My Travel To Afghanistan

• Kareema Taniwal, Grade 4
• Short Story
• 2013

(Kareema Taniwal)
(19/03/2013)

To visit my home country, it was my long-time dream and I regret having gone into my home town and my village Lalmi (pertaining to dry—farming land). I had dream to see my cradle which’s I was swing and sleeping in with lullaby (cradlesong) and my coevals.

Although, I was very happy, when the airplane was landing on Kabul airport, so the airport was looking like dust—covered and cold winds blew all the while. After that, we started the trip from Kabul to Khost which is my home town and a mountainous region near Afghanistan’s border with Pakistan.

The road goes along the slope of a mountain. It was a dirt road, which is made from the native material of the land surface. On the way I was looking everywhere but much of the land was laid waste.

Anyway, it was cold wind and winnowing dust on our faces. This way takes 6 hours by car, than we got home there were a lot of my relatives, they were waiting to arrange a luxurious reception for us, of course,, it was just amazing for me.

During in this journey, once day we went to our village to see our villagers, so there were my coevals and we had lot of fun. Short time later I met my young coeval, Sopgmai. Sopgmai’s and I got along very well; we laughed and joked while waiting to sit down on mat for a meal. And thane I asked Spogmai, in which class you are studding?

So she replied that “it was not possible for me to attend school due to my uncles’ involvement with the Taliban which left every member of my family at risk”.
I said girls should be able to go to school and study.
After for a while she smiled through her tears, and she said “yes my parents will never block the way for me to go to school, but Afghanistan as the world’s most dangerous place to be a girl”

Still with a smile on her face she told me again, that “some close members of my family were also killed in the war and every day, we hear that somebody's (Terrorists) thrown acid at a girl’s face or they poison their water. So my mum didn’t want the same to happen to me”.

I said, terrorists will stop at nothing to keep Afghan girls from receiving an education, because knowledge is something that nobody can steal from them.

She said “of course, but the armed groups opposed to girls' education, because they are scaring that when these girls get an education, they will become aware of their rights as women and as a human being.”

It was heartbreaking and could not stop thinking about her and many other young Afghan girls. I felt very sad to see the way these terrorists treat our coevals. Most of the (local) men and women were illiterate. I do not know when this country will ever be okay.
Thanks