Flagler College spring community lecture series

Priscilla Proctor, Coordinator of College and Public Relations, reported to the St. Augustine local news desk at Historic City News that the Flagler College spring Community Lecture Series, titled “Analyze This: Literary and Film Interpretation,” will open with Ian Pounds.

Pounds’ presentation will be “Start Again: Re-thinking Afghanistan from Inside a Girls Orphanage in Kabul” and is scheduled for Tuesday, January 19th.

Pounds will be discussing his experience living and volunteering for nearly five months at Mehan Orphanage, one of three orphanages run by Afghan Children Education and Care Organization (AFCECO). He will be incorporating the book, “A Bed of Red Flowers: In Search of My Afghanistan” as an analogy and presentation tool.

Isolated in a section of the city otherwise off limits to Western workers, Pounds taught English, drama, photography and computer skills to 180 female Afghan children. Pounds’ presentation will include stories, music, photos and a video. He will be presenting a story that most are not likely to hear in the mainstream media.

Pounds lived in the Mehan Orphanage where he was unable to stray outside the gates for fear of bombings and possible kidnapping. His only contact was with Afghans, and he studied their language and history and had daily talks with a man who has lived in Kabul through the Soviet era, civil war, Taliban and the present war.

He will be discussing subject areas such as the Afghan orphanages and his personal experiences, building a democracy from the inside, the status of women in Afghanistan, the political reality on the ground from the perspective of Afghans and the history of Afghanistan and its cultural diversity. He is well-versed in the areas of volunteering and volunteerism as well as the “ins, dos and don’ts.”

In addition to his volunteer work in Afghanistan, Pounds is also an author and has utilized his memoir written in Kabul to teach students the craft of non-fiction writing.

Tickets are $5 per person for a single lecture, or $15 for the series. Lectures begin at 10:00 a.m. in the Flagler Room, 74 King St. Reservations are suggested, but not required. The lecture will last approximately one hour and will be followed by a coffee and pastry reception. Call (904) 819-6282 for reservations or more information.