Submitted by Dr T. Basaran on Mon, 27/01/2025 - 20:34
Hi everyone!
I hope you have had a good break and that you are settling into a new term at Cambridge.
The University of Cambridge has been running a mentoring scheme for aspiring Afghan women in partnership with the media organisation, Voice of America. The situation for women in Afghanistan is worsening, with women barred from education, employment, and social life, essentially being restricted to their homes unless they have a male escort. Many of the students we work with were training to be doctors, lawyers, and academics before the Taliban took over and had their futures cruelly taken from them. The purpose of the mentoring scheme is to give Afghan women a window to the world, access to learning, and a sense of being connected to a global academic community.
Mentors will be connected to one student a meet with them for a minimum of 6 x 1-hour sessions. There is no need to have any experience in teaching or mentoring, all the necessary training will be provided. During these sessions you will mentor the student as a conversation partner and help them find resources to continue independent learning. For those with some language teaching experience there will also be an opportunity to lead small group sessions to help students improve their academic writing in preparation for applying to scholarship opportunities.
If you are interested to hear more, please complete the Expression of Interest Form: https://forms.gle/pCkSYXKKKp5pUTwCA
Trainings will be held via Zoom on the following dates:
- 7-8pm Sunday 2nd February.
- 7-8pm Sunday 9th February.
If you have any questions please direct these to jonathan.birtwell@cantab.net (Jonathan) or mq10000@cam.ac.uk (Marissa).
Many thanks