First Person: The ‘bravery’ of Afghanistan's girls and women

Following an announcement by the Taliban that boys could instrumentality to secondary schoolhouse -- portion making nary notation to a instrumentality day for girls successful secondary schoolhouse -- anxiousness and uncertainty stalk the 1 cardinal girls affected by this omission. 

UNICEF’s Chief of Communications successful Afghanistan, Sam Mort, spoke to the Under-Secretary-General for Global Communications astatine the UN, Melissa Fleming, arsenic portion of the podcast series, Awake astatine Night.  

“UNICEF stayed successful Afghanistan due to the fact that that is what we do. We're present before, during and aft an exigency and, astatine the moment, astir fractional the state is successful hopeless request of humanitarian aid, including 10 cardinal children. If UNICEF isn't present to support them, to springiness them medicine, vaccinate them, to springiness them the nourishment that they truthful desperately need, to assistance them retrieve from the atrocities that they've seen, past who is going to bash that? It was an casual determination to enactment for the organization, and for maine personally.

The velocity and the standard of the Taliban takeover has had a immense interaction connected america and our operations. Most of our nationalist unit are moving from location until the Taliban tin springiness america assurances astir their security, peculiarly that our pistillate nationalist unit tin question safely and bash their enactment without threat. As a result, we are not operating astatine capacity; we’re not reaching each the children we request to beryllium helping. But, successful caller weeks, roads and airports person opened up so, slowly, slowly, we are opening to resume our enactment and we are hopeful that we volition person each unit backmost successful the offices soon. With a analyzable humanitarian situation looming and wintertime astir the corner, clip is of the essence. 

One of the worst places connected world to beryllium a child

© UNICEF/Omid Fazel

UNICEF's Sam Mort meets a kid diligent astatine a infirmary successful Kabul, the superior of Afghanistan.

Afghanistan has agelong been 1 of the worst places connected world to beryllium a kid and successful caller months, it's go a overmuch darker spot truthful it's important that the eyes and ears of the satellite stay focused connected the astir susceptible and however champion to assistance them.

UNICEF works with a batch of young radical and, since I arrived successful Afghanistan a twelvemonth ago, I person been struck by their energy, optimism and determination to forge forward, peculiarly successful their tendency for education. It’s not easy, particularly for young women who successful their tendency to larn and question caller opportunities face regular threats, hardships and challenges.

Their confidence, the pluckiness, is remarkable. I don't deliberation I was expecting that. I spot a bravery successful Afghanistan's girls and women that I haven't seen anyplace else, due to the fact that the fears and pressures are existent and they admit them, and they determination guardant anyway.
When I asked 1 young pistillate who we've been moving with successful the past fewer weeks, however she was doing she said, “I'm inactive breathing but I'm trapped. This is simply a nightmare”.

She told me: ‘Sam, I was, I was conscionable finishing precocious schoolhouse and I was astir to commencement university. Everything I wanted to do, each my dreams person conscionable stopped.”

Unfulfilled potential

UNICEF/Celeste Hibbe

A UN-supported polio idiosyncratic successful Afghanistan administers a polio vaccine to a young kid (file).

As a foreigner, you person to beryllium precise cautious astir saying, “Oh, they haven't conscionable stopped, you know, they'll commencement again,” due to the fact that this is Afghanistan and the Taliban has taken implicit and everybody is successful ‘wait-and-see’ mode. Nobody tin foretell what's going to happen. 

With each the young radical that I've been speaking to, including young men and boys, the top work I tin bash for them is to listen, to recognize and to speech to them a small spot astir their intelligence wellness arsenic good arsenic what they tin bash connected a regular ground to support themselves busy, but enactment pragmatic and focused connected their future. 

UNICEF is specified a hopeful, guardant looking organization. We effort to enactment with young radical to springiness them a level to explicit themselves, realise their dreams, animate 1 different and connect. Right now, though, that feels precise hard successful Afghanistan.
So, what keeps maine awake astatine night?  It is the unfulfilled imaginable of young people, peculiarly young women, that is difficult.”

Listen to the audio interrogation here.