The students at Sant Bani School have joined hands with tens of thousands of other school children around the world who share the vision and dedication to empower communities through education in remote areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan. Sant Bani School students are embarking on a Pennies for Peace campaign to broaden their cultural horizons and become members of a global family dedicated to peace.

The students joined the Art Block because they heard teacher, Rose Marie Marinace, read the young readers’ edition of Three Cups of Tea to the whole school last fall, and the work of the Central Asia Institute to build schools seemed like something they could help with. Students in the Pennies for Peace Art Block have made canisters to put out, they have contacted local businesses, and have publicized the campaign both within the Sant Bani community, and in the local papers.

Local businesses that have (at this printing) have agreed to support Sant Bani’s Pennies for Peace campaign with collection canisters include:

• Constantly Pizza, Tilton
  
• Growing Like a Weed, Tilton
  
• Upper Crust Pizza, Tilton
  
• Piche’s Outlet, Belmont
  
• Blue Skies Natural Foods, Bristol
  
• Headlines Salon, Gilford
  
• The Mill Fudge Factory , Bristol
  
• Normandeau Associates, Bedford
  
• Dan’s Pharmacy, Franklin
  
• Hiller Orthodontics, Laconia
   

How can a penny bring peace? It doesn’t buy much in central New Hampshire, but in the villages of Pakistan and Afghanistan, it can buy a pencil, start an education, and transform a life. In a region where terrorist organizations recruit uneducated, illiterate children, that pencil can empower a child to read, write, and learn. The Pennies for Peace program goal is to encourage children, who are ultimately our future leaders, to learn the value of philanthropy by collecting pennies for global peace.

Sant Bani School students will have an opportunity to study the cultures of Afghanistan and Pakistan, learn to work and share together in their Pennies for Peace campaign, and come to understand their own capacity as philanthropists – one penny at a time.

The pennies that Sant Bani School students collect can add up to make a real difference.
1 penny = a pencil 2-3 pennies = an eraser 15 pennies = one notebook $20 = one child’s school supplies for one year $50 = one treadle sewing machine and supplies $100 = maternal healthcare supplies for one year $300 = one advanced student’s annual scholarship $600 = one teacher’s annual salary $5,000 = support for existing school for one year $50,000 = one school building and support for up to five years.

The group was recently invited to attend the Lakes Region Rotary Club meeting and give a presentation to the group about the project. The generous contributions of the Rotary members on the spot is helping the group meet their goal of $300 for one student’s annual tuition.

Children in over 400 mountain villages in remote northern Pakistan and Afghanistan are on the waiting list, hoping to learn in a new school. Sant Bani School students hope to help build a bridge of peace, one penny at a time, offering alternatives to the cycle of terrorism and war.

About Pennies for Peace
The Pennies for Peace campaign is a program of Central Asia Institute (CAI), founded by Greg Mortenson, author of the #1 New York Times best seller, Three Cups of Tea. The CAI is a registered 501©3nonprofit organization that promotes and provides community-based education and literacy programs, especially for girls, in remote mountain regions of Central Asia. Founded in 1996, CAI has built, to date, nearly 100 schools in Afghanistan and Pakistan, which serve more than 28,000 students, 14,000 of whom are girls. Greg’s story and more information about CAI can be found on the web at www.ikat.org.

To find out more about Sant Bani School’s Pennies for Peace campaign, please contact:
The Pennies for Peace Art Block