"We will fight them with words not bombs."

                                     "We are warriors for knowledge."

                                                                "Our weapons are our minds."  

                                                                                      "Nothing will stop us. Nothing  can stop us. Not even the violence"

                                                                                                                                              Words from Hazara girls in Kabul, 2022

This is story began in April of 2021, when Timothy Stiven was approached by  a former colleague who knew of an organization, the Samuel Lawrence Foundation. Samuel Lawrence Foundation with the help of Bart Zeigler, connects students to students. He asked if Timothy was interested in connecting with a school in Kabul, Afghanistan. Timothy said yes before he finished asking.

 

The reason Timothy Stiven is a History teacher was because he knew his Great Grandfather, Eileen Murphy's father Ashley Dewitt.    When Timothy was ten, Ashley would tell him about his grandfather, Gabriel DeWitt who had fought in the US Civil War. Even at the age of ten, Timothy realized that history does not happen in textbooks but it happens to all of us.  It is who we are.

                                       And here was an opportunity for my students to participate in history.

 

From April 2021 and ever since, we began meeting with the Learning Academy on Zoom every other week. We talked about the Covid Pandemic, something we were all experiencing  simultaneously.  We shared out favorite authors, subjects we studied and hobbies and talents that we all shared. 

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Distance was meaningless, what bound us was our love for the applied arts and poetry.

Distance is meaningless when we share a common bond of humanity.  

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Then August 2021 and the Fall of the former regime. Everything changed.

The Eileen Murphy Foundation was created in 2022 after the success of our GoFundMe campaign that was able to raise almost $15,000.

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THE IRS HAS GRANTED THE EILEEN MURPHY FOUNDATION  TAX EXEMPT STATUS.ALL DONATIONS ARE TAX DEDUCTABLE. In fact, any and all gifts, grants or donations made to the    Eileen Murphy Foundation on or before January 28, 2022 are tax deductible.