Pen Path has 2,400 volunteers running mobile libraries on motorcycles in Afghanistan.
Established in 2009, Pen Path comprises a network of young volunteers campaigning to re-open schools, promote girls' education, establish public libraries and collect materials for the education sector. All photos: Pen Path Volunteers
A Pen Path volunteer with school children.
Pen Path campaigners hold placards in support of girls' right to education.
Volunteers hold a rally in support of girls' right to education in Afghanistan.
Pen Path volunteers with school children in Afghanistan.
A campaigner holds a placard to raise awareness of violence against women in Afghanistan.
Pen Path volunteers hold placards calling for girls' right to education.
A campaigner holds a placard to raise awareness of violence against women in Afghanistan.
Campaigners hold placards to raise awareness of girls' education rights in Afghanistan.
'After the Taliban suspended grade 7 to 12 education for girls, we started this campaign, involving scholars, educators, men and women, to request the Taliban to restart girls' schools,' says Matiullah Wesa, the Afghan education activist behind Pen Path.
Mr Wesa started Pen Path 12 years ago because many districts in his hometown in Spin Boldak were without school facilities.
Unwilling to allow schools in Afghanistan to become a casualty of the developing crisis, Mr Wesa and a group of volunteers hopped on their bikes driving from village to village, urging elders and locals to restart their schools and public libraries.
Pen Path volunteers take their mission to the Afghan countryside on remote dirt roads to far-flung villages.
Pen Path volunteers in the Afghan countryside.
Over the years, Pen Path has been operating 'home schools', often discreetly and unknown to the authorities, in districts where regular schools are absent or forbidden by the Taliban.
Teachers and educators are now facing increased risks as they fight against the Taliban’s de facto ban on women’s rights to work and study.
Pen Path has 2,400 volunteers running mobile libraries on motorcycles in Afghanistan.
Established in 2009, Pen Path comprises a network of young volunteers campaigning to re-open schools, promote girls' education, establish public libraries and collect materials for the education sector. All photos: Pen Path Volunteers
A Pen Path volunteer with school children.
Pen Path campaigners hold placards in support of girls' right to education.
Volunteers hold a rally in support of girls' right to education in Afghanistan.
Pen Path volunteers with school children in Afghanistan.
A campaigner holds a placard to raise awareness of violence against women in Afghanistan.
Pen Path volunteers hold placards calling for girls' right to education.
A campaigner holds a placard to raise awareness of violence against women in Afghanistan.
Campaigners hold placards to raise awareness of girls' education rights in Afghanistan.
'After the Taliban suspended grade 7 to 12 education for girls, we started this campaign, involving scholars, educators, men and women, to request the Taliban to restart girls' schools,' says Matiullah Wesa, the Afghan education activist behind Pen Path.
Mr Wesa started Pen Path 12 years ago because many districts in his hometown in Spin Boldak were without school facilities.
Unwilling to allow schools in Afghanistan to become a casualty of the developing crisis, Mr Wesa and a group of volunteers hopped on their bikes driving from village to village, urging elders and locals to restart their schools and public libraries.
Pen Path volunteers take their mission to the Afghan countryside on remote dirt roads to far-flung villages.
Pen Path volunteers in the Afghan countryside.
Over the years, Pen Path has been operating 'home schools', often discreetly and unknown to the authorities, in districts where regular schools are absent or forbidden by the Taliban.
Teachers and educators are now facing increased risks as they fight against the Taliban’s de facto ban on women’s rights to work and study.
Pen Path has 2,400 volunteers running mobile libraries on motorcycles in Afghanistan.