A month before my 13th birthday, I left Afghanistan and came to the U.S. with my family for the opportunity to have an education and a better life. 

In the past, it was hard living in Afghanistan as a woman, especially if you had a family where people were really close-minded. Luckily, I would say for me, my family was really good with these kinds of issues. I was allowed to go to school. But I know my mom wasn’t able to go to school because of the war and my dad had to drop out of school when he was in 9th grade. Because of that, I’m very grateful for the opportunities I’ve had but at the same time, it makes me sad that my parents didn’t get the same chances and the same opportunities as me. 

I didn’t grow up during the war, my parents got married after the Taliban regime was destroyed. So I didn’t experience the war but there were still traumas and things happening like school bombings.

Six years ago, my family chose to seek refuge in the U.S. for our safety. At that time the situation in Afghanistan was getting very hard. We knew that Afghanistan was going to fall to the Taliban eventually but we didn’t know when. My father had worked with the Americans, which put us in danger, so we decided to just get out. 

Coming here meant that we had to start over. We had to leave everything behind - our family and our culture. 

Growing up in your own country is different because you get to grow up with your people and be surrounded by your culture. Sometimes I think that I will never fit in completely here in the U.S. and neither in my country because there’s always going to be something missing in the end. It can feel like you don’t really belong.

I didn’t expect to be okay with living in the U.S., to be honest. Adapting to a whole new environment was tough but we made it. The first few years were pretty hard when you don’t know English and everything. I tried to learn English really fast. Now I’ve been taking ACC classes with kids who were born here and have been speaking English all their lives. 

In middle school, I used to get bullied for not speaking English and wearing a scarf. I had people being racist to me, pulling off my scarf, calling me names, and everything. At my high school, my sisters and I are the first hijabis in the whole school. It was very difficult but over time I grew and today I don’t allow anyone to disrespect me or anyone else like that anymore.

Since my parents didn’t go to school in America and didn’t have the chance to go to college, I have to figure out all of these things by myself. Also as the oldest, I learned a lot of things myself the hard way because my parents were busy raising my other siblings. I’ve had to figure out how to apply for college, how to do the FAFSA, how to choose my major. If it weren’t for my teachers and the support I’ve received, I wouldn’t be able to do it. At the same time, being the oldest, I get the nice stuff first! And I have my own room.

In 2018, as a freshman in high school, GirlForward matched me with my mentor, Anjali. Now, we are in our fourth year, can you believe that? We share a lot in common - she is the one who got me into art. I didn’t used to care about art but she bought me some supplies and encouraged me to do art even for fun and to relieve stress, which has helped me a lot. 

Before the pandemic, Anjali and I met about one time per week and we used to go to GirlForward events together. Those were so fun. When we met we did homework sometimes, played cards, painted, and went to cute coffee shops. Although I’m the oldest of my siblings, Anjali is like a big sister to me. She believes in me and reminds me that I am enough. 

GirlForward will support you no matter what. It’s a safe place for girls to go and not be judged and be who they are. To show their strengths, who they are, what they can do, and what they can be.

People underestimate the power of women. But GirlForward makes you realize that there is more than one path in life and other people’s opinions don’t matter.

What is happening in Afghanistan today is very upsetting. We are going back 20 years and history is repeating itself. Now, because of the changes by the Taliban, people will be uneducated which causes a lot of problems because then people will not be open-minded.

Through GirlForward, I’ve learned to raise my voice. One day, I hope to become a lawyer because I will be the first in my family and also because I want to show the men who think of us as nothing but weak creatures, the true strengths of women. I want to be a representative for Afghan women because not everyone gets a chance to go to school as I do. If I can do it then other women can too.

By telling the stories of Afghan women, there are so many people who can relate. And if more women and girls have the chance to have an education and raise their voice, we can make change.

Hasima is currently a senior in high school and plans to go to college next year. In her free time, she likes to practice art, read, watch Netflix, and listen to unsolved mystery cases on Youtube. 

GirlForward is a community of support dedicated to creating and enhancing opportunities for girls who have been displaced globally by conflict and persecution. You can donate to support girls like Hasima in our mentoring, education, and safe spaces programs here: girlforward.kindful.com