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.
‘DESCENDANTS OF ALL WORLDS’ FROM BIRMINGHAM TO KABUL
0When 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;