*This post is  a newsletter update that went out to MEPO's mailing list on May 11, 2021. If you would like to be added to our mailing list, please email us at mepo.hope@gmail.com. Let Us Focus On What We Can Do, Not on What We Can't By now, the heavy news from...

  **This story was included in a newsletter update that went out via email on May May 11, 2021. Obaid was one of the earliest children to come to the House of Flowers Montessori Orphanage in 2002.  He was then about 7 years old. Obaid was born with paralyzed...

The news coming out of Afghanistan these days is bad. Once again, headline-making violence is dominating. Women are worried. Everyone is worried. Well, not everyone. In the Garden of Flowers, 10 small children come to their new school every day to bask in the warm...

Afghanistan is nothing if not unpredictable: in March, our landlord kicked out the Garden of Flowers. He wanted to build a tall apartment building in its place. The staff, undeterred, began the hunt for a new house. Every day after work and on weekends they went...

At the House of Flowers from 2002 to 2020, it was always a strong tradition among the staff to have a celebration on International Women's Day with the children. Everyone dressed up, and the room was transformed into a fancy hall. One child served as announcer,...

Two months in... It was just a short two months ago that we wrote to tell you about the new Garden of Flowers Montessori Preschool in Kabul, and already, the Garden of Flowers is truly thriving, with15 children and their loving and dedicated teachers. Each week the...

The Garden of Flowers has been in full-swing for only 2 months, but already we are seeing a beautiful unfolding of the environment as well as the children's work and the teachers' efforts. Below are several videos of the children in different parts of their day, from...

**At this time, the House of Flowers is in a period of transition. Due to the many circumstances arising out of our control since this spring, we have decided to shift from a residential Montessori orphanage to a Montessori dayschool for preschool age children from...

Dear Friends,  In 2003 and 2004, a photographer and friend of the Montessori House of Flowers named Judy Duchesne-Peckham traveled to Kabul to visit and document life in the House of Flowers Orphanage. Her photos captured the lives of the children and told the...

It would be easy to give up on Afghanistan. After so many years of turmoil, it often feels like things are not getting any better. And maybe they're not. The future looming with the Taliban and peace is very unclear, especially what it may mean for the girls and women...