Candela Maceda | Contributing Writer
The Afghan Education Student Outreach Project Chapter at Florida International University hosted a touching panel discussion, “Voices of Hope: With Girls Living in Afghanistan,” at the Modesto A. Maidique Campus’ Graham Center.
This event provided a platform for Afghan girls to share their personal experiences, resilience, and hopes amidst the Taliban’s rise and its profound impact on their lives.
AESOP, founded by Seth Holm, started as a four-week English class in June 2022 with 19 students who were banned from attending schools, just months after the Taliban regained power in Afghanistan.
The program grew, starting with a class for advanced students and expanding to include younger students.
The mentoring program offered to younger students became so large that additional classes were created, including English classes for elementary levels.
The classes are taught and designed by teachers and volunteers, establishing a supportive community for learning and personal development.
“It all started when I attended a study group at the Adam Smith Center for Economic Freedom at FIU instructed by the former deputy speaker of parliament in Afghanistan. Her name is Fawzia Koofi, and she offered students the opportunity to teach Afghan girls on one. In my case, I was teaching these two sisters. I still teach them to this day, they asked me during class one day, why do our former classmates not have a teacher like us? They’re still stuck at home. And I didn’t have a good answer, so l was inspired to scale my impact and start an organization of some sort to recruit FIU students and others, family and friends to teach as well,” said Aidan DeLellis, a student who started the AESOP Chapter at FIU in May 2023.
During the “Voices of Hopes” event, Afghan girls courageously shared their struggles since the Taliban’s takeover. To ensure their safety, their names will remain anonymous.
One of the speakers recounted losing her father at a young age and witnessing her mother struggling to find employment due to gender and education barriers.
“We came back from school, and when we were there, when we were walking, and one of my friends just told me, like, imagine that the next day, Taliban will walk there instead of us. And I felt very bad,” said Daisy.
She tried to continue her studies at an education center but her mother did not allow her, and she recounted that two months later she received the devastating news that 50 students had been killed by the Taliban. The harsh truth of women’s undervaluation in her society motivated her to pursue higher education. Daisy later discovered AESOP.
One of the first students of the first 2022 class, explained that she and her classmates were going to universities in Afghanistan but they were banned from attending for being women. So, she moved to the US with her family to continue following her dreams.
“I’m the only person in my family who understands English and can communicate with other people, because my parents, my brother, they cannot understand English immediately,” said Rose. She explained that the classes she took at AESOP helped her to improve her English.
She also explained that many of the students do not have good access to the Internet nor can they afford internet services. Many of them have to even walk one hour or two to go to a mountain so they can have internet access.
“Just sitting in a room and you don’t have anything to do for many days, not just for one day or two? This is just the usual life of many of the women and girls in Afghanistan.” said Rose.
Another girl recounted losing her left eye, her hearing on her left ear, and friends in a suicide attack while studying.
“Afghanistan girls are captive… they do not have the rights to study, to work, to have fun, to even go to the park, to education and anything that a normal person should have. They do not have the right that a normal person should have, like in a jail, in home, and are not able to do anything,” said Camellia. “We have seen many girls commit suicide in four years because they were not there. They were depressed. They were hopeless. Because all those are not just losing education. All of the doors are closed for them, and it’s really hard.” She also recalls that Afghan girls that are living in Iran are also deprived of education.
Another speaker explained how in 2022, an attack on her classroom lead to the loss of many friends. Despite the tragedy, she enrolled in AESOP, which helped gain proficiency in English, writing, mathematics, leadership and art. She credits AESOP for her personal growth, including getting accepted into an online school and graduating from high school.
Many of the speakers had to endure difficulties in their country but AESOP gave them hope and the tools for them to be able to build a better future.
“I didn’t hear a lot about the experience of Afghanistan women in the country and all the hardships they’ve had to face. So this event was really eye opening and really inspiring to how strong they are and how much they persevere to have the education and learn English,” said Dominique Addison, a student.
“People talk about it, but you don’t think about [how] a little girl who’s 13 years old, is bombed in her classroom,” said Sebastian Oller.
About Post Author
