On September 18, 2021 – just a month after taking over Afghanistan - the Taliban forbade Afghan girls over the age of 12 to go to school. This was just an hour after schools reopened. Female students were forced to leave their schools while their brothers and cousins were still allowed to study.

Imagine what this means for a country – with no educated girls, there can be no female teachers, no female doctors, no female trained to look after women.

Zohal, a displaced Afghan woman, a member of NFBPWC, and active in NFBPWC’s Afghan Woman Project is committed to helping female Afghans enjoy the education she had, to which they have a right, and which is promoted through SDG 4.  Her schooling in Afghanistan enabled her to be independent and to come to the US armed with knowledge and ability.

Zohal is adapting to life in Tucson AZ with her husband and is working in the field she wanted, as a health care provider. She is in a position to use her education to help those with health concerns. But her joy at succeeding is mitigated by the many, many letters she receives from school-age girls still in Afghanistan who want their futures to be as bright as hers. They look to her, and to women in the US as role models. Individuals who can use their education to improve the world around them.

PLEASE JOIN IN MY PUSH TO STAND UP FOR THE EDUCATION OF WOMEN AND GIRLS WHOSE VOICES FOR ADVOCACY ARE MUTED AND AT RISK.

The Let Us Learn! campaign is a push to stand up for the education of women and girls whose voices are muted and at risk. This campaign is an appeal to the authorities to act immediately on this issue to reopen schools for girls in Afghanistan to preserve basic human right education!