Gordon Magney was born in Tanzania to American parents in 1938. Magney developed a deep interest in Afghanistan while studying at Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois (USA). The Magneys moved to Afghanistan in 1969, and spent many years working on adult literacy issues in Kabul, even writing a set of Dari language primers that are still used today. In 1972 they organized food aid in response to a famine in the Ghor province of central Afghanistan, and also began a vocational training program for orphans. Known as SERVE (Serving Emergency Relief and Vocational Enterprises), these programs continued through 1974 when the situation improved.