WEBVTT

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Good morning, good morning, good
morning, and welcome, welcome, welcome,

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and it's time now for our community
connection right here on K one,

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the one you trust. Right now, it is ninety five and we have

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some special guests on the phone that
we're going to speak to in just a

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moment. Today we're going to be
talking about a very special event that's coming

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up. It is going to be
a nice little fundraiser here. It's called

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Afghan We Can and it's coming up
on October seventh, and it benefits Rajah's

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Ray of Hope Girls School in Afghanistan. And on the telephone with me here

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I have Andrea and Rajah herself all
the way from Boston. How are we

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doing today, ladies, Good morning, good morning, how are you.

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I'm very well. I'm Razia and
I'm with andreas executive director for the program

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that has been going for almost twenty
years. And we are very happy and

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thankful to the community that always welcomes
us and have great events and really helps

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us to go forward in this hard
time that we are facing. But fortunately

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my school is safe. My school
is up to date with all the students

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in there. We have close to
a thousand girls and right now we have

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up to sixth grade that the school
is open. But I hope and I'm

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working on that coming this year,
which the school years start in March,

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that my senior girls from seven to
twelve grades will be also allowed to come

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back to school. That would be
that would be awesome. We thank you

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very much, and you know,
we just we are really people that we

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just think and thank God and never
know what tomorrow brings. And so it's

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something that this is my motto,
and but we go if we can go

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one inch forward, we can help
one girl, one family. And I

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think I have to tell you something
very special that for the past few years,

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we are helping the families do good
with food and supplies because most of

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the men have lower jobs and we
have a lot of girls that need help

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with everything that they can survivealce on
a daily basis. Also, we have

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a widows program that we have about
many I think forty one families that have

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no husbands or no support and there's
a program that we help them on monthly

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basis for each child, for them
and for their families to have food on

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their able and to have clothed on
them and to have shoes on their feet,

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so I think and this your town
has been amazing, Your people have

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been amazing. They have such a
great help to us. It's almost not

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twenty years really that long that it
seems like it's been going by kind quickly.

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I mean, it's something that we
do, it is. It is

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amazing. And the you know,
I lie mostly the community is such a

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great community. And also the Rotary
Club of that area is just fantastic,

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so much kind and open their hearts
to our mission. And I think I

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contact you guys, all of you
enough, you know, so just to

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keep us going really well, we're
gonna have a big event. It's a

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casino night and it's going to be
on Saturday at six thirty pm at timber

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Oaks Event Venue on Highway sixty right
here in bartlesvilm and folks can come out,

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have fun and help benefit the Afghanistan
Girls School that JA has created in

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order to provide this education in a
bright future. And Rasha, you know,

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since the last time we spoke,
things have changed in Afghanistan quite drastically,

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but you've been able to navigate locally
with the people and the powers that

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be in order to keep your school
open. Many feared that it may gem

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may close it, and it didn't. It didn't really, and it's amazing

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that talibands now for two years,
yes, and over two years now,

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but you know, not one day
that they have stopped our van with teachers

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that come from Cobble and question that
where these women are going or our students

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that are coming in buses. If
they never stop so or question us.

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I think we are very careful how
we operate and how we work within this

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system. I told the Minister of
Education, the new one that is a

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piet, and I said, you
know, I'm a beggar and I want

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to see what you can put in
my play. And I think he was

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shocked and he said, you know, we give you everything that you want.

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And so I think that's what's happening. Unfortunately, you know, the

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seniors from seven to twelfth grade,
they have missed two years of their life

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of education. But what we have
done is that our teachers, two of

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our teachers every day sits in a
van with a bundle of books and they

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go house to house where our students
are from seven to twelfth grade, and

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they get together in their house and
they provide them books. And every two

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weeks, then they go back and
exchange the books. So at least I

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think we are doing something for these
girls who are stuck at home. I

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think things are not the best,
but we have no threats, we have

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nothing of that side, and we
are okay. You know something right here,

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I met you and you impressed me
as a woman who shows no fear.

