WATERVILLE -- Going to school in a classroom with no tables and no chairs in war-torn Afghanistan gave Qiamuddin Amiry an acute appreciation for education.

So when he made his way to Colby College, with the help of a Davis United World College scholarship, he decided to find a way to provide similar opportunities to Afghan students.

Amiry, who goes by "Qiam," became well-acquainted as a teenager with the country's violence and instability by working as an interpreter for the British military. He believes that improving education would improve his country.

"We all have a role to play. We can't just sit back and say, 'I wish Afghanistan would become a peaceful place,' " Amiry said, sitting at a high-top table in a Colby dining area. "We are in desperate need of education. If we want to improve the situation, we need to improve education."

Amiry began exploring how he might establish his own scholarship program aimed at finding some of the brightest Afghan students and putting them in quality schools in the United States.

Talks with administrators at Colby and at Gould Academy in Bethel led to the creation of two scholarships devoted to young Afghan students. Amiry traveled to Kabul, Afghanistan, and, using a merit-based selection process, chose two students from a pool of more than 70 to attend school at Gould Academy, a college-preparatory school that cultivates a diverse, international student body and focuses on connecting students with the rest of the world.

So it was that two students, 18-year-old Sikandar Ahmadi and 17-year-old Meetra Ameni, arrived in Maine in time to enroll at Gould this fall.

Fundraising through Amiry's Afghan Scholarship Initiative and from Gould will enable them to study at Gould until they graduate in 2010, Gould Director of Communications Tucker Kimball said.

"They are both working hard on their academics and are doing well," Kimball said. "Though it's a different educational environment from what they are accustomed (to), they are adjusting to the differences, widening their circle of friends and soaking up the Gould experience."

Amiry, along with fellow Colby senior John Campbell, also a government major, is working to gain nonprofit status for the Afghan scholarship program.

"I always felt that I needed to give back," Amiry said. "This is what I can do right now."

Joel Elliott -- 861-9252

jelliott@centralmaine.com