By Roya
For some time, I have been waking up at five in the morning every day. It was hard at first, but now I’m used to it.
I am Roya and I live in Afghanistan. It has been four months since I created classrooms and a small library for girls who are not allowed to go to school. We learn together, write together, and read together.
In my classes, I have 32 girls, each of whom has big dreams in their hearts. Until four months ago, they thought that it was impossible for them to work for those dreams. But now, not only a flame of hope has been revived in their hearts but they are more motivated to learn and they are trying to fight the Taliban’s ban on girls’ education by striving to educate themselves.
I know this path is not easy. We must find our own resources, draw our learning plans, and teach ourselves. I, for one, wake early every day to plan our collective learning journey. We must learn to show that a woman is not half a man. A woman’s place is not only the corner of the house and the kitchen, hidden under a veil and burka. While we are young, we must educate ourselves for the difficulties and struggles of life ahead. We must learn to make progress.
During this time, I have travelled long distances to collect books for building the library. Many good souls contributed to our library. Although there were also those who tried to discourage me.
Carrying heavy loads of books on my shoulders felt like pleasure. Despite our poverty, spending time and resources on learning is also a pleasure. Another pleasure is that we have the support of friends and family in our journey.
During our learning sessions, we always fear that the Taliban might come and forcefully disperse us. But we are determined to not let fear of the Taliban stop us from learning, reading, and writing. We write about our dreams. We read each other’s writing and encourage each other. We consider each other comrades in arms in the struggle for female education when it is officially banned in our country.
When I learned that the newly established Zan Times would publish my story, I felt the urge to tell about our effort to self-educate ourselves. We must write because silence does not lead anywhere. Writing, learning, and reading in this situation is a struggle.
Roya is an 18-year-old high school student.