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Well, yeah, I think that's
the best thing to do. I

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mean, what are they going to
kill me? One good? Good for

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them, But I get you know, two years to go. The first

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time when I went, I went
to the airport and I was just getting

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off and looking for my suitcases,
and I saw a young man Talib,

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standing with a gun in a corner, checking everybody who's coming and was going.

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The first thing I did is I
went to him and I said,

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come on here, son, I
need your help, come and find my

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suitcases. And I gave him the
tags and he left his gun and he

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started to look for my suitkads.
So he forgot to God and look at

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who's coming and who's going. So
I think we have to find ways to

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survive, and by engaging is probably
the best because you're going to find a

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connection point somewhere and you really got
a great on. Yeah. As I

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say all the time, I said, beggars are no choosers, and right

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now we are beggars and whatever they
put in a plate, we take it.

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And I think we can do things, you know, just the way

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we want to. But it's a
kind of a little different way, you

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know. So it's been assary.
I mean, these kids are going to

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school and I hope and I pray
that I think they are going to allow

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the seventh to twelve grade this coming
year. Let's hope. So let's hope

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the girls get back. It's been
two years and they need to resume their

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studies so they can absolutely do everything
they can be absolutely. So it's just,

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you know, this is the world
we facing and everywhere you know,

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there's something going on, and we
are one of them, and we are

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s viving and I think that's what
we can do. Well, hopefully we

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can turn that survive to thrive.
Pretty sure, it's not happy. They

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have a place to come and we
have built this beautiful new school that you

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know, it's just gordeous awesome for
the kids and for the staff, and

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we have a beautiful area that these
girls can go and play and to have

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games. And so I think we
are trying very hard to keep these girls

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happy and healthy and help their families. I like the part that you told

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me earlier that this is not just
for the girls, but it is also

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for the families, also for the
widows, for the people at home,

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because you were telling me that the
men in some cases don't have jobs,

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so the conditions are kind of bleak
for everyone in the area. Absolutely,

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and men are so scared because they
were working in different places and they are

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scared that if they go, you
know, continue or whatever, they they

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might be taken away or whatever their
problems are. So you know, majority

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men are unemployed, and so we
are the one that are trying to help,

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you know, these widows and and
these girls. And we have a

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program that a lot of widows they
work, we give them these they make

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us little embroidered kites, which again
kite is of freedom. You fly and

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you you know, just go,
if the string breaks, you go somewhere

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and nobody can stop. So I
think this is what we are doing with

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the girls that who are at home, that they are helping us make these

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employs as these kites, and then
we can give it to our supporters as

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a thank you and remind them that
these girls needs help. So I think

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it says something that continuously we are
trying to help the girls first of all,

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and then of course their families,
and we have you know, organizations

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like yours and others that help us. And it's amazing what your community is

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doing. I can't tang them enough. Well, we thank you, and

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we can't wait for your arrival.
I understand you're coming in I think tomorrow

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or the next day as we get
ready for the big event on the seventh.

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J has always it has been a
deep pleasure for us to have you

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on our program today. I want
to thank you. Can we to come

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back here in the high school too, because that's very important for our community

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or your community young people to understand
how lucky they are, you know,

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but we have made things easy for
our students. Do very good, Raja,

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thank you and bless you, and
we will see you very soon here

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in the next few days in Bartlesville. Thank you, Thank you very much

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for your health and just your radio
station is a start, and thank you

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thank you for having us all right, bye bye. Now we've been listening

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to Raja John and she has the
Rajah's Ray of Hope School in Afghanistan and

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it's for girls. And if you're
not familiar with how things go and Afghanistan,

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well they don't really like women being
educated. It's a very different place

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in the world. So we're doing
everything to help keep the doors open of

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that school in Afghanistan. And so
we're having Afghanistan wecan fundraiser October seventh with

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the Daybreak Rotary and that'll be at
timber Oakes Venue, Hiway sixty barn of

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the film Casino Night. Come on
out, have some fun, let's raise

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some money.