People often notice negatives more than positives in this world and the media often portrays a negative picture of Afghanistan.

But the smiles of a child in Afghanistan are still the same as those of the other children in the world. The hopes of women here are the same as those of other women in every corner of this world. A mother here still has the same pure feelings about the future of her children as the rest of the mothers in the world.

In Afghanistan women and children always have less involvement in creating the wars, yet they bear a large proportion of the pains, troubles, and harms caused by those wars. There are still people here who think of women as objects! There are still children being sold like products! There are still women who cannot dare to be happy and breathe freely, but are being killed upon the judgment of their village elders. There are still children getting raped by high-ranking people due to a culture of impunity or being given away and sold into marriage! There are still women being murdered and burned like Farkhunda. 

In Afghanistan there are still women who are passing their lives as slaves because they have given birth to baby girls instead of baby boys. And then their husband will get to marry another woman to produce baby boys, turning the wife into the family’s servant.  There are still girls who are being beheaded for the sin of dancing and singing at a wedding party.

However, despite such issues remaining in this country, still there are legendary women who stand like trees to face the storms with no fear. They endure the day’s struggles for the day when their daughters may live in peace and fulfill all the dreams that their mothers could not. There are still women who sacrifice for the future of girls for long run towards progress.

By Fahima

Photo by Natural England.