Supporting Afghan Women and Girls on the Move

The city I lived in was not under occupation yet but the city was under heavy shelling. I witnessed the decease of my neighbor. At that moment I just thought that I was not responsible for only my life I had my children and I needed to save their lives.’…

M.G. is 37 years old Afghan doctor. He expresses how he decided to leave his beloved motherland where he was born and raised for his own survival with these words. He says he left his country where he couldn’t able to do his job with the purpose of providing for both his children’s safety and education’s continuing.

Afghan M.G. has presented an overview of his country’s condition by saying that he had been sending his children to school before the Taliban came, he had two daughters. After the arrival of the Taliban, high schools were closed and he couldn’t send his daughters to school. He added that he was following the progress of his country via news now, everything got worse, they said that schools would open 1 month later and girls would go to school, however, they didn’t let girls go to school, there was a school with 70 students, only 15 of them were able to continue to school.

While M.G. was in Afghanistan, besides being doctor he tried to make women around him conscious of the women's rights issue, he tells what he saw ‘The girls in my country are in jeopardy. Taliban takes the girls and forced them to get married. They got married to 3 girls in the region where I lived by putting guns to their heads. He emphasized that were they to continue living in Afghanistan, they couldn’t receive an education and he hopes now his children will study and have a job. ‘My children dream about being doctor and engineering.’ says M.G. and now he and his family together are making a good life and endeavor to write their stories again.

M.G. receiving the services which are a social consultancy and education consultancy from Association for Solidarity with Asylum Seekers and Migrants (ASAM), says ’I wish Afghan women and girls would able to go to school again. This is very crucial for their being alive and future hope. I wish the schools would reopen for these children. There are many women who couldn’t go away from home and district. I wish returning girls to school, women to life which they lived.’.