Translator: Joseph Geni Reviewer: Morton Bast
I remember waking up one morning to the sound of joy in my house.
My father was listening to BBC News
There was a big smile on his face which was unusual then,
because the news mostly depressed him.
"The Taliban are gone!" my father shouted.
but I could see that my father was very, very happy.
"You can go to a real school now," he said.
A morning that I will never forget.
You see, I was six when the Taliban took over Afghanistan
and made it illegal for girls to go to school.
So for the next five years, I dressed as a boy
to escort my older sister, who was no longer allowed
to be outside alone, to a secret school.
It was the only way we both could be educated.
Each day, we took a different route
so that no one would suspect where we were going.
We would cover our books in grocery bags
so it would seem we were just out shopping.
more than 100 of us packed in one small living room.
It was cozy in winter but extremely hot in summer.
We all knew we were risking our lives --
the teacher, the students and our parents.
From time to time, the school would suddenly be canceled
for a week because Taliban were suspicious.
We always wondered what they knew about us.
but still, school was where we wanted to be.
I was very lucky to grow up in a family
where education was prized and daughters were treasured.
My grandfather was an extraordinary man for his time.
A total maverick from a remote province of Afghanistan,
he insisted that his daughter, my mom,
go to school, and for that he was disowned by his father.
But my educated mother became a teacher.
She retired two years ago, only to turn our house
into a school for girls and women in our neighborhood.
And my father -- that's him --
he was the first ever in his family to receive an education.
There was no question that his children
would receive an education, including his daughters,
despite the Taliban, despite the risks.
To him, there was greater risk in not educating his children.
During Taliban years, I remember
there were times I would get so frustrated by our life
and always being scared and not seeing a future.
you can lose everything you own in your life.
Your money can be stolen. You can be forced to leave your home during a war.
But the one thing that will always remain with you
and if we have to sell our blood to pay your school fees,
So do you still not want to continue?"
I was raised in a country that has been destroyed
Fewer than six percent of women my age have made it beyond high school,
and had my family not been so committed to my education,
Instead, I stand here a proud graduate of Middlebury College.
(Applause)
When I returned to Afghanistan, my grandfather,
the one exiled from his home for daring to educate his daughters,
was among the first to congratulate me.
He not only brags about my college degree,
but also that I was the first woman,
to drive him through the streets of Kabul.
(Applause)
I dream big, but my family dreams even bigger for me.
That's why I am a global ambassador for 10x10,
a global campaign to educate women.
the first and perhaps only boarding school
a country where it's still risky for girls to go to school.
The exciting thing is that I see students at my school
with ambition grabbing at opportunity.
And I see their parents and their fathers
who, like my own, advocate for them,
despite and even in the face of daunting opposition.
Like Ahmed. That's not his real name,
and I cannot show you his face,
but Ahmed is the father of one of my students.
Less than a month ago, he and his daughter
were on their way from SOLA to their village,
and they literally missed being killed
by a roadside bomb by minutes.
As he arrived home, the phone rang,
that if he sent his daughter back to school,
"Kill me now, if you wish," he said,
"but I will not ruin my daughter's future
because of your old and backward ideas."
What I've come to realize about Afghanistan,
and this is something that is often dismissed in the West,
that behind most of us who succeed
is a father who recognizes the value in his daughter
and who sees that her success is his success.
It's not to say that our mothers aren't key in our success.
In fact, they're often the initial and convincing negotiators
of a bright future for their daughters,
but in the context of a society like in Afghanistan,
we must have the support of men.
Under the Taliban, girls who went to school
But today, more than three million girls are in school in Afghanistan.
(Applause)
Afghanistan looks so different from here in America.
I find that Americans see the fragility in changes.
I fear that these changes will not last
much beyond the U.S. troops' withdrawal.
But when I am back in Afghanistan,
when I see the students in my school
and their parents who advocate for them,
who encourage them, I see a promising future
To me, Afghanistan is a country of hope and boundless possibilities,
the girls of SOLA remind me of that.
Like me, they are dreaming big.
(Applause)