Operation Education: Wasilla High student raises funds, gathers supplies for Afghanistan school

WASILLA – There was a time when the school’s president had to smuggle books and other supplies under her burkha because the Taliban forbade the education of girls.

Desperate for a better life for their daughters, Afghan mothers concerned their children were not getting a proper education had started the Payan E Mother School in Kabul, Afghanistan, several years ago. The name means “the voice of mother” and now the school boasts about 1,100 students.

Thanks to the efforts of a Wasilla family who helped gather 30 large boxes of school supplies and $2,300 to pay for back packs for the students, the school is even better off today.

“It feels really good to know our efforts made a difference for those kids,” said Marty Foster, a 16-year-old Wasilla High student working toward becoming an Eagle Scout.

It was his father, Warren Foster, who planted the seed for the project in his son Marty’s head earlier this year. Foster was working as an air traffic controller for a government contractor in Kabul and befriended an Afghan American who was working as a cultural advisor in the area.

The woman, Fawzia Etimada, had fled to America after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan 30 years ago. She told Foster about the Payan school and how badly they needed basic school supplies.

Marty Foster, who’s been a Scout since he was 8, initially wanted to paint portable classrooms at his school for his Eagle Scout project. But when his father told him about the school in Kabul, he knew he wanted to find a way to help.

“Most Eagle projects focus on your local community, but you’re allowed to focus on other communities — even on the other side of the world,” Foster said. “I wanted to help that school because I think the normal person really does want to learn. They just need the tools. If educating the masses can help end some of the world’s problems with the Taliban, then that’s worth it.”

Foster said his “simple plan” involved asking local businesses if they could either donate to the cause or at least allow him to put a box in the store to collect donations of school supplies from the community.

Walgreen’s, Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Lowes, and Carrs stores in the Valley pitched in, as did his Mormon church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Foster’s entire family — all six siblings — also helped out, he said.

His two older brothers, Devan and Scott, already earned their Eagle status through a blood drive and constructing a flag pole, respectively. But they were still willing to help Marty in whatever way they could.

Devan helped him write letters and create a Facebook fan page for the project, dubbed “Operation Education.” Scott put on a fund-raising show with his one-man band at Colony High School at the end of August that raised hundreds of dollars, he said.

And after all was said and done and everything was finally shipped off to Kabul, his father had the honors of being at the school Dec. 1 for the distribution of about 300 notebooks, more than 150 three-ring binders, and enough pencils for every one of the 1,100 students to have at least three.

“When I told one of the leaders about Marty’s Eagle project tears came to her eyes and she wanted to have them rename the school after him,” Warren Foster said in is Dec. 1 blog on the Operation Education website. “I told her that would not be necessary, please just tell the students this is a gift from America, with love. She wept at that.”

For more information on the effort for the Payan E Mother School in Afghanistan, visit Marty Foster’s Facebook page or the Operation Education blog site at operationeducationafghanistan.blogspot.com.

Contact K.T. McKee at kate.mckee@frontiersman.com or 352-2252.