Gino Strada, "Why I built the Salam Centre"

​2017 SPP laureate Dr. Gino Strada talks about the Salam Centre for Cardiac Surgery and why he opened a cardiac hospital in Africa. 

Q: Why did you establish the Salam Centre?

A: The Salam Centre opened almost 10 years ago, and was a big achievement for us, because in the world of humanitarian aid, very, very few people believed that it was possible to establish a high-standard center of cardiac surgery. It's such a sophisticated discipline.

In Africa, we know that facilities are very scarce or not available at all. We proved that this was feasible, that it was possible, it will be possible to run this center for 10 years, doing thousands of operations with excellent clinical results.

Dr Gupta on Food Security and World Peace

2015 SPP laureate Dr. Modadugu Gupta shares his thoughts on why food security is necessary for world peace.

Radio Meraj Awarded 3 Prizes in Herat

Radio Meraj, a private radio broadcasting station founded by our 2017 co-laureate Sakena Yacoobi, recently won three awards for best performance (best news reporter, best speaker and best content) among broadcasting stations in Herat.

Founded upon the mission to empower the poor with information about the world and about their rights as human beings, Radio Meraj aims to enlighten the Afghan masses through its broadcasting. Its programs, which include podcasts, news briefings, poetry readings, discussions, etc. cover a variety of topics: social issues, health, ideal families, human rights, literature, music and more. 

As an enterprise that has existed for only 3 years (since 2015), Radio Meraj has already become one of Herat's top 3 radio stations.

Apart from these three awards, Radio Meraj won an award for best guest speaker from NAI-Support Open Media in Afghanistan in 2016, and won three awards for best news package, best analysis and speakers, and best innovative programming from the Afghanistan Institute of Research and Studies in 2017.

Dr. Yacoobi endeavors to revive Afghanistan's culture and values using Radio Meraj as one of the means to do so. One of her objectives is to help her people live in harmony with other nations and make contributions to the world. Currently, she is not only reforming Afghan society, but it trying to reconnect its people to their peaceful, pre-war culture.

AIL Hosts Teacher Workshop in Baghdad and Kabul

During the month of April, the Afghan Institute of Learning (AIL) held a workshop for 70 school teachers and administrators in Baghdad, Iraq.

Representing Dr. Sakena Yacoobi, the founder and executive director of AIL, was Mr. Wali Shah, an AIL senior consultant, who opened the workshop with words of felicitation and talked about the beautiful Parvan Province.

During the opening, lecturers and participants talked about a new elementary school education system. And also, lectures taught about the value and roles of teachers and professors in relation to their students -- that teachers should be models and guides for humanity because of their duty to teach.

In the course of the opening ceremony, Parwan Province's deputy director of urban education spoke about the importance of the workshop and praised AIL for its work and services.

AIL also held the workshop in Afghanistan's Kabul Province.

In the beginning, the ceremony of was held openly under the leadership of the AIL office, members of the Kohdaman Council, scholars, jihadi activists, district educators, educational education supervisors, directors and professors.

Mr. Wali Shah again spoke on behalf of his colleagues, describing love for education, as exemplified by Dr. Yacoobi, to be Afghanistan's salvation out of ignorance.

Dr. Sakena Yacoobi Speaks at UPF/WFWP event in Birmingham

On April 15, Dr. Sakena Yacoobi visited UPF in Birmingham to share her story in front of an audience of about 100.

In her speech, Dr. Yacoobi talk shared about her childhood growing up in Afghanistan, before the country plunged into war. She expressed how her father deeply encouraged her to pursue education, even though girls' education was not an orthodox practice.

As political tension, and eventually war, rose with the Soviet Union, Sakena's parents sent her to the U.S. to pursue higher education. That she did and secured a stable life for herself that allowed her to bring her family to America where they were safe from the clutches of war.

However, she herself was not complacent to stay within the confines of personal security. Her heart was for Afghanistan and its people who cried for help. So, after the Soviet-Afghan War ended, she returned home to help her people, who had now been ravaged by the war.

Dr. Yacoobi began helping poor refugee communities in Pakistan and Afghanistan by training teachers to education and raise children with a parental heart. Her movement began as a whisper, but it grew to the point it wasn't just training teachers and providing education, but it was also managing hospitals, orphanages, a radio broadcasting station, legal firms and more.

After she had given her speech, the audience, comprised of so many different faiths and cultural spheres, collectively donated £600 to her cause.