Peace offering

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Long before meeting his peers from Afghanistan, Dominiq Gilyard had desired to become an Army general to protect his family and friends, but that recent encounter has added inspiration. “I also want to protect other countries that desire freedom, justice and liberty,” he said. “They want a government that is fair and not oppressive.”

The 18-year-old junior at Constitution High School, 18 S. Seventh St., had an opportunity to meet 10 Afghan students — whom he and his classmates now keep in touch with via Facebook — and their principal through a National Constitution Center project that matched his school with Marefat High School in Kabul, Afghanistan. The exhibit opened at the center, as well as the National Museum of Afghanistan Friday.

“It’s still a little bit surreal that it’s all in place and in tact,” Jeff Stern, international engagement manager for the Constitution Center, who returned from Afghanistan last week, said.

The exhibit, “Being ‘We the People’: Afghanistan, America and the Minority Imprint,” which runs through Sept. 26, features 70 photographs taken by students from both schools focusing on themes such as citizenship, freedom and religious expression. Each American photograph was paired with an Afghan one when the students visited Philadelphia in March.

“For them to come and tell us about their country ravaged by war,” Gilyard, of 22nd Street and Snyder Avenue, said, “I don’t know how to express it. It was amazing.”

“Coming into the project I expected to take photos, learn more of their country and things, but I didn’t think I’d be able to actually have a hands-on experience meeting them and understanding how they are,” senior Reneé Jackson, of Broad and Christian streets, added. “That was really something and I made friends in the process.”

Additional photos are available via electronic touch screens where museum patrons can match photos together. Next month, the photos will also be viewable online at www.constitutioncenter.org.

“The students exceeded our expectations,” Spanish teacher Jesse Todd said. “Everything you see in the exhibit is done by the students. The photos, the captions, the pairings were done by them.”

World history teacher Cliff Stanton was equally impressed.

“Oh my gosh,” he said. “It was very moving for me. The connection between the two cultures and then the connection between the kids was shown in what they picked. … It is a very deep connection that we have with [the Afghan students] that’s hard to describe.”

He’s already planning more international projects for his students, such as a chance for pupils from both schools to get to know each other more, fundraisers to help the Afghan students continue their education and possibly expanding future projects with other schools around the world. Stanton and some of the students even hope to visit the Afghan students in their native country.

“There are a lot of ideas, but we’re hoping to do a lot more,” he said. “We’re all kind of inspired by this whole thing and the possibility of getting a better world out of it.”

The project began a year ago with a $105,000 grant from the American Association of Museums. Todd was on board prior to the project being designed and selected 11 students based on academic merit and dedication to take part. Stanton, who was just hired as a world history teacher at the high school last June, immediately jumped on board.

“We didn’t know at that time that the students would be coming from Kabul,” Todd said. “[The students] got more than they bargained for.”

Todd said a photographer trained the 10th through 12th grade students, who worked through the summer, as well as during lunch, weekends and evenings during the school year.

They have carried their cameras with them everywhere since July, posted pictures online and spoke to their Afghan peers via the photo sharing Website, Shutterfly.

In March, Marefat Principal Aziz Royesh and 10 of his students traveled to Philadelphia for a week to work alongside the Constitution High students, sorting through about 500 pictures to pair photographs together that parallel one another and show similarities or differences between Philadelphia and Kabul.

One of Gilyard’s displayed images, “Urban Industry,” is of the smokestacks near 25th Street and Grays Ferry Avenue, which was matched up with 16-year-old Bismillah Alizada’s “Polluted Living” showcasing smoke rising from stacks in Afghanistan.

Qasim Moradi, 18, photographed a child selling eggs in “Moving Market” which was paired up with Gilyard’s “Modern Shopping” that captured Gilyard’s mother, Angela Moore, picking out a carton of eggs at ShopRite, 24th Street and Oregon Avenue.

Gilyard’s final piece, “Mother Mary,” shows a statue of Mary outside of Holy Ghost Byzantine Catholic Church, 2310 S. 24th St., while Zainab Haidary, 19, photographed a Muslim woman carrying bread in “Walking Home.”

Jackson’s featured photos include a young boy drinking from a juice box outside the Constitution Center in “Grass Is Greener,” which was matched up with 18-year-old Sayed Madadi’s “Day Job” that shows a young boy working behind a sewing machine. Another photo from Madadi featuring a group of people walking along a frozen stream, which was matched up with Jackson’s “Day at the Beach” that she took while on vacation in Ocean City, N.J.

“When they first met, despite the language barrier, despite the differences in culture, mannerisms, they quickly bonded,” Constitution Principal Dr. Thomas R. Davidson said at the exhibit’s May 13 opening reception. “It wasn’t soon long after that they were experiencing Philadelphia cheesesteaks at Jim’s [Fourth and South] and also Middle-Eastern cuisine at different restaurants.”

Cultural diplomacy is important to the country, Markita Brooks, program officer of the cultural programs division of the U.S. Department of State, which disperses grant money to the American Association of Museums and helped the Afghan students and Royesh obtain visas, said at the reception.

“The relationships that are formed between people is most important because those are the ones that are long lasting and I can tell you firsthand to see the relationships that have been formed between the students of the Marefat High School and the Constitution High School was amazing. … by the end of the week, they were actually a family and I saw that firsthand. Tears were shed and memories were made.”

The Afghan students even came bearing gifts such as paintings, including one currently hanging near the principal’s office, Stanton said. Between their generosity and conversations with the students, the two groups realized they weren’t all that different.

“One time we were at the Constitution Center having lunch,” Jackson, 17, who will attend Millersville University next fall, said. “We were talking about video games and it was funny because I really started to see that we’re all young people. No matter where you’re from young people are pretty much the same.”

“Maybe these kids aren’t all how we perceive them,” Gilyard added. “Maybe it’s just a small group that is doing all that bad stuff.”

And the experience isn’t something he will soon forget.

“It’s something I’m going to tell my grandkids about,” he said.

Contact Staff Writer Amanda Snyder at asnyder@southphillyreview.com or ext. 117.

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