Stuck in Afghanistan



Not literally, of course.
At least not me (maybe our military).
I figure I must be the last
person on the planet to read Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson, which is mostly about his building
schools in Pakistan, not Afghanistan. But reading it made me immediately read
his second book, Stones into Schools,
which is about Afghanistan. Then because the foreward to that was written by
Khaled Hosseini, the author of The Kite Runner (another book I must be the last to read) and A
Thousand Splendid Suns
, I got those
two to read. 
I’m still reading the first
and haven’t started the second, but I’m already thinking I want to buy Jeanette
Windle’s book Veiled Freedom, which
is also set in Afghanistan and was a finalist for both 2010 ECPA Christian
Book Award in fiction and the Christy Award. I’ve heard great things about
it, but I originally thought I wouldn’t be interested in a book on Afghanistan.
Obviously I was wrong.
Mortenson’s charity, Central Asia Institute, builds schools, primarily for girls, in some of the
hardest to reach places in Pakistan and Afghanistan. His miracle producing team
of rogue agents accomplish amazing things on minimal resources and are worthy
of support, or at least prayers.
Then I read
about the following way to help Afghanistan in
Shelf Awareness:  “Penguin Group’s Riverhead Trade Paperbacks is
launching the Picture a Book Changing Lives campaign to raise money for the
Khaled Hosseini Foundation, which was founded by the author to aid the people
of Afghanistan. The Foundation supports projects that provide shelter to
refugee families and economic and educational opportunities for women and
children. The Foundation also awards scholarships to students who have migrated
to the U.S. under refugee status and women pursuing higher education in
Afghanistan.

Under the Picture a Book
Changing Lives campaign, people may submit one or two still photos of
themselves reading or holding a copy of Hosseini’s The Kite Runner or A Thousand Splendid Suns. For each such photo uploaded to the Hosseini group page of Penguin, Riverhead is donating $2 to the Foundation, up to $25,000. The
campaign runs through August 31.

Geoffrey Kloske, v-p and publisher of
Riverhead, commented, ‘Khaled Hosseini’s books have changed the way many around
the world picture Afghanistan, so it’s a great opportunity to give his readers
a way to help raise money that will benefit the people of that country.'”


Here are the photos I posted, one for each book:



(And yes, that’s what I currently look like; the professional shot was taken a few years ago with my hair was done by a professional.)


You don’t have to own the books to upload your photos. So borrow them from the library or a friend and  make a difference in Afghanistan. More schools and help for the people there contributes to a more stable country and just might mean our soldiers can come home sooner. And that would make everyone happy.

6 thoughts on “Stuck in Afghanistan”

  1. Hi there Carol. I just finished Kite Runner – hard to read at times but good read. I am hoping to start Thousand Splendid Suns next.

  2. Yes, I had a hard time reading it as well because of the sadness of the story, but he is such an excellent writer. I loved some of his word pictures!

  3. Glad for the recommendation, Lisa! I have been considering it since I did enjoy all these other Afghanistan books. They help me pray more intelligently too.

  4. Great, I'd love to borrow it. (No hurry because I am swamped with books right now that I am trying to get done before I head off to a writers' conference.)

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