“We want this book to go to everyone…

… not only teachers, but students and parents, too!” Mr. Khalil, the director of curriculum for Afghanistan was enthusing  to my delighted ears. “The experiments are so simple that parents will get involved with their children when they come home from school. That way, they will learn, too.”

He was talking about Science Without a Laboratory, the book I had written for the ministry of education which had seemed to be sitting interminably on someone’s desk. Now he explained that the ministry had only been waiting to print it as part of a package of 82 other textbooks. The massive project will go out to printers for bidding next month. To prove that the book is really being readied, he waved me toward the graphics department to see how it was progressing. When I walked unannounced into the computer room, I saw my book, large as life, on the computer screen of a young woman, busy at cutting and pasting.

She smiled and said she thought it would be ready in about 2 weeks, maybe sooner. All she had to do was review pagination. She thought the final book would have 400 pages!  I asked her about the photo captions, one of my last concerns before I left Kabul last summer. “Oh, yes, they are all fine. But, the captions aren’t really needed, because the photos are so clear that people can understand the experiments just by glancing at them.”

When I wandered outside, I met Mr. Khalil again. He was still excited. “After you left, we had the book reviewed for accurate translation two more times by professors in Kabul University. All the professors requested an advance copy!” he grinned. “It is the only book like it in Afghanistan – a FIRST! We will print 22,000 copies the first run, but there will be many reprints I think. I believe 100,000 copies will be printed because everyone will want one.”

We were sitting in his office and he continued to beam. He paused. “What will you do next?”

“I’m not sure. I could offer teacher training in the provinces, using this book…well, what do you think would be most important for the ministry?”

“Writing more books!” he answered without hesitation.

I am so excited. But, I understand that the project is not finished until it’s finished. Mr. Khalil has given his stamp of approval and written a letter asking that the book be approved by Susan Wardak, General Director of Teacher Education in Afghanistan, and also Mr. Wardak, the top Minister of Education. They must sign off, and printers found. I believe these will happen. In the meantime, I will bring home a digital copy of the book, translated into two different languages and illustrated by a local artist.

 

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