To Heal A Nation
I had no ties to Afghanistan before January. The climax of events
on September 11, 2001, propelled the tumultuous and dispirited images
of this distant country into America's living room. Still, as a
medical student in Indianapolis, I was disconnected to those images.
Four months later, I am now not only connected to Afghanistan's
future but also committed to it.
In January, the American Medical Women's Association (AMWA) and
International Medicine Student Interest Group invited Nazif Shahrani,
PhD, chair of the IU Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures,
to speak about Afghanistan, the Taliban, and the U.S.-led war against
terrorism. The talk was provocative and engaging, and my peers and
I began to untangle the complex political, social and economic issues
surrounding Afghanistan and the United States. It was a first step
toward comprehending the colossal challenges facing Afghanistan
in rebuilding its war-torn country.
Dr. Shahrani then connected us with a project initiated by Nasrine
Gross, an Afghan-American who has fought for women's rights in Afghanistan.
Now a professor of women's studies at Kabul University, she introduced
us to two universities in northeastern Afghanistan which are in
urgent need of basic science and general medical reference textbooks
for both teachers and students.
Faizabad and Gulbahar University are two of five medical schools
in Afghanistan. These small schools were started to educate local
youth and prevent "brain drain" to cities and abroad.
Gulbahar University has been torn down by the Taliban twice since
1998 and as of 2001 had no books in its library.
It took only hours for us to find a group of enthusiastic medical
students willing to help build these libraries. Together with students
from IUSM's Bloomington, Gary, Muncie, Terre Haute, Fort Wayne and
Evansville campuses, we coordinated a book drive and collected more
than 500 books. We also raised funds to help ship the materials
to Afghanistan.
Our hope now is to foster these universities, which, unlike the
larger Kabul and Nangahar universities, do not have the resources
to recruit outside aid.
The Afghan book project has connected IU students and faculty to
Afghanistan. In the future, we hope to nurture this new and exciting
relationship with our Afghan counterparts, learn from them and help
them raise their nation from the ashes of war, poverty and sickness.
Helen Kuo, MS3, is co-president of IUSM's student chapter of the
American Medical Women's Association and co-coordinator of the "Ethics
At Lunch" program at IUSM.
|
