N+May+2009

School Life – May 5, 2009 attending: Mary, Barbara, Mary Deborah, Dick, Ben, Kathryn, Clara, Leon, Charlie, Kathy regrets: Martha, Cheryl, Lisa, Susan, Dawn __Highlights of this year’s work:__ >November presentation to PSA on what it means to be a Quaker school today; work of the School Life Committee >Community Meeting for Worship was held the last Wednesday of each month. Attendance was light. Intentionality felt important. >Parenting Class with Mike and Marcia Green – 20 attendees, rave reviews >Strengthened relationship with PSA – Lisa has been a marvelous liaison >Support of Afghan Sister School committee - having a liaison is beneficial >Bringing the “war games” query to the attention of Friday Meeting The process involved was valuable in clarifying our mission as a committee. Mary Deborah said, “We are about the Quaker nature of the school.” >Unit reporting – shifting from written reports to oral sharing worked very well. Much angst was reduced, and the quality of the spontaneous sharing was marvelous. >Our student members – 2 from MS, 1 from US, have been consistent in attendance, vigorous and effective in their contributions to our work.

**Summary of CFS Afghan Sister Schools Project: 2008-2009 School Year** - The CFS Afghan Sister Schools Project has completed its seventh year. - Our Tob Chi Sister School continues to thrive. Enrolling over 400 boys and girls, we were encouraged to learn that the school has been extended to include a co-educational high school. This is especially good news for the girls who were unlikely to continue their education past the eighth grade until this new development (parents were unwilling for their daughters to travel to school in Bamiyan town). - As in past years, the project has been involved in activities throughout the CFS community, including students of all ages. Students and teachers initiate and lead these activities, as well as members of the Sister Schools Committee. - We have continued to focus in the areas of: (1) education about Islam, Afghanistan, and our sister school; (2) cultural exchange with the students at the Tob Chi School; (3) fundraising to meet the many needs of the Tob Chi School and surrounding community. - Mike Hanas invited members of the Sister Schools Committee to submit a paper for publication in the journal entitled __Peace and Change: A Journal of Peace Research__. Our paper, entitled “Connecting Our Villages: The Afghan Sister Schools Project at Carolina Friends School”, has been accepted by the journal and will be published in October of 2009. - Weekly pizza lunches in the Middle School have continued as our primary fundraiser. During this school year, once-monthly pizza lunches began in the Lower School as well. This low-key fundraiser generates much needed funds for our sister school and raises awareness of the project in both the Lower and Middle School units. For the 2008-2009 school year, pizza lunch sales in the Middle and Lower Schools have generated over $8000 in profits for the Sister Schools Project. - CFS Afghan Sister Schools Project calendars were produced and sold during the holiday season. Similarly to the pizza lunches, the calendars served to both generate funds and heighten awareness. - The School Life Committee, Sister Schools Committee members, and Upper School staff and students facilitated the development of two Afghanistan-related sessions for the Upper School’s fall seminar days. In these sessions, overview material was presented by Sister School committee members. This was followed by a telephone question and answer session with an American soldier serving with NATO forces in Afghanistan. This exceptional individual spoke openly with our students about his personal experiences and view of the war in Afghanistan. - In December of 2008, the Middle School carried out a special all-unit session focused on our sister school. We had recently received over 40 pen pal letters from students in Tob Chi as well as a beautiful handmade and fully illustrated alphabet book. Led by Middle School staff and students, a combined power point and letter reading presentation was followed by a period where over 50 MS students wrote letters to their Tob Chi friends. - In the spring of this year, Upper School staff and the Sister School Committee worked together to bring Nasim Fekrat to CFS to speak to US students. Fekrat, a young Afghan journalist, activist and blogger, was studying at Duke University through a special journalism fellowship. His personal story and perspective on the situation in his home country were compelling to our students and staff. Nasim is now back in Afghanistan, soon to visit the Tob Chi School on our behalf. We eagerly await his reports from our sister school. - In May of this year, the Middle School initiated the development of an entire day devoted to special activities about Afghanistan and our sister school. The day began with an overview power point presentation by Sister School Committee members. Special workshop sessions, led by MS staff and assisted by members of the Sister School Committee, included Afghan cooking, learning to speak Persian, Afghan games, and other topics. Students watched a documentary about a young boy from Bamiyan. - Lower School students, led by parents connected to the Sister Schools project, developed a lively newsletter to send to the younger students at the Tob Chi School. This newsletter, including special messages of friendship and illustrated with student drawings, will be printed in Kabul and delivered to our sister school by Nasim Fekrat. Over 200 copies will be distributed, in order for each younger student at the Tob Chi School to have his/her own newsletter. - The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) is leaving Afghanistan as of June 30, 2009. Although we have donated money to other organizations and individuals to facilitate our project, AFSC has been our primary partner in working with the Tob Chi School. We are looking ahead to see what new opportunities are available to maintain our connections there. The Afghan staff previously employed by AFSC is reorganizing as a non-governmental charitable organization registered with the Afghan government, and may well continue as at least one important link to our sister school in Tob Chi.

School Life : __Plans for next year:__ > Discuss Community Meeting for Worship – time, place, frequency. Suggest units (via Friday Meeting) invite parents and D/CH Meeting members to attend unit settling in or Meeting for Worship. > Share with broader community the results of the “war games” discussion; send a thank you to Don; make available article by Heath (?) on this topic, also John Valentine’s piece on competition (from //The Independent//). > Support CH Meeting “Crossing the Faith Divide” project – US/MS students to do service projects with (not for) Muslim students from school in Raleigh. > Another PSA presentation? Focus on service learning? Query incoming parents about what they want to know? Repeat last year’s forum? > Support ASSC – presentations to new families, connections to D/CH Meetings. > Continue our discussion on Quakerism, how it is infused through the school, often in a subtle way. Perhaps ask alumni to speak to this. Invite new advancement coordinator to a meeting to help frame ways to talk about who we are, what we do…. Look for ways to provide opportunities for folks to __experience__ Quaker practice. > Support discussions, speakers, student works, and other evening presentations at CFS. First fall meeting tentatively Tuesday, October 6, 6:30 potluck. Kathy looking at dates.