I HAVE SERVED MY COUNTRY FOR MANY YEARS, BUT I FEEL THERE IS NO ONE TO HELP ME AND HOLD MY HAND NOW

I have been working in Afghanistan, supporting Afghan women, girls and children for the past 15 years. I studied in Pakistan until the 3rd grade, and when the situation normalized, my family returned to Afghanistan, and I continued my education.

I majored in journalism at a public university and then midwifery at a private university.  I had a production company under my own name that provided many jobs to women. I enrolled their children in private schools and educated them.

But with the arrival of the Taliban, I lost my job and I’m not able to continue some of my activities from home, due to both financial and security issues. I cannot support women and girls the way I did before. I’m also now facing financial problems and for sure it has had a bad impact on my health.

I tried very hard to prepare some educational classes for women and girls online, but due to Internet and wireless connectivity problems, I could not. But I do teach some children in person in the area where I live. I’m also eager to support for children who have lost their guardians, by building shelters or providing food.

Currently, in the province where we live, we have launched health awareness programmes. I go to nearby villages daily and inform women about health, especially the nutritional problems that women and most of their children are suffering.

I also wanted to get a Master’s degree in international relations, and now that I am a doctor, I wanted to pursue my specialization. But unfortunately, due to the current situation, I’m not able to continue. I had a company and I was supporting women and I wanted to expand it to other provinces. It was active in 11 provinces before the Taliban took over. But now I can’t do that.

My message is not to abandon Afghan women. Whenever women have raised their voice in the country, they have been suppressed in different ways.

We expect the world and the United Nations, European Union, and other allies of Afghanistan to support the girls and women of Afghanistan. I think the institutions, NGOs and UN agencies that help women should provide more opportunities for women and girls so they can open a window of hope and make the current government understand that women can also work in these sectors, and that women's fate will not improve unless the help is provided by women.”