A trade school in Afghanistan founded by a Scotsman and dedicated to reviving long lost arts and skills of the Afgan traditions has taken on an ambitious scheme: to rehabilitate an eight-hectare central Kabul slum to its original beauty. Inside are 15 once-elegant buildings being renovated to historical precision, shaded courtyards, splendid edifices that were on the verge of collapse – only 65 out of 100 buildings that were here in 1980 survive – and a pretty mosque in the center.
The $25 million project has employed 500 local Afghans. They’re bringing in electricity, a sewage treatment facility, water pipes connecting to municipal drains. “They told us it couldn’t be done,” says Shoshana Coburn, managing director of Turquoise Mountain. “We showed them it could.”
(Continue reading this inspiring good news in the Toronto Sun)