Remarks delivered at the Afghan Women’s Education Reception on Capitol Hill.
It is hard for me to express in words how much education and going to school mean to an Afghan girl.
I am Masuda and that girl was once me, who learned English, passed tests, worked hard on essays and prayed every night to be able to sit in a classroom again; after the Taliban closed her school.
I was accepted to a high school in the U.S. with a fully funded scholarship and a family who was willing to host me in their house during my education. I was all set to begin this journey. However, I was afraid. I was afraid of what it would take to begin this journey.
I would have to leave my family whom I had never thought of leaving before the Taliban came.
I would have to leave my best friends, childhood memories, familiar places and travel to a far away country in which I only knew one person in. I had no idea about its culture, people, norms or beliefs.
I would have to study 11 and 12 grades in a totally different system and language and live with a family that I once met in a zoom meeting.
I would have to go through emotional breakdowns, thinking about my family, hardships of being a foreign student and feelings of no one can understand me or speak my inner language.
I would have to be in a class with students two or three years younger than me and try to make sense of their attitudes.
I would have to rely on myself and cry silently.
These thoughts circled around my mind and I am sure many of my friends as well, keeping us awake for many nights before we made the decision.
And we decided to welcome this opportunity with our hearts. And it had a simple reason behind it. Because we love to be educated. We want to go to school. We gave up our lives back home for this and this desire is so strong that nothing can stop it.
Yes, I went through all these emotions and hardships and yet I appreciated every moment of this journey and greatly enjoyed my education in high school and am excited to begin college.
Now, how do we do this? How do we stand under all those emotional pressures on our shoulders?
By imagining a future where we have our minds full of knowledge and hands full of experience to help us make our country prosper.
We want to one day become educated women who will help the world and our country become a better place. To build a better future for everyone.