We Will Rise from Our Buried Dreams

Channeling her heartache and pain as an Afghan woman living under the Taliban regime, Maryam educates young women and girls in her homeland and calls on the international community to take decisive action to protect their rights.

 "The Taliban buried their dreams and condemned their bodies to stay home. They took my pure land – my peaceful and beautiful country. But I won’t allow them to take my knowledge."

Maryamsaidi

I am Maryam, an Afghan girl born in 2000 in the city of Kabul with thousands of hopes. My family was a family of intellectuals and people of knowledge. My mother was a teacher, my sister is a doctor, and my brother is an engineer. I studied civil engineering at Kabul University, graduating third in my class and pursuing successful projects. 

We had a joyous, peaceful life in Afghanistan for 21 years. Then suddenly, on August 15, 2021, Afghanistan became a country of terror. Fear and destruction took hold when Kabul fell to the Taliban government, and the Taliban revoked girls' right to education. My friends and neighbors were displaced, becoming refugees in neighboring countries. 

When the Taliban took power, they promised to let women participate in various fields of social life and work, but they didn’t fulfill these promises. In Kabul, the Taliban replaced the Ministry of Women's Affairs with the Ministry of Welfare and ordered all the female employees in this ministry to stay home. By creating the Ministry of Welfare, the Taliban added restrictions on women and girls. 

Until a couple of weeks ago when I left Afghanistan, I lived under the Taliban regime without the right to study or leave the house. Despite all odds, I taught Afghan girls privately at home or through WhatsApp so they wouldn’t have to stray from their education and goals. 

Since then, I decided that I should not be silent. I actively participated in all forums related to Afghan women to defend their rights. During this period, I turned to writing and drawing, channeling the pain and heartache of Afghan girls. I shared and translated my writings online to reach the ears of the world. 

Over time, the conditions in Afghanistan for women have deteriorated. Just this March, the Taliban and Ministry of Education announced that the gates of schools above the sixth grade will remain closed to all girls in Afghanistan until further notice. It’s as if the Taliban wants to slowly remove women from society.

Girls have been caught in a hopeless situation, unable to attend school and stuck in the cycle of illiteracy. Why should every girl's life be judged and decided without consent? Families are forcing their daughters into marriage due to poverty and war. These marriages are often marred by violence and cruelty, with girls dying prematurely in childbirth or by suicide. 

A society where women do not play a role is incomplete. If a woman or girl goes out of the house to study, she contributes to the growth of the economy, But these Taliban restrictions on women deepen the crisis in Afghanistan. 

Today, Afghanistan is going through the darkest days of its history. Afghan women feel forgotten. The Taliban buried their dreams and condemned their bodies to stay home. They took my pure land – my peaceful and beautiful country. But I won’t allow them to take my knowledge.

When the Taliban came and denied my right to study, I turned to writing poems and short stories at home. Writing allowed me to hope that the future of Afghanistan would improve and that my words would make my friends and other girls feel strong and brave. 

I am a woman whose name means ‘brightness, the unruly flames of fire.’ I am the strong girl of my nation who woke up.  I have gained strength from the storm of my nation's anger. I have taken hatred for the enemy from the valleys who have burnt the villages of my country. I have found my way, and I will never return. I have broken those chains. 

We are from the generation of desires and butterflies, the generation of liberation, awakening, and standing. We return, sprout from where we were cut, and grow again. 

To all the girls and women of the world, Afghan girls and women have great strength and creativity. Please stand with Afghan women and girls and demand their right to education and freedom. 

All relevant institutions, such as the United Nations and the Human Rights Organization must take decisive action for Afghan women. They should pressure the Taliban to allow girls to attend schools and universities. Powerful countries should grant free scholarships to Afghan girls in these difficult academic conditions so that girls can study in foreign countries for free.

Today, your fellow women need your help. Please don't leave us alone. Please don't forget us.

STORY AWARDS

This story was published as part of World Pulse's Story Awards program. We believe every woman has a story to share, and that the world will be a better place when women are heard. Share your story with us, and you could receive added visibility, or even be our next Featured Storyteller! Learn more.