Bowled over by Dr Sarah Fane OBE

Sarah-Fane

As it was Max’s 21st birthday I had the good fortune to meet his Mother Dr Sarah Fane, Dr Fane is a very inspirational woman, she will receive an OBE in January 2014.  She was told about it on the Queen’s birthday, Saturday 15th June 2013. Dr Fane was awarded the Order of the British Empire for services to charity and in particular her services to the children of Afghanistan.

It all began when she was a medical student in Afghanistan when the Russians were at war there. She worked in a mother and child hospital. She returned to Afghanistan under the rule of the Taliban and was inspired to set up the charity called AFGHAN CONNECTION (link) in 2002.

They began focusing on health issues giving vaccinations to 72,000 children and concentrated on maternal health.  Then the charity twinned 20 schools in England to ones in Afghanistan – creating a teaching programme, writing letters and posting them out to Afghanistan.  The charity raised funds through schools in the UK.  The children in Afghanistan had no school buildings so the charity raised the funds to start building the schools.

In the last 3 years the project concentrated in one area, Worsaj in the North East (Hindu Kush) none of the women Dr Fane’s age could read or write, so they built schools for the children who could not reach schools due to the remoteness of the area. At the start of the project 800 children were in the schools they set up. These were children who could not access education due to the distances involved to attend established facilities. The charity trained 450 teachers in that region, and built 8 new schools for over 5,000 children and helping the local education department.  The charity have been invited to do the same again in another district nearby.

Dr Fane’s son (Alex) noticed that the Afghan cricket club had climbed their way up the cricket leader boards. Going from bottom of the world rankings to 15th in no time at all. The sportsmen came from refugee camps and are now considered heroes  within their own country. The charity obtained support from the M.C.C. in London and have run big summer camps involving over 2,000 children, both boys and girls. The Afghan team came to the camps to help teach them the children.  The charity obtained coaching for some of cricketers to help them to become professional coaches.

In recent years Dr Fane’s focus has changed to education and cricket rather than her initial interest in health.

To close the interview I asked her what she would change.

She answered that she would like to give the children in the schools a proper future, after constant war for over 30 years, to create a more peaceful country and give the women more rights.

I wish Dr Fane every success in the important work that she does.  It was an inspiration to meet and talk with her and I will take away a different perspective of Afghanistan.

42 thoughts on “Bowled over by Dr Sarah Fane OBE”

    1. I’m so pleased that Dr Fane agreed to the interview Swati, I found it very informative, when you hear Afghanistan you immediately think ‘war’ and it’s good to read there is a light at the end of the tunnel for the children there.

      Thanks for visiting, come back soon
      Charlotte

      Reply

    1. My brother loved Pokemon and always said he wanted to visit Japan, seeing your lovely pictures of your visit to Kamakura reminded me of him wanting to go there.
      Thanks for dropping by and I’m glad you enjoyed the interview with Dr Fane.
      Best wishes
      Charlotte

      Reply

  6. What an admirable and remarkable person. May she continue to make a difference in the lives of many women and children. May God bless her on her journey.

    Reply

    1. It’s a good thing there are people like Dr Fane amongst us, the work she does is admirable and doesn’t always get the recognition it deserves. I enjoyed reading your interview with the author Mike Wells, I hope to learn from your style.

      Warmest wishes,
      Charlotte

      Reply

    1. I’m sure that Dr Fane will have a wonderful day when she goes to the Palace to collect her award and I agree with you it is well deserved.
      Best wishes
      Charlotte

      Reply

  9. Great blog and thank you for letting us all know of Dr Fane. A wonderful woman who fully deserves the OBE. How come these people get very little publicity compared with reality TV contestants? The world can be an odd place with its senses all jumbled up. Thanking you Charlotte for posting. MM

    Reply

    1. I haven’t watched much TV in the past nine months and to be honest I haven’t really missed it. I do agree with you that it would be more rewarding for people to hear and see good things that people are doing around the world rather than just all the bad news.
      Thanks for visiting again you’re always welcome,

      Best Wishes
      Charlotte

      Reply

  10. Impressive blog, impressive accomplishments, and this post is about a most impressive lady. Doing the canary thing certainly opens the way to many experiences and encounters! 🙂

    Reply

    1. I’m glad you enjoyed reading the blog, hope you can call back again. Who knows what I’ll get up to next, it’s as much a surprise to me as it is to everyone else 😉
      I’ve got a canary yellow top, every time I wear it now I will think of your comment 😉

      Best wishes
      Charlotte

      Reply

  12. A remarkable person. The world would be a better place if people like her got more and wider publication. By the way, it’s a great blog you have here. Good luck for you and your music. 🙂

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  14. Thanks for introducing me to this remarkable Dr. Sarah Fane. And what a fantastic experience to personally interview her. I wish you all the best in your career. I can see you’re reaping rewards from this trip not only in musical terms… You’ll never know how much influence you can disperse, like Dr. Fane, from one field expanding to others.

    Reply

    1. Hi Ariana, I love to read through people’s blogs to pass quiet times and you learn such a lot as you read about things you wouldn’t normally come across. Thanks for revisiting.

      Best wishes as always
      Charlotte

      Reply

    1. Yes I agree if I meet Dr Fane again in the future I would like to pose that question, was she ever very worried for her own safety? Perhaps I could ask her son Max to ask her the question and add the reply in the comments. Thanks for visiting.

      Best wishes,
      Charlotte

      Reply

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