Princeton native Alison Long takes the measure of Kabul’s education system during teaching stint
By: Kristin Boyd
In America, school buildings are made of brick and wood and concrete.
But halfway around the world, in some of Afghanistan’s rural provinces, students attend school on tarps or in tents layered over a mountainside. There are no desks, no chalkboards, no computers or televisions.
Many students walk two or three hours to reach their classrooms, and when there, detonations often ring out like school bells, according to Alison Long, a Princeton native who spent this summer in Kabul, Afghanistan.
In a country where the literacy rate for women is about 13 percent, school days are especially difficult for girls, who either drop out as teens or endure a severe backlash for wanting to obtain an adequate education, Ms. Long said.
"Girls’ education faces many interrelated and serious challenges," she said, adding that schools for girls have become targets of arson and vandalism. "Fewer families are willing to risk the safety of their daughters for education. It’s a life-endangering act."
Ms. Long, who received a scholarship from the Women’s College Club of Princeton when she graduated from the Hun School in 1996, described her three-month stay in Afghanistan during the group’s recent meeting at All Saints Church.
The more than 40 women in attendance brimmed with pride, thrilled that a former recipient is stressing the importance of education here and in pockets of the world often overlooked or ignored.
"I am so honored to introduce Alison," said Barbara Johnson, co-chair of programs, as the audience applauded. "We are so proud of you, and we are so glad you have returned safely to us."
The Women’s College Club, which is celebrating its 90th anniversary this year, began as a group of stay-at-home mothers who became increasingly interested in education as their children grew older, according to longtime members.
The women initially offered interest-free loans for higher education but are now committed to giving thousands in scholarships annually to college-bound young women.
Ms. Long utilized her scholarship at Princeton University, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in anthropology. After graduating, she spent a year teaching English in rural Vietnam and later taught four years at The Pennington School.
She is now pursuing a master’s degree in Ethics, Peace and Global Affairs at American University in Washington, D.C. Her concentration is gender issues and women’s rights, and she was recently named the 2006 recipient of the School of International Services Brady Tyson Award for Excellence in the area of Human Services.
Knowing those accomplishments would have been impossible without an education, Ms. Long decided to become a field consultant for the Oruj Learning Center in Afghanistan.
But schooling there can be complicated, tangled in history and religious beliefs, she said. Girls’ education is viewed with suspicion, and gender equality is met with resistance from insurgents who believe the notion is a byproduct of foreign influence, she added.
Of the center’s four schools which lack supplies, female teachers and a permanent building space two have already been set ablaze, she said. The other two are housed in tents with no protection from potential violence or extreme weather conditions 115 degrees in the summer and bitter cold and snow in the winter.
Ms. Long spent most of the summer writing grant proposals, including one for $20,000 to secure teacher training for 60 Afghan women. That proposal was accepted by the Embassy of Liechtenstein this month and will hopefully close the flood gates of teenage girls dropping out of school, she said.
The girls, who must keep their faces covered in front of males according to Muslim tradition, often feel uncomfortable working with a male teacher as they mature. They opt to leave school in droves, and thus, lack the education to become teachers.
So, the cycle of educational recidivism is never broken, Ms. Long said. But she’s hoping her work this summer also detailed in a blog at www.advocacynet.org has at least weakened a link.
"This has the potential to improve lives and make a difference," she said. "It’s incredibly inspiring."
The Women’s College Club of Princeton can be reached by calling (609) 430-1565.

