Peace Through Education: Stealing the Light

Plot Summary

Peace Through Education: Stealing the Light tells the story of Dr. Mohammad Khan Kharoti and his struggle to give the gifts of literacy and educational opportunity to the children of Afghanistan. A resident of Portland, Oregon since 1987, Dr. Kharoti wanted to give back to his home country. In 2001, he opened a school in his home village of Shin Kalay, in the war-torn Helmand Province. 16 Students attended that first year, both boys and girls. Success followed, and by 2008, over 1,200 students were attending daily, more than 400 of them girls. The school had grown physically, too, into a safe, walled compound with classroom facilities for boys and girls, a library, computer lab, dormitories for the staff, and a well for water and generators. Dr. Mohammad Khan Kharoti’s Green Village School became a welcomed focus for the entire community, sadly, tragedy struck in October, 2008 when a group of armed gunmen entered the village and looted the school, bulldozing it, destroying everything and leaving only a heap of rubble on the ground. Devastated but undeterred, Dr. Khorati is rebuilding the school and has now devoted himself full-time to the cause of education in Afghanistan.