On Sunday, October 10th, Youth in Action had the honor of hosting Chaplain Mel Brinkley as a guest speaker! Mel served as a Chaplain for our troops in Afghanistan in 2002 and 2003. He flew from base to base, serving troops all around the country. He shared with us his personal experiences, photographs, his personal loss of 6 men in his unit in a helicopter crash, and his view on the importance of Greg Mortenson’s work in building schools in the country. Our hour with Mel was a perfect fit to our current youth activities, including our reading of Three Cups of Tea together. Mel shared with us some history between the U.S. and Afghanistan and the complex relationship between our two countries that began when the U.S. aided Afghanistan in what would become a 10-year conflict with the Soviet Union (starting in 1979). We reflected on why it was so important to get an education, and how education can promote peace. With respect to Greg Mortenson’s work, in particular, we talked about the education of young women and girls in Pakistan and Afghanistan and what their education means for the future of the these two countries.
Our heartfelt thanks goes out to Mel for visiting us and sharing his personal experiences during his time in Central Asia!
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