Zuhal Sherzad ozuma courage. With only 21 years, this young woman coordinates an organization that promotes all kinds of projects to promote the education of women in Afghanistansomething totally prohibited by the regime Talibanbut also its economic capacity and access to health material.
This young Afghan has become one of the four defenders of the Human Rights which Catalunya hosts this year as part of the Generalitat International Humanitarian Aid Program. The newspaper has been able to talk to her.
He has coordinated the action in Afghanistan of the Puentes for Peace Organization. What projects has helped deploy?
We help about 700 women and girls to be able to go to our underground schools clandestinely. We are creating training workshops to speak in public, we offer psychological services and humanitarian aid for families that need food, medical care and a home. Apart from, we have the first library directed by women in Afghanistan and we also manufacture compresses for women in the rural areas of the city because they do not have enough economic possibilities to allow everything and we try to give them seminars to take care of their hygiene.
Underground schools to hide from the Taliban.
Yes, for the government this type of activity is a crime, a crime. They say that higher education is prohibited until new notice. All schools, public or private, are prohibited in Afghanistan.
How was your life before the US left the country and the Taliban returned to power?
We could do many things. We had the right to public services, to educate ourselves freely, but that has changed with the Taliban regime. Our voices are also prohibited. We are not allowed to defend what we want. And it is also a crime that we speak high, because we are women.
How have they mentally affected that setback?
The women of Afghanistan have been mentally very weak due to that situation. We are talking about psychological problems for losing work, access to education, the possibility of following your interests, of sports, participating in the country’s political decisions, of following your dreams. Now you have to hide with all those programs.
Given that persecution, how do women find the regime to participate in prohibited education programs?
Our organization has been deploying activities since 2016, so until now we have had a very good network of contacts. With the arrival of the Taliban we continue to have that same network. With personal communication between friends, family or neighbors we arrive at interested women. We are dividing them into groups of five or ten, without attracting many people suddenly.
How do they empower Afghan girls and women?
We tell them to raise awareness with the power they have. Start from your own family: educate your child, educate your husband, educate your daughter, educate your sisters. And then it will grow. Each and every families will have a person who is transforming or circulating this message.
How will the Generalitat help in your mission?
Being here will allow me to improve my abilities to help others. I know that Afghas are capable, but sometimes we need someone to have the courage to defend our rights and move on, a guide that tells us that we must not be afraid, that we must not say yes to injustice without more, that we must fight against it. I want to be that guide. But to be a model to follow and help others before I need a lot of training to develop my abilities. And the Generalitat program is giving me the opportunity to work on my beliefs and gain support for my mission in Afghanistan. What I want is simply to empower my Afghan sisters and provide them with any opportunity to help them educate because we, people, are thirsty for education.
Do you intend to return to Afghanistan?
I guess I will be here until my education ends, the degree. This is the plan. I don’t know what will happen in the future.
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