Peace Through Education: Stealing The Light

Country: Afghanistan,U S A

Director: Aimie Burns

Runtime: 00:50:33

Cast: Mohammad Khan Kharoti (Lead Actor)

Category: all documentaries

Short Synopsis: An Afghan-American physician returns to war-torn southern Afghanistan to build a school and to bring literacy and real educational opportunity to the children of his home village.

Detailed Synopsis: Peace Through Education: Stealing the Light tells of Dr. Mohammad Khan Kharoti's struggle to give the gifts of literacy and educational opportunity to the next generation of Afghan children. In 2001, his hard work was realized - he opened a school on family property in his home village of Shin Kalay, in the war-torn Helmand Province of Afghanistan. 16 Students attended that first year, both boys and girls. Success followed success and by 2008 the student body swelled to over 1200 students attending daily, over 400 of them female. And the school had grown physically, too, into a safe, walled compound with classroom facilities for boys and girls, a library and computer lab, dormitories for the staff, a well and generators. Dr. Mohammad Khan Kharoti's Green Village School became a welcomed focus for the entire community. Sadly, tragedy struck mid-October 2008; an unidentified group entered the village and at gunpoint looted the institution, bulldozed it, and destroyed everything, leaving the school a heap of rubble on the ground. Through the words of former students, teachers and local officials, Mohammad and his family, we learn of the importance of the school to students and the entire village, we witness its loss and the devastating aftermath, and follow Mohammad's emotional journey to rebuild. Stealing the Light seeks to answer the question of whether and how literacy and education promote peace and opportunity in conflict affected countries.