Uniquely some 50,000 Americans are "journeying" with our Afghan schools.  They come from from public and private schools, family foundations, book clubs, various religious institutions, colleges and universities, community giving circles, businesses, and non-profits, like National Geographic and Rotary. 

Many have come together as a community to support individual Afghan schools.  The community of Crested Butte, Colorado is a good example of a community partnering with us.  Interested in building global citizens, building bridges of understanding and helping the poor, they sought us out.  They asked if we would be willing to come into the community and meet with school children and community members a few years ago.  Subsequently, volunteers have visited the community numerous times, educating students in the elementary, middle and high school; participating in various community fora (including Crested Butte's annual Public Policy Forum); engaging civic organizations, like Rotary; and updating community members about our work through newspapers and the radio.  In exchange, Crested Butte citizens led the way in helping us build a new school for 1,500 girls in 2008 and participating in a cultural exchange.

Excited to know more about their new sister school in Afghanistan, four residents of Crested Butte joined us in Afghanistan in the fall of 2008.  Not only did they dedicate the school, but they ambassadors "extraordinaire," helping to breakdown misperceptions and misunderstandings between our cultures. 

Enthusiastic about our work, the Crested Butte team decided to get a near-by community engaged (Gunnison, Colorado) upon their return from Afghanistan.  Subsequently, we met with teachers, parents and university professors there to get yet another school off the ground, which was dedicated in the fall of 2009.

In addition to Crested Butte, we are "journeying" with citizens in the Pacific Northwest; Austin and Houston, Texas; Los Angeles and Malibu, California; the greater Washington, DC area; Madison, Wisconsin; Aspen, Boulder and Denver, Colorado; New England.)  In the Seattle area alone, over a dozen schools have participated, as well as almost a dozen religious institutions (from churches, synoguges, mosques and temples), Rotary, family foundations, book clubs, and sports teams.  In addition to raising funds, they have participated in cross-cultural exchanges.  And, despite the dangers, a number of individuals, including an elementary school principal and several teachers, have traveled to Afghanistan to visit their sister-schools.