I have spent the past 25 years advocating on behalf of my disabled daughter to help her realize greater independence and a better quality of life; it has been a life-lesson for me and the most difficult thing I have ever done. Raising a child with disabilities is challenging enough in a country like the U.S.A. where disabled children have the opportunity to receive educational and vocational supports, but in a country like Afghanistan these special children have nothing. The grim realities that children with disabilities face everyday in Afghanistan due to decades of conflict, poverty, and disease add to their plight. Operation Exceptional Child (OpEx Child) is a campaign to help Afghanistan's disabled war children.

To date, these children have received very little meaningful assistance from Afghan or international governments which have maintained a heavy military presence in Afghanistan for more than a decade. This in spite of the US Congress legislating that we have a moral responsibility to look after the "humanitarian needs of disadvantaged children in Asian countries where there has been or continues to be a heavy presence of United States military and personnel in recent years" (Foreign Service Act 1961, Section 241).

Our documentary will depict my own personal experiences of raising a child with disabilities that led me to want to help children a world away. These experiences have proved to me that with the right resources and initiative disabled Afghan children can learn to become productive members of their communities and help their country rise from tyranny.

tag words:
Philanthropy for children in Afghanistan
Supporting disabled children in Afghanistan
Afghanistan laboratory school for disabled
Training teachers in Afghanistan
Helping disabled children in Afghanistan
Teacher training program in Afghanistan
Corporate Philanthropy for disabled kids
Supporting disabled kids in Afghanistan