JANUARY 26, 2012
\nBy Chloe Kowalski \u201912, Contributing Writer<\/p>\n
A symbol of passion and creativity, the marigold radiates shining forecasts of thriving and lasting life. As such, Gary Moorehead\u2019s foundation, located in the often-harsh environment of Taloqan City, Afghanistan, is optimistically named Marigold.<\/p>\n
Marigold, founded in 2004 by Moorehead, is a non-governmental organization. Funded in part by the U.S. State Department, the organization provides education, health and medical services, and\u00a0construction services. Marigold can claim responsibility for many of the city\u2019s improvements, including a children\u2019s school built from the ground up, multiple new drinking wells, and a bridge constructed entirely with materials from the town and mostly by the city\u2019s own people. Taloqan is located in the Takhar province, which is in the northeast corner of\u00a0Afghanistan.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday night, Moorehead shared his experiences in Afghanistan with Furman through a series of photographs taken in Taloqan. The images depicted burkas and babies, camels and caravans, tulips and tanks. For each face, Moorehead knew the soul within, and shared glimpses of triumph and tragedy from a colorful culture marked by war and hardship.<\/p>\n
When Moorehead moved to Afghanistan in 2003, he intended to make his trip a short-term project. However, he fell in love with the people and realized that by simply sticking around he earned the town\u2019s trust — and thus had\u00a0more opportunities to suggest changes for the better.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really challenging to avoid the overly emotional role when thinking about what is most important for these people in the long-term,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
A native of New England with Irish and English roots, Moorehead has experience in homebuilding and hospitality. These talents\u00a0have served him well in rebuilding Taloqan.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhatever we build must be designed well to withstand earthquakes, but it must also be beautiful and attractive to provide integrity for the community,\u201d Moorehead explained about a recently built tuberculosis health clinic.<\/p>\n
Marigold\u2019s ongoing work in Afghanistan seeks to provide far-reaching effects of justice and love. Despite the country’ s political, religious and economic hardships,\u00a0Moorehead\u2019s experience has a universal message: Indulge your curiosity, take opportunities, and love your neighbor whenever you are home.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
JANUARY 26, 2012
\nBy Chloe Kowalski \u201912, Contributing Writer<\/p>\n
A symbol of passion and creativity, the marigold radiates shining forecasts of thriving and lasting life. As such, Gary Moorehead\u2019s foundation, located in the often-harsh environment of Taloqan City, Afghanistan, is optimistically named Marigold.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":265,"featured_media":330,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-329","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/265"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=329"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/330"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=329"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=329"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=329"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}