Nida Bibi, 12, studies with friend Shamaila Ashraf in a tent school World Vision erected in Jabori after the October 2005 earthquake reduced their school to ruins. “In my village of Dhabar Khatta there are about one hundred girls my age. I am the only one going to Jabori middle school,” says Nida. In Pakistan, a young woman’s role is within the home, not going to school or working outside of the home. Household chores include caring for younger siblings and livestock, and fetching water and firewood. World Vision continues to operate tent schools while reconstructing school buildings destroyed by the earthquake, a process that will take approximately seven years to complete.

For boys and girls in Pakistan, education is more than being literate. It is about changing their lives, and the lives of others. World Vision’s education program in the country ensures that boys and girls in areas hit hard by the 2005 earthquake have access to improved learning opportunities so that they can pursue their dreams of a better life. In Pakistan, an estimated 60% of children attend primary school and 40% of children attend middle school. Photos and text created by World Vision staff Dana Palade in April 2007.