My contribution to the creation of the Chorah Girls School in Afghanistan.

1. Female Education in the Chorah Valley
A slide show presentation for the IE/Brown Executive Masters
Program of my most proud and prolific professional work.
By Candidate Matt Vargas IE/Brown Class of 2016(fingers
crossed)

2. Where or what is Chorah?
 Chorah is a District of Uruzgan Province, Afghanistan.
 I spent the entirety of 2011 and some of 2012 in this beautiful, albeit
dangerous, valley at the foothills of the Hindu Kush mountains.

3. This is me, the Chorah District Augmentation Team Leader. Essentially this meant
that I augmented multinational and special forces with cultural input, crisis
negotiation, and overall advisement. I speak fluent Farsi and that was
exceptionally helpful in achieving stability and improvement in the region.
Moustache or beard? I will let you all be the judge.

4. Why is this issue ethical in nature?
 Ethical complexity takes many forms, but gender relations in the Muslim
world are among the most tenuous subjects facing the global community.
While progressive societies grasp the need for educating both genders, less
developed countries can pose a significant threat to young girls in the
elementary phases of their education. The dilemma is ethical in nature
because without the correct delivery, the very girls we are attempting to
assist can be the target of ignorant prejudice by their cultures. I tackled
these issues head on in Afghanistan and the progress we were able to make in
a small district in Central Afghanistan is among my proudest professional
achievements.

5. So what did we actually do?
 We were active throughout the community and worked with the village children in
terms of education, healthcare, and overall quality of life.
 It was very apparent in our interactions that there was a disturbing absence of services
for girls and women and we decided to change that fact by opening a school for girls of
all ages. This took some goading on my part of our superiors, but I made it my fight to
ensure this was sourced and backed appropriately. I also unabashedly exposed the vast
majority of the region to Red Sox Baseball.

6. How did we do it?
 As with anything in Afghan culture we had shuras (meetings) about opening a
school with significant push back from the local population.
 It was only after a key engagement with a local leader who had 7 daughters
did we begin to get traction (picture at his compound below.)
 His dream was for his daughters to go to school at American University in
Washington, DC and we offered him an outlet.
 With his blessing we set the wheels in motion to find a space and hire
personnel.

7. Coming to Fruition!
 We hired our first teacher (whose payroll was covered by the local
government) and a space was allocated for the classes to begin.
 Girls came in smaller numbers until the power broker in question sent his
daughters en masse, almost doubling enrollment in a matter of weeks!

8. Classroom and Supplies
 My church in Rhode Island chipped in with some supplies and Save the
Children made customized floral pattern satchels for the girls to carry their
books. It was amazing to see such a show of support from my home and also
so great to provide them with something a little more girly (for lack of a
better technical term.)

9. The Chorah Valley was also the site of some of the most horrifying and harrowing
experience of my life thus far. I would be remissed if I did not share with you the reality of
where we operated and the real danger we faced minute by minute. That aside, the faces
of the children in the photos below are etched so deeply into my memory and fill me with
utter joy. These young girls were given a forum and the tools to better themselves in a
world that most certainly does not provide ample resources for their growth. I am proud
and honored to be a part of the amazing multinational mechanism that came together to
create this school that still operates long after coalition forces have left the area. This is
by far my proudest professional achievement and in my dreams I can still hear the echoes
of them counting in unison or stating the alphabet.

10. Summary
 I hope you enjoyed these photos as much as I enjoyed working high above my
pay grade to ensure that something as special as this school could be
effective in an area long considered hostile to progress.
 I by no means take all of the credit for making this happen, much of it is
owed to my Australian and U.S. counterparts, but I am not prouder of any
other professional input in my entire career.
 I would like to dedicate this presentation to those of my colleagues who made
the ultimate sacrifice and did not return from the Chorah Valley. May they
rest in peace.