By Haniya Frotan
Zahra was preparing for second semester final exams of her medical degree at Kateb University in Kabul when she was banned from continuing her studies. The Taliban had been promising for more than a year that it was going to reopen high schools to girls when it announced it was closing university to them as well.
The 20-year-old said she went into shock for days after that December 2022 announcement.
“Like a storm, it closed all the windows of hope in my heart,” she said.
Having worked hard to get into a medical degree to only have it ripped away on the whim of the Taliban was “truly maddening”.
“When I heard the news barring women and girls from attending universities, I recalled all the bitter memories I’d experienced during 12 years of school,” she said.
“I thought to myself, I have worked so hard for nothing. It was unbelievable, but it was the reality of the society I lived in.”
‘The explosion couldn’t stop me, and neither could the Taliban’
Zahra had survived relentless attacks on her neighbourhood in western Kabul where the schools, mosques, faith and ethnicity of the area were targeted by suicide bombers. She’d seen classmates killed and injured. Her family had faced financial challenges, and she’d personally faced discrimination for being a girl.
Her home region near Kabul’s Koh-e-Cheheldokhtaran mountain has faced deadly attacks over the past three decades.
“Our house was near Sayed ul-Shuhada School, and I still vividly remember the day when students were massacred for the ‘crime’ of seeking knowledge. It haunts me like a nightmare.”
In 2021, students were leaving classes on the first day of the school week, Saturday May 8, when a car bomb was detonated at the school gates. The shocking blast killed at least 90 female students and more than 240 others were injured.
Zahra forged through it all with a dream she’d cherished since childhood, and now her determination has been recognized with a scholarship along with 18 other girls to continue her medical studies in Scotland.
The Linda Norgrove Foundation had been working to relocate the 19 students for some time since the Taliban handed down its decree. In August, it finally had success.
Even on the day Zahra travelled from home her scholarship interview, there was an explosion on her way back at the nearby Abdul Rahim Shaheed High School.
“I saw with my own eyes the burned bodies of students being carried out from the school,” she said.
The school in western Kabul was targeted by terrorists on Tuesday April 19, 2022 as students were leaving the school. More than 50 students were killed and injured.
After the Taliban took power and even after Zahra was banned from attending university, she pushed herself to study and apply herself.
“I kept telling myself that things would definitely get better, that I had to work on my skills. I improved my English and read books,” she said.
“I told myself that at least when conditions improved, I wouldn’t regret the time I had lost, and I did my best.”
She said she applied to several universities in Europe, the United States, and Asia, and received a 50 percent scholarship from Tehran Medical University, but due to her family’s weak economic situation, she couldn’t accept it.
But she kept applying all the same until she received a scholarship that could cover her costs.
“Suicide attacks and explosions couldn’t stop me. I won’t allow the Taliban to be an obstacle between me and my goals,” she said.
‘Medicine, my only wish’
Masooma is also one of the lucky 19 to head to Scotland for her medical degree. She first secured a Linda Norgrove Foundation scholarship in 2020, a year after her family returned to Afghanistan, to study medicine at Khatam ul-Nabiyeen University.
The 24-year-old completed high school in Iran and was accepted into a medical program at one of Tehran’s universities, but the full fee requirements as an Afghan migrant meant she couldn’t continue her studies there.
She and her family returned to Kabul in 2019 with the hope that Masooma could fulfill her long-held dream of becoming a doctor and that her siblings would continue their education.
She was just beginning to taste the sweetness of life in her motherland.
She said she had just been beginning to taste the sweetness of life in her motherland – realizing how enjoyable it was to live in the land to which you belong – when the Taliban returned to power and denied her access to education.
Masooma’s love for Afghanistan is unwavering, but the decision to leave for Scotland is a necessity.
“Five years of living in Afghanistan have been more valuable and enjoyable for me than the 19 years I spent in Iran, despite the occasional explosions, suicide attacks, and now the Taliban,” she said.
“I was willing to wear a burqa if the Taliban would just let me go to class. Studying medicine and becoming a doctor is not just a dream; it has been my only wish in life all this time.”
Masooma said after the Taliban university ban she had spent some months staying at home struggling with her emotions, but then decided to pull herself together.
She poured her efforts into studying English, and also started a midwifery program at a health institute.
“I wanted to stay in an educational environment. I worked hard and tried not to lose hope,” she said.
“But still, every night when I laid my head on the pillow, the thought that I might never be able to overcome this deadlock called the Taliban kept me awake.”
‘I worked harder than any boy’
For 25-year-old Feriba, the Taliban’s university ban only came into effect after she’d finished the theory courses of her medical degree. Her and her classmates continued their practical training working in one of Kabul’s hospitals. But when the time came for her specialization courses and the Medical Council exams, they were refused entry.
Feriba received a scholarship from the Linda Norgrove Foundation in 2017 to study medicine at a private university in Kabul. Her relief at being able to finally complete her studies in Scotland is palpable.
“I was just one step away from reaching my goal. I wanted to pursue my specialization in Kabul, but the Taliban did not allow me to take that single step simply because I am a girl.”
Feriba said she experienced the worst kind of torture when she saw her male classmates effortlessly taking the Exit Exam and move on to their specializations, despite having arguably faced much harsher conditions to get there than her male counterparts.
“I had worked harder than any boy, I had tried, and I had fought against so many challenges. In terms of my abilities, I felt no less capable than my male classmates,” she said.
“When I was not allowed to take the Medical Council exam, it was incredibly difficult for me, and I can’t find the words to express how I felt at that time.”
The three women have shared their story to help inspire other girls who are deprived of their fundamental human rights under Taliban rule.
