A Brave Afghan Girl
Sometimes, we try to understand the Afghanistan war through political analysis or the news about military operations. But we often forget the human stories that would better explain the happenings in that country.
Two weeks ago, the novel El secret del meu turbant (The secret of my turban) wins the Prudenci Bertrana prize, one of the most important literary award in Catalan language. The novel is written by Agnes Rotger (a Spanish journalist) and Nadia Ghulman (an Afghan girl). It tells the true story of Ghulman. She was born in 1987 in Kabul, and when she was 8 years old, a bomb seriously wounded her and deform her face.
Nadia Ghulman spent two years in a hospital. Then, her brother, Zaldami, was killed in the war between the Taliban and the Northern Alliance. Nadia took a brave decision. She dressed like a boy, altered her female gestures, and by passing herself off as her brother was able to work to help her family.
The Taliban had banned women from working outside of their homes. Ghulam had to do that because her parents were ill, and her sisters were too young. She was taking a major risk: If the Islamists discovered her, she could be executed. Her story is very similar to the one portrayed at the Osama film.
When the Taliban regime fell, Nadia Ghulman began to study, and continued to act like a man. Even without the Taliban, Afghan girls still have an uphill challenge for education and training. She explains that “I have always had to fight for my freedom and studies”.
In 2007, an NGO, Asdha, helped her. Nadia could go to Barcelona to recover from her face wounds. And she knew Agnes Rotger who proposed to write the novel. They were working in it for two years, trying to make a human story.
Now, Nadia Ghulman has finished her computer studies and she wants to study social integration. She wants to return to Afghanistan someday and helps the NGO’s that work there.
[...] New York Times, amongst such hazzy statements as “While the poor and middle class fight for us in Afghanistan, and while most Americans struggle to make ends meet, we mega-rich continue to get our [...]
[...] Afghan women are subjected to continuous restrictions on a daily basis; from being banned from attending any [...]