Online Conference Participants in Taloqan, Northern Afghanistan

Global Connections and Exchange (GCE) students from Afghanistan participated in the Eighth International Internet Conference for students, Agenda 21 NOW!, which took place over a 24-hour period on May 9, 2007. The theme of this year’s conference was “globalization.” This 24-hour online conference was for students aged 14+ from all over the world. Over a thousand students and educators participated in the online conference, which is a joint project of the German UNESCO Associated Schools (ASPnet Germany) and the Baltic Sea Project. Young participants in the conference expressed their delight at interacting with youth Germany and other countries and being able to discuss an issue that affects everyone. The students’ impressions of the conference, recorded below, speak for themselves.

The international conference on globalization was a very interesting and educational event. The conference allowed us to connect with students in Germany and discuss topics like the differences in our societies and people. The German students asked us questions about living conditions in Afghanistan and we asked in return questions about the condition of their universities and schools in Germany. It was a very useful conference and we would like to request from other countries to also participate in these types of conferences to continue the dialogue. It was the first time that I joined a conference like this and I really enjoyed it. ~ Sahar, 16, Kabul

I learned many things from this online conference …I learned a lot about improving, recreating and rebuilding one’s country and I also learned a lot about poverty in other countries… We also discussed the poverty and security situation in Afghanistan and the students shared with us their ideas on what we could do about these issues. I also answered some questions that the students had about the Coca-Cola Company. They said we should close the Coca Cola Company; however, I disagreed with them because this company doesn’t pose any harm to us… I also stressed that if we lose the Coca Cola Company, then there will be a lot of workers without jobs. I suggested that we should lose the heroin and narcotics companies because they pose harm to everyone. ~ Nangialy, 15, Jalalabad

We all know that the situation in Afghanistan is not good and despite all these difficulties, we are trying hard and we want to connect with the world. I would like to have a conference like this every month because it is very useful for us because we will know more about other countries’ security, education while you will also know about us. ~ Paktina, 13, Kabul