Dare to educate Afghan girls Shabana BasijRasikh

when I was 11 I remember waking up one

morning to the sound of joy in my house

my father was listening to BBC news on

his a small gray radio there was a big

smile on his face which was unusual then

because the news mostly depressed him

the Taliban are gone my father shouted I

didn’t know what it meant but I could

see that my father was very very happy

you can go to a real school now he said

a morning that I will never forget a

real school you see I was six when

Taliban took over Afghanistan and made

it illegal for girls to go to school so

for the next five years I dressed as a

boy to escort my older sister who was no

longer allowed to be outside alone to a

secret school it was the only way we

both could be educated each day we took

a different route so that no one would

suspect where we were going we would

cover our books in grocery bags so it

would seem we were just out shopping the

school was in a house more than 100 of

us packed in one small living room it

was cozy in winter but extremely hot in

summer we all knew we were risking our

lives the teacher the students and our

parents from time to time of school

would suddenly be canceled for a week

because Taliban were suspicious we

always wondered what they knew about us

why are we being followed do they know

where we live we were scared

but still school was where we wanted to

be

I was very lucky to grow up in a family

where education was priced and daughters

were treasure my grandfather was

extraordinary man for his time a total

maverick from a remote province of

Afghanistan he insisted that his

daughter my mom go to school and for

that he was disowned by his father but

my educated mother became a teacher

there she is she retired two years ago

only to turn our house into a school for

girls and woman in our neighborhood and

my father that’s him

he was the first ever in his family to

receive an education there was no

question that his children will receive

an education including his daughters

despite the Taliban despite the risks to

him there was greater risk in not

educating his children during Taliban

years I remember there were times I

would get so frustrated by our life and

always being scared and not seeing a

future I would want to quit but my

father he would say listen my daughter

you can lose everything you own in your

life your money can be stolen you can be

forced to leave your home during a war

but the one thing that will always

remain with you is what is here and if

we have to sell our blood to pay your

school fees we will so do you still not

want to continue

today I’m 22 I was raised in a country

that has been destroyed by decades of

war

fewer than 6% of women my age have made

it beyond high school and had my family

not been so committed to my education I

would be one of them instead I stand

here a proud graduate of Middlebury

College

when I returned to Afghanistan my

grandfather the one exiled from his home

for daring to educate his daughters was

among the first to congratulate me

he not only brags about my college

degree but also that I was the first

woman and that I am the first woman to

drive him through the streets of Kabul

my family believes in me I dream big but

my family dreams even bigger for me

that’s why I’m a global ambassador for

10 times 10 a global campaign to educate

women that’s why I co-founded Sola the

first and perhaps only boarding school

for girls in Afghanistan a country where

it’s still risky for girls to go to

school the exciting thing is that I see

students at my school with ambition

grabbing an opportunity and I see their

parents and their fathers who like my

own advocate for them despite and even

in the face of daunting opposition like

Hamid that’s not his real name and I

cannot show you his face but Ahmad is

the father of one of my students less

than a month ago he and his daughter

were on their way from Sola to their

village and they literally missed being

killed by a roadside bomb by minutes as

he arrived home the phone rang a voice

warning him that if he sent his daughter

back to school they would try again

kill me now if you wish he said but I

will not ruin my daughter’s future

because of your old and backward ideas

what I’ve come to realize about ivana

son and this is something that is often

dismissed in the West that behind most

most of us who succeed is a father who

recognizes the value and his daughter

and who sees that her success is his

success it’s not to say that our mothers

aren’t key in our success in fact

they’re often the initial and convincing

negotiators of a bright future for their

daughters but in the context of a

society like in Afghanistan we must have

the support of men under the Taliban

girls who went to school numbered in

hundreds

remember it was illegal but today more

than 3 million girls are in school in

Afghanistan

Evanston looks so different from here in

America

I find that Americans see the fragility

in changes

I fear that these changes will not last

much beyond the US troops withdrawal but

when I’m back in Afghanistan when I see

the students and my school and there are

parents who advocate for them who

encourage them I see a promising future

and lasting change to me

Afghanistan is a country of hope and

boundless possibilities and every single

day the girls of Sola remind me of that

like me they are dreaming big thank you

you