your voice; Faryab
I was a teacher at a private high school and was teaching the more advanced final-year classes. I was also teaching illiterate women from my house. I had more than 20 students and they were so happy to be learning and studying.
Unfortunately, after the de facto authorities (DFA) took over and banned women from working, I had to stay at home and could not go out anywhere to teach. The DFA also came to my house and told me to stop teaching from home as well. So, I had to stop that too.
For now, I am jobless. I have no salary or income. I was supporting my family and my siblings with the salary I earned from teaching but now I don’t know how to find survival and what should I have to be free and can work for my family, society and myself.
Also, my former students tell me that they had lots of hope for their future, but now they cannot learn anymore. I think about their hopes and their hard work for a bright future. I miss them a lot and I know they are very sad now and suffering from mental health problems. They have lost hope. I am very worried about them.
When the Taliban took over, they stopped us from operating schools, but I still had my students that I was teaching from my home. They were happy to continue their lessons from home.
BUT NOW, EVERYTHING HAS CHANGED, AND I DO NOT KNOW HOW TO MANAGE THIS SITUATION.
My hope for the future is that my students can go back to school. They are the future of Afghanistan: future leaders, doctors and engineers.
My one message to the international community is: Do not leave us behind. Stand with Afghan women and girls and support them. Do not leave them behind and help us find alternative ways to learn.