Schools for Kabul

There are two scientific camps on altruism. One says that altruism is a cultural tool, a distinctly human behavior, which allows social groups to function and survive by constraining our selfish impulses. Another camp says that altruism is an ancient appetite, over six million years old, pre-dating even human existence. Either way, our altruistic impulses play a significant role in the planet’s ultimate opera of life and death, good vs. evil.

As a mother and a part-time teacher I have spent a large part of the past twelve years amongst groups of children. I have witnessed both unbridled brutality and fantastic altruism. The brutality never surprises me. The altruism always does, and, gloriously, it prevails. Small children act on their impulses so readily. When they sense need, they rush like water through a canyon to fill it. They are empowered by their own goodness. Their brethren are empowered. The world around them is empowered. I have been inspired by children, and often remind myself to act like some child or another, to try to remember the goodness that is buried deep inside, and the energy that goodness liberates.

Over the past year I have admired the work of someone who is no longer a child, but not yet an adult. He is in a unique position: his altruistic impulse is alive and well, and he is old enough to do something about it. His name is Percy Stubbs and he is a fifteen year old living with his family in rural Marin County, California.

Last year Percy, a sophomore in high school with worldly interests, read Khalid Hossieni’s books (The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns) and became intrigued by the complex and devastating history of Afghanistan. Soon afterwards, he and some friends attended an event in San Francisco where he met Rory Stewart, a Scottish journalist who had documented his travel by foot across Afghanistan in a book called The Places In Between. Stewart, who founded The Turquoise Mountain Foundation, a non-profit, organization whose mission is to regenerate Afghanistan's traditional crafts and historic areas, inspired Percy.

A lot of us would think to ourselves that it would be wonderful if we too could do something to help people who had been through so many wars and losses. We might contemplate what we might do if only we could do something. Not Percy. He thought about how lucky he was to be able to go to a good school and pursue his interests and he thought about young people like himself living in a forsaken area, without opportunity for education, and he did something. He got his friends on board, which he says was “incredibly easy,” and convinced both his school and his family to back his vision and, well, the way he makes it sound , voila! ... Schools For Kabul was founded.

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