There is more than one battle being fought in Afghanistan, and Carleton’s own Maryam Naqibullah is fighting one of them.
Naqibullah, an international relations student, said she began her fight in 2002 at the age of eight when she walked for two hours every day to get to school in Afghanistan.
She attended the Afghan Canadian Community Centre (ACCC) at the age of 13 in 2007, which she said enabled her to learn English and eventually the computer skills that prepared her for her current job with the Canadian government as an interpreter.
She is now running a campaign to raise money for the ACCC to better fund women’s education in Afghanistan.
Naqibullah said the ACCC is a large part of the Afghan community. She said it offers many women the opportunity to receive an education and support their families, but all of this could be at risk as funding for the centre has become scarce.
Naqibullah said the funding cuts are unacceptable and she hopes to change that with her campaign “Dare to Learn.”
“If I have the right to get an education here in Canada, my women should have the same rights. Every child should have the right to get an education,” Naqibullah said.
She said she is hoping to raise $20,000 in funding, and has already hit $16,500 to be given to the school at the end of the month. But this is only a temporary solution to the problem of women’s education, she said.
Naqibullah said her goal is to become a part of her government back home in Afghanistan while working for women’s rights in her homeland.
With the help of the Afghan School Project, an international volunteer initiative to aid education in Kandahar, she said she has requested the government take up funding the ACCC again to continue the positive changes she sees already happening in her home country, particularly in the area of women’s rights.
For women back in Afghanistan, receiving an education can be a very dangerous task, but Naqibullah said it is a risk many of them are willing to take.
“The courage is in them because you need to have courage in order to do such a big job. You need to accept the bullets,” she said. “You need to be the type of person to say ‘my passion is stronger for women’s rights than my fear of their bullets.’ ”
She said what she needs more than ever are the voices of the Canadian people behind her. She recognizes the responsibility she has as someone who has experienced first-hand the power of education in a country in need, and uses her voice to get that message out.
“I have to come out and let the Canadians know, because if they don’t hear the success stories they will never believe it,” she said. “Giving up is not the solution. Fighting for the country is the solution, fighting through the young people. Equip them with education.”
