A country devastated by war for the last 40 years had been left behind by the internationals, and Aldo Magazzeni's effort to make a difference for world peace led him on the road to activism in Afghanistan. Over the past six years, Aldo's engagement in Afghanistan has provided him with opportunities to create relationships with communities in an Islamic country, bringing down cultural and political barriers in an effort to help those in need.

"Trust your intentions to do something to help others and let your relationships with the community guide you to discover their most important needs.  Using your life gifts (your privileged assets) education, health, and financial to partner with those of the communities. " - Aldo Magazzeni, Traveling Mercies

Alone in 2004, Aldo began to create relationships with the Afghan communities, elders, and leaders.  His experiences in the rural villages of the Panjsher Valley and Hindu Kush Mountain begin with climbing Mir Samir Mountain and over the years have led him to build five water systems with villages.  The road to Nairobi led him to work with women in schools and develop programs in the women’s prison, and to work with the Maraston Orphanage.  His journey into Kabul led him to meet Suraya Pakzad, Director of Voice of Women, and an activist for women’s rights.  Together in the last six years, they have built women’s shelters and started vocational and education programs in Herat City.   Aldo has worked to install  seven more water systems in Afghanistan - - delivering clean water to more than 15,000 families, or more than 75,000 people.  The poorest communities, the women and men jails, high schools and government buildings have benefited. 

Travel this road with Aldo into Afghanistan through the images, stories and video he has captured. See how you can discover your intentions and apply them somewhere in life to help others.  Everyone has the ability to travel the road to activism and make this world a better, more equal human experience.  

Videoconference Agenda

• Welcome/Introductions
• Presentation by Aldo Magazzeni
• Question and Answer Session
• Final Comments

Pre-Videoconference Activities

• Familiarize Students with the Country: Prior to the videoconference, familiarize students with the country of Afghanistan and Aldo's work there. There are several links under "Resources."
• Prepare Questions: Each site shold generate questions for Aldo prior to the videoconference. Questions should be related to Aldo's experiences in Afghanistan, his work, or activism in general. As a class, select five. Each site will be able to ask one question as part of the videoconference, but by preparing five we can ensure questions aren't repeated.

Webstream Connection Instructions

We'll be using Real Player to stream this event live, courtesy of the Penn Video Network at The University of Pennsylvania. In order to view the stream, you will need to download and install the Real Player software. Please see the technical requirements below.

The live webstream will be active 10 minutes prior to the start of the program and can be accessed at: http://beansidhe.isc-net.upenn.edu:8080/ramgen/encoder/afghanistan.rm.

We strongly encourage sites to test their ability to connect to the stream BEFORE the live program.
To test RealPlayer on your computer prior to the event, click on the following link (or copy and paste it into your web browser) to watch an archived video of commencement exercises from the University of Pennsylvania: http://beansidhe.isc-net.upenn.edu:8080/ramgen/president/commencement08.rm.

Technical Requirements for viewing the webstream: To view the Internet webcast, your computer must have RealPlayer (version 8 or higher). RealPlayer is available for free from http://www.real.com/.  Visit this site and follow the instructions to download and install the "RealPlayer - Free" option.

If you need technical support with the webcast, please email video@isc.upenn.edu