About me …..dall’Afghanistan con amore!

• CR
• 8 Marzo 2011
• Volti

Ma lo sapevate che in Afghanistan delle ragazze studiano, si laureano e vanno a lavorare per il Mnistero degli Affari esteri? Le ho incontrate a dicembre del 2010 ad una serie di corsi per giovani diplomatici afghani organizzati dalla dinamicissima Prof. Federiga Bindi per il nostro Ministero degli Affari esteri. Lezioni sulla parità di genere, come rispondere alle mail, come affrontare lo stress. Dopo un esame di conoscenza dell’inglese sono state mandate a seguire dei corsi in Italia. Ragazze con un semplice velo sulla testa accanto a ragazzi, parlavano, discutevano e avevano proprio voglia di farsi sentire.

Frishta Ruhani ha accettato di raccontarci la sua storia. La più piccola di una famiglia di 5 sorelle e un fratello, ha dovuto lottare per potere completare gli studi. Una sua sorella è stata sposata a 16 anni perchè in paese si pensava che le ragazze non devono studiare…

I was born in 1986 In Kabul, Afghanistan in an educated family where every one was being loved and cared equally. The last child of 6 children 5 girls and 1boy, with a kind father and lovely mother, loving sisters and caring brother made me feel as if I was living in heaven, but as soon as I rose up I considered that this heaven was limited up to my family because the social situation was not too good and we were surviving in the war, that started in 1979.

I was only about four when we migrated to Peshawar. No one of our family members understood Peshawary accent of Pashto so my father decided to live in the village where my uncles lived, since they had already spent years there in Peshawar and they were familiar to language, people, customs and society, which helped us not to face problems in a new place (We spent 7 years there then). But the biggest problem in that area was that there were no girl’s school and my elder sisters had to stay home and could not study any more. My eldest sister Atefa Rohani who had married my cousin after finishing high school in Kabul but could not continue her higher education due to the critical situation. My second sister Tereena Rohani was student of 11^th grade, my brother M. Azeem Rohani in grade 9 (who luckily could continue) my third sister Beheshta Rohani in grade 7, my fourth sister Apolan Rohani in grade 3 and finally me who had to start then.

Afghanistan is a country with five thousand years of history, that is why it has many different customs and traditions. This is why dressing has always been freely chosen and everybody can dress according to their own culture provided it is in framework of Islam, because our society is an Islamic society. For the same reasons our studies in school include religious subjects besides social sciences, literature (Dari and Pashto literature in the national languages) and sciences.

My father struggled a lot and looked for schools, but could not find one for us. After a few months in Peshawar my second sister Tereena Rohani got married though she could not study her last two classes of high school. Soon enough an elementary school was established in Peshawar, which gave my sister Apolan and I, a chance to continue our education. My elder sisters Athefa and Tereena who had married and lived with their in-laws in Islamabad came to live in Peshawar in an almost non-rural area named Kababian where they found an Afghani school. Beheshta started going back to school, but since she had to go alone a long way, my parents decided that my sister Apolan and I would move to the same school called Zarghoona Ana High School and either my mother or father used to take us to the bus station to take the school bus and after finishing classes came to pick us at the same place and that is how years were passing on and we were growing up.

By the time she was sixteen there were many marriage proposals for Beheshta. Although the school problem was solved, we were living in a village with strict minded people who thought girls should not study but rather they should marry. So the family took the decision that Beheshta should get married, she had just finished her 9^th grade. When they asked her if she agreed to the elders’ decision she said that she would do as the elders wished and she married although she had not finished school.

Apolan and I continued going to school and because we had good grades we were given a scholarship to learn English. We had a difficult time, since we had to spend almost 5 hours in school and 3 to 4 hours of English course.

In 1998 we moved to Kababian, a town in Peshawar and lived 5 years there.

In addition we had to help my father, a miniature artist, with his paintings, as his eyes were not bright enough and we had to work with him every night.

All the home chores were done by our mother as she wanted us to concentrate on our lessons and that was how years passed. Apolan finished her high school and was taking preparation for university’s entrance exam when the Taliban regime collapsed, and the new government took in charge. After 6 months of new government we moved back to Kabul (home sweet home). I had just finished my grade 10 and joined second half of 11^th grade here after passing an exam. Two months later our father died of a heart attack. That was a really big shock for all of us and particularly for me the youngest child of the family who was not even taking a breath without father.

Despite all this, I managed to finish high school and I took the university entrance exam with my two elder sisters Tereena and Apolan and I passed the exam and took marks for Social sciences, Apolan took marks for Engineering and Tereena took marks for faculty of physical education but she had to give it up as she had an infant child at home

Apolan and I joined university and started living an unforgettable period of our life. It was a period of learning many things besides university chapters and lectures. We met people from different provinces of our country, making new friends, sharing ideas, talking about each other’s traditions and cultures (which are usually almost similar).

Apolan got married when she was in fourth year of engineering faculty and went to Canada with her husband and started again her higher education there.

I finished my faculty and after two years found the job of my dreams for which I had been taking preparation for two years. Now I am working with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Afghanistan.

As to the rest of my family, both my sisters Atefa and Terrena joined university after 15 years of wedded life and 5 children each.

Terrena is studying Arabic literature and shareia law and Atefa finished her studies with bachelor’s degree in Science, Biology department, last year. My brother M.Azeem Rohani, who had stopped education after finishing his high school graduation for financial reasons, studied Business Administration, Finance, in KARDAN University and finished it some months ago. Beheshta is in grade 12 of high school and studying English course. She is a mother of 6 children with triplets.

Now I am working in the Directorate of border affairs and I am really hopeful for me and for my country’s future. I know I will achieve the highest level of success one day.

If God willing, Insha Allah.