December 10, 2014
This year AGFAF was fortunate to have been granted the opportunity to send two students to Hollins. Geeta ’16 and Husnia ’16 both graduated from community college in the spring and are settling in well as Juniors at Hollins. Scroll down to read a little more about Geeta.
“People ask me how it feels to be an Afghan woman. I always say, “I am both happy and sad, because what I have tolerated has made me stronger. I was treated like a grown woman while I was still a child.”
My mother used to tell me, “Geeta, it is okay if you do not have a doll to play with.”
I could not cry because my parent’s taught me not to cry.
Why not? Didn’t they feel pain? Didn’t they have tears in their eyes? I wanted to learn, but I was not allowed to go to school. I wanted to write poems for my father who did not have enough money to buy toys for his little children! I wanted to write for myself, a little girl who did not know how it feels to play outside under the sun or how to express my emotions to anybody…
Many Afghan women are very negative about their gender; they blame themselves for everything. They wish that they were men. Women are being treated unfairly and are being murdered by their own husbands, fathers and brothers. They tolerate injustice because they think they have no say or that their voice is not worth hearing. I want to make women believe and respect themselves because if they know that they are important in their societies, they will not allow men to continue to mistreat them. Unlike Mother Theresa or Mahatma Gandhi who changed many lives, I am able to start giving hope to a few people, and I will build on that.”
The Afghan Girls Financial Assistance Fund (AGFAF) at the Community Foundation does truly amazing work. Click here to learn more.