This year at Silk Road English Centre (SREC), we held a writing competition, asking students the question, “What is the best advice you have ever received and how did it change your life?” The winner shared an inspiring snapshot into her life, and this is her essay.
During the war like many other Afghan people we also immigrated to one of the neighbor’s country. I was a little child but I do remember some events which I saw on the way to Pakistan.
One of the worst incidents that I will never forget is when the name of the Taliban are mentioned. As we all know that watching movies, making videos or taking photos from the weddings and many other events are against the Taliban laws, so when they saw someone having these things they will definitely hit the person so badly. We were on the way, Taliban stopped our bus and one of our relatives had a video which was hidden on a small pillow of her son, when they got into the bus and found that video, they hit the woman by gun badly, I and other children were very scared. That scene was the worst for me as a child.
Fortunately, we arrived to Pakistan after going through many difficulties. We rented a house which had just four rooms and a small yard, we were more than six families, but we lived on that house for some days, after that some of them left and rented another house but we stayed on that house with my uncle’s families. After a while my uncles started to weave carpets and forced us to help them with weaving. In some Afghan families the children have to accept what the elders decide so did I, my sister and I weaved a carpet with my uncle.
One day I met a young and cheerful girl, she was the owner of our house’s daughter and she lived above the house we have rented. She invited me and my sister to her house and played with us a lot, after playing she cooked Biryani which is one the famous food in Pakistan, during lunch she asked: are you going to school? We didn’t have any answer to give her because we were not at any school on that time. When she noticed that we were not at any school she gave us an advice “You should start school”. After a while we left her house and came to home and talked to my mother we said “we want to go to school”, my mother was surprised and said: I am happy hearing that and I will talk to your father about it. But we knew she was a little scared to share this issue to other people in home because we were born in a family where every girl was illiterate and they were not allowed to attend school, my mother dared to share this issue with others and told them that “I want my daughters to be literate”. At first my uncle was against that decision but my big aunt who was bigger than my uncle told him “I don’t want my niece will be illiterate like me”. Then my mother enrolled us in school.
Hopefully we started school and even got my bachelors now I am preparing for my masters.
This was the biggest advice I received from a great girl which changed my whole life. I remember her name and want to meet her again if she will be alive and if I could find her I will thank her differently because on that time I was a child and didn’t know the value of this great advice which help me to be an literate independent girl. I pray for her all the time I will remember her always, Allah bless her wherever she is.
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*names changed