Afghan women's visit focused on education

A group of women from Afghanistan is touring the Maritimes this month, getting training to help improve education for women in their home country.

The tour is organized by the group Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan. The main event is a symposium in Pictou. The symposium will include presentations by best-selling authors and award-winning activists.

The visiting group includes five Afghan teacher trainers and an interpreter. Following the symposium the group will visit the University of Prince Edward Island and P.E.I. schools.

"The whole goal is to provide those sort of opportunities to grow and develop in their expertise, take it back to Afghanistan, train the teachers," said Susan Hartley of Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan.

"To date we've trained 4,000 teachers, and one of our main fundraising initiatives is to get enough funds to sustain that teaching program over many years to come."

The symposium starts on Thursday, and the Afghan group will be on P.E.I. Oct. 19.