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<h1>Learning English in Afghan badlands </h1></div></td></tr>
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<div class="mvb"><span class="byl">By Bilal Sarwary </span><br><span class="byd">BBC News, Sherzad district, eastern Afghanistan </span></div></td></tr></tbody></table><img height="1" alt="" hspace="0" src="http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/shared/img/999999.gif" width="466" border="0"><br>
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<div><img height="170" alt="Computer students in Sherzad district" hspace="0" src="http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/45087000/jpg/_45087002_computers226.jpg" width="226" border="0">
<div class="cap">Learning computer skills offers new opportunities</div></div></td></tr></tbody></table>
<p><b>"I am a boy and you are a girl - please repeat after me," says the English language teacher.</b>
<p>The unlikely setting for the class is the remote eastern Afghan village of Kodi Khel, against a backdrop of the White Mountains of the Hindu Kush.
<p>In 2001 the White Mountains saw violent clashes between Afghan-American forces and Osama Bin Laden's al-Qaeda fighters.
<p>In the past, the area has also provided fertile ground for unrestricted poppy cultivation.
<p>However, much has changed since 2001.
<p>There are no American B-52s bombing the caves of Tora Bora, and poppy fields have been replaced by maize and wheat in this remote district of Nangarhar province.
<p>But one thing I didn't anticipate is that students here would be taking English and computer classes.
<p><b>Long walk</b>
<p>A year ago, Mohammad Shafiq worked in the poppy fields assisting his father.
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<p>He attended school in the morning but in the afternoon he didn't have anything else to do in his village.
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<div><img height="170" alt="Women's right class" hspace="0" src="http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/45087000/jpg/_45087003_womenrights226.jpg" width="226" border="0">
<div class="cap">There are also classes in how to respect women's rights</div></div></td></tr></tbody></table>
<p>"We went to school and when we got back, we ate and worked in the fields," he says.
<p>But now life has changed for Mohammad Shafiq - he is attending his first-ever English language and computer class.
<p>These classes were brought to this isolated village by a local doctor who runs his own non-government organisation (NGO).
<p>Across Afghanistan many boys and girls attend schools like this one, but many more have been deprived of this opportunity as Taleban attacks have made it too dangerous for NGOs to set up even the most basic schools in their areas.
<p>Inside a small room there are a group of 40 students, mostly between the ages of 16 and 20.
<p>The students walk many miles each day so that they can have the chance to learn.
<p>I watch Shafiq as he loudly and confidently repeats names of animals in English.
<p>"I love the English language and computers - if I can learn them both I can find a decent job," he says.
<p>The students face an obstacle course of treacherous mountain passes, valleys and rivers to get to study.
<p>Take the example of 17-year-old Khalid. His village is a 40-minute walk from school and he treks both ways twice a day, once in the morning and once in the afternoon for extra English and computer classes.
<p>He tells me that at first he thought "computer" was the name of a person from the West.
<p>In his own words he couldn't believe a machine could do so much.
<p>"All we have seen is war. Afghanistan was behind the world. I quite like what a computer can do. We will some day rebuild our country with things like this computer," says Khalid as he busily types away.
<p><b>Teaching 'good things'</b>
<p>English language and computer classes are part of the citizenship and democracy programmes offered for hundreds of part-time students in several villages in Sherzad district.
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<div class="mva"><img height="13" alt="" src="http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/img/v3/start_quote_rb.gif" width="24" border="0"> <b>We educate them. We keep them away from destructive activities</b> <img height="13" alt="" src="http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/img/v3/end_quote_rb.gif" width="23" align="right" border="0"><br clear="all">
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<div>Mohammad Nasib, <br>YESO consultant</div></div></td></tr></tbody></table>
<p>According to Dr Shaeen, the founder of Youth Educational Services Organisation (Yeso), the aim of his programme is to make sure these young Afghans don't fall into the wrong hands and they grow up to be responsible members of society.
<p>"They are learning English, computer skills, women's rights and general lessons about being good individuals. If they don't come here, they will fall prey to destructive elements or they will become drug addicts," the doctor says with a smile.
<p>Dr Shaeen gives me a guided tour of his projects.
<p>At another Yeso centre in the village of Toto, dozens of students are carefully listening to a class about women's rights, violence against women and human rights.
<p>The teacher is trying to convince students to respect women and is trying hard to discourage violence against them.
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<div class="mva"><img height="13" alt="" src="http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/img/v3/start_quote_rb.gif" width="24" border="0"> <b>I love the English language and computers - if I can learn them both I can find a decent job</b> <img height="13" alt="" src="http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/img/v3/end_quote_rb.gif" width="23" align="right" border="0"><br clear="all">
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<div>Mohammad Shafiq, student</div></div></td></tr></tbody></table>
<p>"Women are mothers, women are wives and women are your sisters. If there were no women, there would be no men today. Please respect them. Don't beat them. Let your sisters attend school. Am I right?" he asks.
<p>"Yes sir, you are right," the class replies.
<p>Yeso get its funding from the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) in Washington.
<p>Yeso Afghanistan consultant, Mohammad Nasib, is convinced that organisations such as his can help bring peace to countries like Afghanistan that have seen war by educating young people.
<p>''We educate them. We keep them away from destructive activities. They would otherwise fall into the hands of extremists, or work in brick factories.
<p>"We teach them about democracy, good citizenship and many other good things," he says.
<p>The NED currently funds about 20 national organisations in Afghanistan. Its main aim is to promote democracy.
<p>Through his education at the Yeso facility, Mohammad Shafiq has found that his ambitions extend far beyond the borders of Afghanistan.
<p>He wants to go to America to study some day: "I am going to learn English and computers first and than I plan to study there, because I like America a lot," he says with a determined look in his eyes. <br></p>
</p></p></p></p></p></p></p></p></p></p></p></p></p></p></p></p></p></p></p></p></p></p></p></p></p></p></p></p></p></p></p></p></p></p></p></p></p></p></p></p></p></p></p></td></tr></tbody></table><br clear="all"><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7657512.stm">http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7657512.stm</a><br>
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