

Panjshiri, as the name might indicate is originally from Panjshir.  His wife’s family had to leave Panjshir when she was still a young girl so she could continue with school and get a good education. 

Panjshiri and his family took asylum in the Netherlands during the Taliban regime but he always knew that he wanted to come back to Afghanistan.

“When the Taliban fell and I decided to come back to Afghanistan some of my family was not happy with me,” said Panjshiri.  “My three sons even did not come back with me, but my wife and daughter did and we now live and work in Kabul.”

Panjshiri is a communications engineer and serves as a director of International Radio and Television in Kabul. A year ago, he assisted in bringing the first television station to Panjshir.

His wife is a chemist who was the only female from Rokha District to graduate from Kabul University in 1977.  She is now a teacher at a school in Kabul.

“When we heard from the Ministry of Education in Kabul that they desperately needed land for a school, my wife encouraged me to give this land here for a girl’s school,” said Panjshiri. “She had to move away from Panjshir to get an education and she didn’t want the girls today to have to do the same thing.”

Air Force Capt. Jayson Stewart represented the Panjshir Provincial Reconstruction Team and offered Panjshiri his words of thanks.

“It is a good thing that his family was willing to give their personal land for a girl’s school because good, useable land is getting very hard to find here in Panjshir,” said Stewart. 

Panjshiri said it takes commitment from not only people like himself, but also the financial help from international donors and assistance from the International Security and Assistance Force for progress to continue in Panjshir and throughout Afghanistan.

“When I decided to come back to Afghanistan, a good friend of mine from Holland asked me why I would want to leave the Netherlands for Afghanistan?” said Panjshiri.

For Panjshiri, the answer was ‘duty.’

“I told him that I was sure that as long as Coalition forces were here helping our government, then I knew it would be a good safe place to come,” he said. “I am very happy that I made the decision to come back to Afghanistan because I can do something for the people here – for my people.”

The Haish Saidqi eight-room schoolhouse is scheduled to be complete in April 2009.