For three teenage boys who don’t know when they’ll have electricity, and have never seen a computer before, the Afghanistan Program, or Hearts and Minds Adventure, was about to change their lives. Middle Schoolers from Cannon Falls came together to learn about Afghanistan and follow these teenage boys using only videos.

“What we did was pretty impossible.”  explained Mrs. Klapperich who, with the help of Dina Fesler of the Children’s Culture Connection, achieved that impossible. For two years Klapperich tried the program in her curriculum. Sadly, it did not follow the Minnesota State Standards. So, after taking a year off Mrs. Klapperich got in contact with Dina to try and get the ball rolling again. And it worked!

Andy Zweber, a student at Carleton College, is helping with the Afghanistan Program as a school project for his Ethics of Civic Engagement class. He met Dina last March and has been working with her ever since. After asking him how the kids have been reacting to it he replied with “Awesome! The kids have been loving it.”

One of the conditions of Dina giving these three boys an education was that they would teach the other children all they’ve learned. The boys are now up to a sixth grade education and are teaching children in the juvenile prison. Ella Coyle, a student from the program, tells us, “We thank two amazing people Dina and Andy who made this possible.” “We can’t forget Mrs. Klapperich!” Vanessa Peer exclaims.