Suraya Sadeed
Founder and Executive Director
Help the Afghan Children

During the height of the Afghan Civil War (1993), Suraya returned to Afghanistan and was shocked by the horrific conditions of children and the destruction of her homeland. That same year, she established Help the Afghan Children, Inc.

Since then, Suraya's courageous efforts in providing humanitarian aid, medical care, education, and hope against seemingly insurmountable odds have directly benefited over 1.5 million Afghan children and their families. Operating in some of the most inhospitable conditions imaginable, confronting the Taliban and drug lords, delivering aid to thousands of families during bombing attacks in the middle of a war, Suraya's work and heroism earned her respect and admiration from common Afghans, and human rights leaders from around the globe.

After the overthrow of the Taliban in late 2001, Suraya was selected as an Educational Commission Advisor for the Transitional Government of Afghanistan and Delegate (one of ten nationally recognized women for service) to the Grand Assembly of Afghanistan in 2002.

Recognizing that education was the key to Afghanistan's future, Suraya has been a leader in introducing many innovative educational models and programs into the country. In 2002, Suraya established one of the Afghanistan's first model schools. She was the first to bring computers and computer education programs into the public school system, and her introduction of peace & environmental education into the educational curriculum has been lauded by the Ministry of Education and the United Nations.

to an estimated 100,000 patients per year from 1994 to 2005. Establishing model schools since 2002 in Kabul, Kapisa, Samangan, and Kandahar provinces. Currently, thousands of students are enrolled in our schools. Our services include building and furnishing schools, providing 15 computers for each schools, implementing our innovative programs such as Computer, Peace, and Environmental education, training teachers, and introducing new ideas like "read Afghanistan" by establishing libraries in schools and providing story books to promote reading among students. 3- Providing on-going emergency relief efforts to Afghanistan's most vulnerable families, in under-served areas since 1993. HTAC donates primarily medicine and medical supplies, blankets, tents, clothing, and school supplies as well as emergency food supplies. To date, we have helped tens of thousands of families across the country and the refugee camps. What is your favorite part of HTAC? Since 1993, I've made over 45 trips back to Afghanistan and some of those trips have been under highly challenging and extremely stressful conditions. But the one thing that has sustained me all these years; the one thing that makes this effort worthwhile is seeing the faces of Afghan children who we've helped. It's the children that keep me going. How many schools have been opened by HTAC? In the early days, including under the rule of the Taliban, we started 17 small home-based schools for girls which were, of course, forbidden at the time. Since the overthrow of the Taliban regime, we have built 11 schools in 4 provinces that serve an average of 15,000 students per year. What is HTAC's ultimate goal? It really goes back to our mission to help Afghan children become educated, healthy, and productive citizens who are able to fully contribute to building Afghanistan's civil society. And we believe the best way to do that is by investing in ... medicine.

Tell us a bit about your background. I was born and raised in Kabul, Afghanistan, went to Rabia Balkhi High School and then to Kabul University. I graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Child Psychology. Subsequently, I got married. A year later, my husband got a scholarship for his masters from the American University of Beirut and we left Afghanistan for Lebanon. We stayed in Beirut for 3 years, where I worked full time and took graduate courses toward my MA in Educational Psychology. After the completion of my husband's studies, we left for Frankfurt, Germany where we applied for a refugee status in the Unite States. We became U.S. residents in 1982. My first job was with Georgetown University, where I worked as a consultant with the World Bank. Meanwhile, I took the required courses, received my real estate broker license and established a successful brokerage firm with 15 employees in Virginia. Years later, in 1993 I founded Help the Afghan Children Organization where I presently work. What motivated you to start HATC? After a sudden death of a loved one, I was desperately in search of ways to find comfort, the I thought about millions in Afghanistan who lost everything and was wondering how they coop with their agony. I decided to return to my homeland, during the height of the Afghan civil war, and was grief stricken by the horrible conditions of Afghan families; especially the children. It was then when I decided to start an organization devoted to helping Afghan children. What are some of the projects that HTAC has already achieved? Over the past 14 years HTAC has been at the forefront of a number of highly successful projects aimed at preparing Afghan children to become educated, healthy, and productive citizens and the future leaders of their country. We have been providing education, healthcare, and emergency relief to an estimated 1.5 million people by: Establishing health clinics in Peshawar, Kabul, Logar, Bamyan, Takhar, and Kapisa where we provided free basic health services and

their long-term education. Was there any particular moment that you thought, it's not worth it? Yes, many times; here are few examples: ---In 1994, when I was traveling by through the Khyber Pass and Shamshad Moutains to deliver over 10,000 blankets to displaced people in Nangarhar Province during the civil war; and was stopped by the militias 15 times who were asking for money ---In 1997, when we were transporting three trucks full of medicine and medical supplies from Peshawar to Kabul during the Taliban era and has to spend a night in the truck at the middle of nowhere because of the curfew; ---In 2001, when we were transporting food from Tajikistan to Afghanistan via a small ferry during the time that the U.S. planes were dropping off bombs; and ---In 2006, when I got a phone call from our Kabul office that two of our teachers were beheaded in front of their families, minutes before they entered our school.

But, each time after thinking about people, especially children who are the innocent bystanders trapped at the middle of an endless war and forgotten by the world; I am more determined to continue to help them. What are some of the projects that are currently under consideration? First, we plan to expand our very successful computer education program, designed to give skills to high school students, in different regions of Afghanistan. This program would enable high school graduates to obtain jobs in Afghanistan's emerging information technology marketplace. We believe providing skills to young generation of Afghans that would help them gain employment, is one of the most critical issues in Afghanistan. Second, we want to develop further our popular cultural exchange program by getting more U.S. schools involved to become exchange partners with selected Afghan schools. We're finding that through these exchanges, students from both the

U.S. and Afghanistan are learning about different aspects of each other's lives; and important first step in understanding and respecting diverse cultures. Third, we are planning to expand our "Read Afghanistan" bi-lingual storybooks program that have has a huge positive impact on improving reading literacy levels in the primary grades. What are HTAC's future plants? Because conditions in Afghanistan are constantly changing, it's always a challenge to predict and make plans for the future; and even if you have plans for a long term development, sometimes those plans have to change. We have, however, been very effective in observing the educational landscape and developing innovative programs and services to meet Afghanistan's education needs and that is something HTAC will continue to do.

How can people get involved with HTAC? Of course, becoming a regular HTAC donor is an easy and rewarding way for someone to get involved with us, knowing that their contributions are helping to support the educational work we do that impacts thousands of Afghan girls and boys each year. People can, in fact, earmark their donations to sponsor either our schools or special programs. In addition, we have a number of more active involvement opportunities through our volunteer programs. As an example, individuals can become an HTAC Outreach Ambassador in their local communities by helping to raise awareness of our work, speaking at local community functions, and working with us in planning and organizing outreach events. Our Get Involved and Sponsorship website links www.htac.org provides detailed information on these and other involvement opportunities.