El Salvador and Afghanistan. Two countries so distant from each other, both geographically and culturally. Two worlds apart, yet with so many similarities. There was a civil war in El Salvador 20 years ago. There is a war in Afghanistan now. Civil wars with brothers going at each other.
El Salvador is starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel, but in Afghanistan some kids are still recruited and given a weapon to hold. Kids who should be at school learning and interacting with each other, and instead are wasted in an unreasonable conflict of difficult resolution. Kids who should represent the core investment for the creation of a prosper future.
Sure, in El Salvador kids stay at home on Sunday, while in Afghanistan Friday is their day of rest. In El Salvador there is a cross with Jesus hanging against the classroom's wall, while in Afghanistan they wake up with the call of the Imam. In El Salvador students are taught how not to repeat what some of their parents did, while in Afghanistan they are living with the constant reminder - and threat - of conflict still going on. However, they all share the will to do something with their lives, the desire to succeed and the aspiration to create business opportunities for themselves and others.
Education in Afghanistan and education in El Salvador can't afford to be left behind. For this purpose, internet can be an incredibly powerful tool. The Afghan Development Project provides a leading example of what can be done to build from scratch real business opportunities for people across the globe. Over the course of the next three years 160,000 children in Herat, a city in Afghanistan, will have access to the web... the first bricks of an infrastructure capable to increase the economy of Afghanistan.
How long did it take to put this plan into action? 10 weeks.
Giacomo Cresti
