A long article in last Sunday's NEW YORK TIMES consists of an interview
with a professor at Kabul University in Afghanistan. (see ref. below)
Included is a picture of a book that's shot through with a gun, and an
observation that shot-up books "sit as testaments to the Taliban's ways in
glass cases in the library's lobby".
At the end of the article is this plea for textbooks. I quote:
Books, too, are in short supply. Years of no acquisitions, along with
theft and book burning -- and that novelty of Taliban literary criticism,
book shooting -- have left many shelves in the library empty.
The chief librarian, Muhammad Sadiq Wadid, 40, came running after the
visitors to make a special request. "We say hello to the educated people in
the Western countries," he said, "and we ask them, kindly, if you have any
books about the technical and scientific world, engineering, literature --
anything! -- please send them to us."
"The Afghan people are in darkness, and we ask the Western countries
to help us shine some light," he said.
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Question: how do I send books, without it costing an arm and a leg?
Answer: It costs only $1.00/lb for books, via M-bag.
It's quite easy. Go to the post office and get a customs form; also ask
them for an M-bag tag.
Ask them to show you an M-bag; it's a large canvas bag. Ask them if they
want you to seal the boxes at home or wait until they look at the contents.
(At my post office, only 1 employee does M-bag, and she trusts me, so I
seal them at home. The books go by ship; it takes 3 months. You don't
insure them. I've sent 100 lbs. of used medical books to my Kenyan medical
student this way.)
Go home and pack the books as usual; put them in boxes that will fit into
the M-bag.
Fill out the customs form, and write "see attached list" where it says to
list the contents. Type a list of the book titles & authors, dates &
publishers, and their approximate retail value. (I find the value at
www.abebooks.com .) Include also:
date
your address
The address to which you're mailing them
Total retail value of books
your signature
total weight of books (leave it blank, & fill it in at the post office)
Fill out the M-bag tag. I always put the address on each box too, just to
be safe.
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This address should be sufficient:
Muhammed Sadiq Wadid, chief librarian, Kabul University, Kabul AFGHANISTAN.
* Don't assume that someone else will do it.
* You might benefit greatly, if only by joy in providing someone the means
of learning.
* Of course, other universities and college students in developing nations
throughout the world need books too. So I suggest that you save this note
for future reference.
Cheers,
Jane
Ref. "Reviving Education: For Women in Kabul, This Test is Welcome", by
John F. Burns, in the section "A Nation Challenged" in the NEW YORK TIMES.
Feb. 10, 2002. Page 12.
Jane Jackson, Co-Director, Modeling Instruction Program
Box 871504, Dept.of Physics & Astronomy,ASU,Tempe,AZ 85287
480-965-8438/fax:965-7331 <http://modeling.asu.edu>
Genius must transform the world, that the world may produce more genius.