F ew people can say they never grumbled or groused about going to school. With tests, quizzes and mountains of homework, school can be stressful. However, how would you feel if you were denied an education? Did you know that approximately 100 million children in the world don’t have the opportunity to go to school? Over 60 percent of these children are girls.

In Afghanistan, the situation is particularly troubled. This is in part due to the recent rule of the Taliban; from 1996 to 2001, the law denied the education of women. Also, women could not appear in public without head coverings and a male escort. As well as social issues, Afghanistan lacks the stable economy necessary to build schools. It doesn’t help that many people still believe girls should not be educated.

This is why high school students in Buffalo and other cities such as New York City and Seattle work together with the Circle of Women to raise money to build schools for girls in Afghanistan.

The Afghan Coalition works to make Afghanistan a better place by using education to increase wages and change lifestyles. The Afghan Coalition was founded in Buffalo in 2002 by Clotilde Dedecker, an alumna of Nardin Academy. In 2006, she co-founded the Circle of Women. Students from Nardin Academy, Buffalo Seminary and Sacred Heart Academy spend time helping the Circle of Women raise funds to build schools and help turn around the lives of many Afghan girls.

On Nov. 18, members of the Buffalo High School Coalition gave sixth-, seventh-and eighth-grade girls from Nardin Academy the opportunity to help. The event was hosted by Nardin Academy and gave younger girls the chance to have fun while helping people from other cultures.

The motto of the Circle of Women, an Afghan proverb, is “Drop by drop, you make a river,” reinforcing the idea that every little effort makes a difference and changes the world. That is why these girls made friendship bracelets, cards and an Afghan flag to send to students in Wonkhai, Afghanistan. A school there was built with only $120,000. It has 12 classrooms and is equipped with a security wall, computer labs, a guard room and a bathroom. With the building of this school, the Circle of Women and the Afghan Coalition helped students reach levels of education of which they never dreamed. These Afghan girls finally have a safe place to be educated.

Each student who attended the event made a friendship bracelet for herself and one to send to Afghanistan. Each girl also painted her hand in black, green, or red and put a handprint on the flag. When it was finished, all the handprints had been combined into the flag of Afghanistan.

Maddie Weir, a seventh-grader at Nardin, was very excited about this opportunity.

“It’s really cool that we can help people from other countries, because we don’t usually get that experience,” Maddie said.

Lauren Hoffman and Laura Garbes, seniors at Nardin, are the co-presidents of the Western New York Girls Schools Coalition: The Afghanistan Project. Lauren learned about the Afghan Coalition when she was in seventh grade watching Channel One News, a news program that is broadcast to schools. That is when she decided she wanted to make a difference. When Lauren reached high school, she joined the club and became very involved.

To raise money, the club holds car washes, candy bar sales and $1 jeans days (jeans are not part of Nardin’s dress code); members work at the Elmwood Art Festival; and, most successfully, they hold a fashion show. Last year, the fashion show raised more than $3,500. The flag the girls made last week will be displayed at the next fashion show in February.

“As my single-sex secondary school education draws to a close, I recognize more than ever the profound impact education has made on my life. The opportunity to learn gets me up each morning and al-lows me to complete each day with a certain joie de vivre,” said Lauren. “I am placed on the right track for fulfilling my childhood dreams and continue to be humbled by the vastness of all that there is to learn. As a result, I became committed to providing girls across the globe with the opportunity to reap the same benefits of learning that I experience on a daily basis.”

Being Thanksgiving, millions of Americans will be sitting around dinner tables giving thanks for what they have received and most importantly, thinking about what they can give back. Students should remember that they are never too young to start making a difference.

Sarah Abell is a sophomore at Nardin Academy.