Click Camera for a Message From Lt. Melissa

"Educating Afghanistan's children is crucial in improving their lives and in the rebuilding and development of the country. But poverty, crippling fees and huge distances to the nearest schools prevent parents from sending their children to school."

– Grace Ommer, head of Oxfam GB in Afghanistan

• 7 million children, almost half the total in the country, were missing out on education.

• As of 2004, in Kabul alone over 37,000 children are estimated to be child laborers.

• Afghanistan is 173rd out of 178 on the U.N. Human Development Index.

• 70 percent of the population lives below the poverty line of $2 a day.

• 60 percent of families surveyed stated that almost half their children were involved in some kind of labor.

• Six million (children) are stunted due to malnutrition.

Afghan schools take on the Taliban - An L.A. Times article about the struggle of one small village to protect it schools from the Taliban.

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