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To Raise a Child You Need a Whole World

My story started after the fall of the Taliban when my husband decided to go back to our homeland for the rebuilding of Afghanistan. Due to the Russian, my family and I were forced to flee from our country in 1982 and, after spending a year as refugees, we finally immigrated to Canada.

I owe my racial and cultural identity to Afghanistan, as well as a value that is deeply embedded in my heart and soul: never live owing someone. I have always wanted to clear my conscience by giving something back to Afghanistan, but didn’t know what would be beneficial until fairly recently. Sitting with my circle of friends and our usual conversations about Afghanistan and its long lasting problems, it just clicked in my mind: we need to start with young children. We need to implant love, care and kindness in their hearts.

Before leaving to Afghanistan, my husband asked me “What would you like me to bring you back from Afghanistan?” I had been waiting for this moment all week. I said, “Well, what I want from you will not cost you money, but time and effort”. He said, “All right tell me what it is” and I responded, “Can you please find out if there is still an early childhood centre in Kabul?”

A month of waiting passed by, and then I got my present. It was a small clip of children at Kabul University, the only pre-school in Kabul at that time.

After watching this clip, I became astonished, silent, and drowned in my thoughts. I was amazed by the message these children were sending all the way to the other side of the world: “We hate war.”

The nursery rhyme they sing is very unusual for their age. We forget that the circumstances and environment that surround a child play a significant role in shaping their thoughts and beliefs.

The words of this song penetrated deep down in my heart and soul and inspired me towards the work I continue to do today. These children look like any children—playful and happy, but in the mist of happiness they convey their powerful message “We Hate War.”

Do they want too much from the world? Do we adults give them any other choices, but war? These are the questions that dominate the activities of my life. They lead my dreams, my mind and my writings. I will never stop thinking about them. I will do anything to let the world know about these forgotten children who only ask for their rights to peace.

Our world would be a wonderful place if every penny that is spent on bullets, guns and tanks went to food, homes, book and pens instead. To build the world is much cheaper than to destroy it. Illiteracy is the main cause of all devastations in Afghanistan. Have you ever thought which is more expensive—books or bullets?

Shahnaz Qayumi has a Master’s Degree in Early Childhood Education and Psychology and has taught extensively at universities and colleges in Kabul, Afghanistan and throughout British Columbia. A mentor to the National Organization of Immigrant and Visible Minority Women of Canada and the producer of Caravan TV, a local Afghan language channel on OMNI Television, she is also a board member of Partnership Afghanistan Canada, a non-governmental organization. In addition to developing an ECE program for Family Empowerment of low-income families in North Delta, B.C., Shahnaz has also initiated a project in partnership with Kabul University to develop and deliver Early Childhood Education curriculum. The project engages experts from Partnership Afghanistan Canada, the University of BC and Kwantlen University College and aims to train more than 100,000 teachers and assistants in Afghanistan.