‘DESCENDANTS OF ALL WORLDS’ FROM BIRMINGHAM TO KABUL

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Building empathy – having listened to the conversation with Kabul, children then found out about daily life through the photo stories in the exhibition and the real experiences of soldiers who had just returned from Afghanistan as part of the ISAF team.

On 11th July, 2002, an extraordinary phone link was made from the Heartstone ‘Descendants of All Worlds’ exhibition in Birmingham to a tent in Kabul where 200 children and families had gathered together with the Mayor of Kabul for the special occasion of the opening of the secondary school which had been rebuilt with funds raised by Heartstone groups across the UK. The opening of the school had been delayed to make sure it coincided with the opening of the DOAW event in Birmingham when children from some of the schools who had participated in the project were present together with special guests Mr Khalid Mahmood, MP, the Afghanistan Embassy’s First Secretary, Major Jon Heap of 1 Royal Anglian, Ms Frances Mildmay representing the UN and Sitakumari.

When Nick Sidle, Heartstone’s photographer, returned from his photoassignment to Afghanistan, one of the subjects featured was a school with no windows or roof but which was packed each day with children and young people, girls in the morning and boys in the afternoon. Getting to school was of itself a challenge as it meant walking several miles every day. The photostory captured the enthusiasm and motivation of the children and their teachers, especially the girls for whom this was the first time they had been in school at all, despite their setting and Heartstone circulated the story to all our groups together with the information that 1 Royal Anglian, the military unit Nick was embedded with, would be leaving shortly. What happened next was truly remarkable. Within the following four weeks, enough funds were raised by the Heartstone groups to rebuild the school. This meant 1 Royal Anglian completed the project before they left the country. The opening of the school was therefore delayed until 11th July so that this event could happen with some of the children who had been involved in the effort at the other end of the phone.
The atmosphere in the exhibition was electric, Major Jon Heap who had led the reconstruction opened the conversation followed by the Afghan First Secretary who had traveled to Birmingham for the event and then Mr Khalid Mahmood, the MP for the area of Birmingham which had been involved in the fundraising along with other parts of the country. To hear the families were gathered in a tent outside the school so that the satellite phone connection could be made helped to create an even greater sense of excitement and connection.
You can see some of the photos from the story by following the link below:
Below are a few photos from the event;
The Descendants of All Worlds exhibition in Birmingham was visited by children and adults throughout the week. The ‘Faces of Kabul’ and ‘ISAF’ stories were particularly important as they had been produced just a few weeks before the event lending reality to a world which was in the news. It showed even in this world of conflict, and so far away, people are not that different from yourself.
During the exhibition event, visitors included children and young people from local school who were able to meet some of the personnel connected to the stories told in the images. One told the story of a pregnant woman who had just gone into labour who had to be taken to hospital at night, a dangerous mission in a city where a curfew means there are no people on the streets at night, no street lighting and there is a constant threat of attack. A nurse from the unit is shown here describing what was happening in the pictures. To support this further, a military ambulance was parked outside the exhibition building so the story really came ‘to life’.
Mr Khalid Mahmood, MP opened the conversation with the Mayor of Kabul followed by other special guests present.
Major Jon Heap explains how the reconstruction was carried out once the funds had arrived.
Listening intently to the response and cheers of all those in the tent in Kabul was a moving experience for everyone in Birmingham, especially the children, knowing they had helped to make this happen.
When the phone link was made with Kabul, everyone gathered round the table to take part in the two-way conversation with all those similarly gathered in Kabul with the Mayor.
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