Author — Anisgul
Let’s take a pen to improve our country,
Let’s wake those sleeping, for it is not the time to sleep.
Those who do nothing cannot help a garden grow.Our homeland is our garden.
Let’s bring life to this garden.
Let’s bring the sunlight of education to our country.
Let’s sacrifice our selves to our father’s and our grandfather’s land.Building our country, working step by step,
We will grow more flowers in our beautiful garden.
Take the water of education, children,
Give new life to the garden because of the poor of your land.
Anisgul is from Afghanistan and first wrote this poem for us in our very first issue! She’s now fluent in English and the only member of her family to have gotten a formal education. Next year she will start university in the U.S. We are so proud of her. She reminds us of the dedication of so many young Afghans (and others around the world) to education. As March 21st starts a new school year in Afghanistan, we thought it fitting to honor it with Anisgul’s poem.