Brave Rukhshana
She stood against slavery and forced marriage
For this, men stoned her to death and
Hurled stones at her dreams
Her fault was being a woman in love
Wishing to marry the man of her choice
Running away from the slavery of men
Dreaming of a life with a man her age
Her dream was buried in a gruesome way
Rukhshana cried and screamed for help
No one helped
The stones were thrown harder
When will these atrocities end?
When will Afghan girls be free to
Choose their life partner?
When will the rapes and the forced marriages end?
By Shekiba
Photo: Eric Kanalstein / UNAMA
Shekiba — You have written a powerful poem that honors Rukhshana’s simple wishes and her tragic end — shining a light on this atrocity. Your voice is clear in your words that cry out for answers. I pray that you and all Afghan women will have answers one day soon. Thank you for writing this. All best wishes, Nancy
It was a sad tragedy. Thanks for speaking out, Shekiba. With our efforts I am sure these atrocities will end some day.
Dear Shekiba,
I am writing this response to the recent comment you have made regarding the horrible and unspeakable crime that has been committed against the Afghan woman, named Rukhshana. When I heard it, I was shocked and saddened. Such inhumane action is absolutely unacceptable in general, in 21th century in particular. As one of your human fellows, I share the pain you are enduring for the unforgivable atrocity against Rukhshana. Furthermore, the way how you have described, the despotic and barbaric behaviour by a bunch of thugs just garnered my attention. In addition, every single word you have written, seemed to have directly come out of a clear and good heart. Your words loudly articulate the admirable sense of philanthropy from the bottom of your heart. After all, writers such as yourself can better lay out the context of an incident in a much understandable way. Your passion, the way you told the sad story of Rukhshana just brought my tears. Please keep writing and telling such important stories, or the voices of our oppressed Afghan women in Afghanistan would even largely go unnoticed.