{"id":29186,"date":"2016-09-15T15:06:39","date_gmt":"2016-09-15T19:06:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom2\/2016\/09\/15\/guest-speaker-will-discuss-the-education-of-afghanistan-woman\/"},"modified":"2026-05-18T16:01:05","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T20:01:05","slug":"guest-speaker-will-discuss-the-education-of-afghanistan-woman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2016\/09\/15\/guest-speaker-will-discuss-the-education-of-afghanistan-woman\/","title":{"rendered":"Guest Speaker Will Discuss the Education of Afghanistan Women"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_14295\" style=\"width: 198px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/media-old\/2016\/09\/mati.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-14295\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-14295\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/media-old\/2016\/09\/mati-188x300.jpeg\" alt=\"Mati Amin will be Northern Essex's first speaker of the &quot;One Geographic Region&quot; Program.\" width=\"188\" height=\"300\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-14295\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mati Amin will be Northern Essex&#8217;s first speaker in the &#8220;One Geographic Region&#8221; Program, which explores the issues of the Middle East this semester.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Imagine being a girl and told your government will not educate you? This is the plight of the women of Afghanistan and will be the focus of discussion when Mati Amin, chairman of the School for Leadership Afghanistan (SOLA) visits Northern Essex Community College on Wednesday, October 5, from noon to 1 p.m. in the Bentley Library as part of NECC\u2019s \u201cOne Geographic Region\u201d Program which explores varying issues of the Middle East.<\/p>\n<p>This event is free and open to the public.<\/p>\n<p>One Geographic Region is a project developed by NECC\u2019s\u00a0Office of International Studies\u00a0in conjunction with the NECC Library. Its intent is to promote learning across disciplines and borders.<\/p>\n<p>Amin, who will visit with two NECC classes before speaking at the library, will discuss the formation and mission of SOLA, what\u2019s involved in founding a nongovernment organization in Afghanistan, and the future of the graduates of SOLA, which is\u00a0dedicated to furthering\u00a0educational and leadership\u00a0opportunities in Afghanistan\u00a0and the world for the new\u00a0generation of Afghanistan,\u00a0especially for women.<\/p>\n<p>SOLA. is Afghanistan\u2019s first boarding\u00a0school for girls, its long-term goal is to become an internationally-accredited boarding school in Kabul of more than 340 Afghan students with Afghan and international faculty.<\/p>\n<p>SOLA provides college preparatory courses to students aged 11 to 19 representing\u00a0all major ethnic groups, religious sects, and tribes from Afghanistan. After completing the college prep classes, SOLA helps graduates enter universities\u00a0worldwide and return to substantive careers in Afghanistan, where they often become the first\u00a0women to enter their fields.<\/p>\n<p>Mati is the holder of a B.A. in Economics and Political Science from Williams College, Mati currently serves as the Controller &amp; Systems Manager at the Technical Training Foundation. He previously founded the Afghan Youth Initiative, a U.S. and Kabul-based nonprofit, and worked as a Senior Associate at Ashoka. A web developer by training, Mati also launched two startups, including a media solutions company. His extensive writing on development issues in Afghanistan have appeared in numerous publications including The New York Times, Foreign Affairs, The Diplomat, The Hill and USA Today.<\/p>\n<p>During the 2016-2017 academic year the One Geographic Region program is highlighting the Middle East with speakers, films, and other programming. On Friday, Oct. 7, Dr. Bill Heineman, vice president of academic and student affairs, will present \u201cThe Middle East: It is not as Complicated as You Think from 1:30 to 3 p.m. in the Hartleb Technology Center; on Friday, November 4, Dr. Ligia Domenech will present Introduction to Islam: Some Basic Concepts\u201d in the Dimitry Building in Lawrence from 2 to 4 p.m.; and on Friday, December 2, the film, \u201cWadjda\u201d will be shown at Opportunity Works from 2 to 4 p.m.<\/p>\n<p>For additional information contact Barbara Stachniewicz at\u00a0bstachniewicz@necc.mass.edu<\/p>\n<p>Cedar&#8217;s Mediterranean Foods, Inc. of Ward Hill is donating an array of snacks including<\/p>\n<p>Cedar\u2019s Hommus, Taboule, Spinach Dip, and Pita Chips.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Imagine being a girl and told your government will not educate you? This is the plight of the women of Afghanistan and will be the focus of discussion when Mati [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":164,"featured_media":29188,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29186","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archive"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Guest Speaker Will Discuss the Education of Afghanistan Women - NECC News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2016\/09\/15\/guest-speaker-will-discuss-the-education-of-afghanistan-woman\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Guest Speaker Will Discuss the Education of Afghanistan Women - NECC News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Imagine being a girl and told your government will not educate you? 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