Green Village Schools: Building a Future of Hope in Afghanistan
This Wednesday, May 5, ICMEP will be hosting Dr. Mohammad Khan Kharoti, founder of Green Village Schools. We are honored to have him join us for a special conversation, and we hope you will join us as well!
Mohammad Khan Kharoti was born in 1943 in Zabul Province, Afghanistan grew up living in a nomadic caravan. In 1950 his parents settled in Helmand Province. His father died when Mohammad was eleven. A year later he did something no one else in his village had ever done; he started primary school.
Eventually he was educated as a nurse by CARE Medico and Peace Corps volunteers at Laskhar Hospital, where he was promoted to Head Nurse in the Operating Room and Charge Nurse for the entire hospital. After studies in Lebanon, then in the United States (Clinton, Iowa), he returned to Jalalabad, Afghanistan in 1975 to enter medical school. Upon graduating, he moved back to his home district, where he practiced general surgery until 1987, when his family was forced to leave.
His family went first to Pakistan (where he worked in the American consulate helping Afghan refugees), and then, in 1989, friends from the United States assisted in their move to Portland, OR, where he has practiced medicine until his retirement in 2011.
Dr. Kharoti has had a lifelong passion for the education of children. His dream began with opening a school for boys and girls in his parent's compound in Shin Kalay as a way of thanking all the people who assisted him along the way. His desire is that the children of Afghanistan have the same opportunity to read and write as he did so that they too can interact with the larger world around them. He will continue to devote his life and his energy to the education of both boys and girls in his country.
Green Village Schools is Dr. Kharoti's Portland-based non-profit organization committed to increasing literacy in under-served areas of Afghanistan. Its mission is to build and support schools in Helmand Province that offer boys and girls the basic education required for participation in local, national and global economies.
CLICK HERE FOR EVENT REGISTRATION INFORMATION.
For a brief video sharing Dr. Kharoti's story, Click Here.