Dear Rotary Leader

GREAT NEWS! Construction of the school has begun with a ground breaking ceremony that took place Sunday January 3rd, 2010. Attached is a picture of the ceremony showing Fari Mohini, a Rotarian from the Rotary Club of the LaJolla Golden Triangle Rotary Club in San Diego California reading a speech prepared on your behalf.   

While not in this picture there were banners in both Pashto and English that read:

" Rotary in Canada and the United States extend hands of friendship"
"New School for the students of Jalalabad financed by Rotary International"
"New school to develop goodwill, understanding and peace"
"Another Rotary International Service Project for Afghanistan".

The ceremony was attended by a number of official delegates including those from the Afghanistan Federal Government, the Governor of Nangahar Province, the Provincial Department of Education, and others as well as the media. We are told it was a great event.

Monty and I on behalf of the committee would like to express our sincere appreciation to all Rotary Clubs and Rotarians who have made a donation to date.

Special thanks goes to the Rotarians of District 5550 who as at the end of December are leading the way with $6,094.80 in club donations as well as gifts from individual Rotarians totalling $3,690.50 with more to come. 

As the ground breaking has been done and construction commenced, for those clubs that have still not sent their minimum requested donation of $250.00 we ask that you attend to this right away. Very simply, we need the money NOW!.

To assist you in your fundraising efforts, we have attached two pictures showing the students studying in their current environments.

We also suggest you log onto a special website namely www.rotary7090afghanistan.ca prepared by District 7090 and view their excellent short video. Also  there is a brief story and the video are posted on www.RotaryZones24-32.org.

Please remember:

    1) The school is being built in Jalalabad located in a relatively safe area of the country where other Rotary funded educational facilities have operated since 2005;  

    2) Monies will be paid directly to trusted Rotarians in Afghanistan who will in turn pay the contractors directly;  

    3) The Rotary Foundation has supported the project and have funded a matching grant of US $25,000.00;  

    4) The Canadian Federal Government through CIDA will match all Rotary in Canada donations dollar for dollar;  

    5) Donations made by Canadians are eligible for a tax receipt;  

    6) The students once educated there will strive to enhance the quality of people's lives in Afghanistan and help develop goodwill, a prerequisite for long term understanding and peace.

To  learn more about the District 7090 project and make a donation click here