A Voice For the Voiceless

The Advocacy Project helps marginalized communities to tell their story, claim their rights and produce social change.

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Resources > Global Issues > Afghanistan's... > Educating Afghani... > The Omid Schools > Making the Case f...

Making the Case for Community Education

I am Sadiqa Basiri. I was born in 1979 in Kabul, Afghanistan. I am an Afghan citizen who lived in Pakistan for almost 18 years.

I come from a large family that consists of my parents, three sisters, five brothers and myself. I am the eldest. My father is an engineer based in Afghanistan and my mother is a housewife. My brothers and sisters are still students. I am the second person to support my family.

Sadiqa Basiri, Coordinator of the Oruj Learning Center.  

We migrated from Afghanistan due to the bombardment of our province of Wardak. When I left my country for Pakistan I was six years old. Therefore, I did not remember Wardak before 1994. In 1994 I had a chance to visit Wardak, but due to the dangerous conditions in Kabul I was not able to go.

I started going to school after we migrated to Pakistan where I finished grade 12. After grade 12, I started going to the university but due to the fact that the university was shut down during the time of the Taliban, I could not continue. It was a difficult time not only for me but for more than 2,000 University students as well. I wanted to study no matter the situation so my father helped me by providing the chance for me to go to private college in Pakistan.

I went to college for one year, receiving a diploma in computer science. Meanwhile I started teaching English to beginner level students at the SUSIT Girls Computer College. It was a time when I was self-sufficient and I remembered the questions that I had heard from the villagers and my female cousins in Wardak, Afghanistan. They asked me to explain to them:


These were questions, which I could not answer at the time because I was a student in class 8 and I did not have any idea how to help them. Nevertheless, I was always reminded that there are girls who are anxious for the opportunity to receive and education.

After receiving my first salary I decided to work harder to earn enough money in order to begin my own education initiative. It was a time when I did not know a lot about NGOs. So I applied for a job with an NGO work and make some money. Fortunately, I found an excellent job. I understood about leadership and the work of NGOs.

After a two-month project with the Afghan Women's Education Center (AWEC) in Pakistan, I left for Afghanistan to open a primary school for those girls. In the beginning, there were only 35 girls from 7 to 12 years of age. However, I could not encourage more girls to come to school since educated female teachers were hard to find.

"My dream is to see my sisters well educated in a peaceful Afghanistan."
My dream is to see my sisters receive a good education and thrive in a peaceful Afghanistan. They should be able to receive equal rights. It is terrible to see other women and girls tortured and murdered in the name of honor. I would love to work to help street children who are orphans and who are forced to beg for money/food on the streets to support their families.

Regards,
Sadiqa

 

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