Pashtana Durrani

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Pashtana Durrani (born 1997) is an Afghan human rights activist focused on girls' and women's access to education. [1] [2]

Contents

Early life

Durrani's family fled Afghanistan in the late 1990s due to the country's civil war and the presence of the Taliban. [2] Durrani was born in a refugee camp near Quetta, Pakistan. [2] [3] Her family valued education; their motto was "You can go hungry, but not without a day of learning”. [4] In their Pakistani refugee camp, her parents ran a girls' school out of their home starting in 2001, and her aunts convinced reluctant families to educate their daughters. [4]

In 2016, Durrani moved back to Kandahar, Afghanistan with her family. [4] Durrani's father died when she was 21, forcing her to become the provider for her family. [5] At that point, her tribe also elected her as khan, a role she kept until her younger brother turned 18, at which point she passed the title to him. [6]

Activism

In 2018, Durrani founded LEARN Afghanistan, an NGO which focuses on providing education to Afghan children and women. [2] [4] At the time of the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in 2021, the organization was running 18 digital schools in southern Afghanistan, serving around 7,000 students. [2] [7] Following the fall of Kabul in August 2021, Durrani went into hiding. [4] LEARN Afghanistan resumed operations, although covertly, within a month of the takeover. [4]

Durrani left Afghanistan in October 2021 following the Taliban takeover. [8] At the time, she had been studying political science at the American University of Afghanistan. [1] She has been working as a visiting fellow at Wellesley College since November 2021, and has been studying how to improve the distribution of humanitarian aid and mitigate financial corruption. [1]

In 2021, Durrani was named as one of BBC's 100 Women. In 2022, she was a Young Activist Summit winner. [9] In 2023, Durrani was given a Global Citizen Prize for her work. [5] She has also been named a Global Education Champion by the Malala Fund. [5]

In 2022, Durrani published a memoir under the title Last to Eat, Last to Learn. [5] [10]

By August 2024, LEARN was serving about 661 students, with in-person covert schools in Bamyan, Daykundi, Helmand, Herat and Kandahar. [11] Durrani has continued to return, undercover, to Afghanistan to visit her teachers and students. [12] By December 2024, the organization had returned to digital classes after repeated harassment from Taliban authorities. [13]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 Idaszak, Josh (Spring 2022). "In Exile, but Undaunted". Wellesley Magazine. Retrieved 2023-09-20.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "Pashtana's Diary". LEARN. Retrieved 2023-09-20.
  3. ↑ "My Organization Empowers Girls Through Education — By Running Underground Schools in Afghanistan". Global Citizen. 2023-02-07. Retrieved 2023-09-20.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Kumar, Ruchi (2023-03-09). "The Afghan woman running covert schools under the Taliban's nose". The National. Retrieved 2023-09-20.
  5. 1 2 3 4 "This Afghan Activist Is Fighting for Girls' Education Despite Living in Exile". Global Citizen. 2023-06-07. Retrieved 2023-09-20.
  6. ↑ Sappenfield, Mark (2024-02-15). "She fled the Taliban, but leads efforts to help educate Afghan girls". Christian Science Monitor. ISSN   0882-7729 . Retrieved 2024-12-06.
  7. ↑ Nawaz, Amna; Kotuby, Stephanie; Gold, Alexa (2024-02-26). "Afghan activist's memoir details her inspirational fight to educate women". CANVAS Arts. Retrieved 2024-12-06.
  8. ↑ Abé, Nicola (2022-03-28). "Afghanistan und Bildung: »Es ist unwürdig, dass diese Mädchen weinen müssen, damit die Welt hinsieht«". Der Spiegel (in German). ISSN   2195-1349 . Retrieved 2023-09-20.
  9. ↑ "2022 Summit". Young Activists Summit. 2022-09-12. Retrieved 2023-09-20.
  10. ↑ "LAST TO EAT, LAST TO LEARN". Kirkus Reviews. March 3, 2023. Retrieved September 20, 2023.
  11. ↑ "Activists secretly educating Afghan children amid Taliban crackdown". PBS News. 2024-08-30. Retrieved 2024-12-06.
  12. ↑ Mahfouz, Sola (2024-03-27). "Pashtana Durrani: An Afghan Educator Running an Underground School for Girls". Wilson Center. Retrieved 2024-12-06.
  13. ↑ Kumar, Ruchi (2024-12-04). "Rights Group: Afghan women barred from studying nursing and midwifery". NPR .
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