Meet ‘the future president of Afghanistan’
Escaping the Taliban, tasting education, seeking justice
When Yalda was a child in Afghanistan, girls were not allowed to go to school. With the help of her father, she attended a secret school for girls where they taught English—until the Taliban extremists broke its windows, burned its books, roughed up her and her fellow students and arrested the teacher.
Now this young woman is 18 and has been accepted to the University of Colorado. She wants an American education so she can return and improve the conditions in “my lovely country,” a phrase she uses sincerely.
“I know there is terrorism in Afghanistan,” she said. “They grow opium in Afghanistan. There are Taliban and there are so many bad people. I know it’s embarrassing, but it’s not my country’s fault. I still love my country. There are people doing those kinds of stuff in Afghanistan, not my country.”
Today, violent religious zealots no longer bar her from getting an education. Still she faces a hurdle: the ability to pay for her American education.
A Colorado couple who sponsored Yalda as a high-school exchange student has taken up her cause. They have overcome international barriers and bureaucratic inertia that nearly derailed her admission to CU. Now they’ve helped to set up a scholarship for students who were born in Afghanistan. They are appealing for donors.
Yalda is known only by her first name (and is not being pictured here) because of the threat of violence to her or her family. The Taliban, Muslim extremists who ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001 (and who gave aid and comfort to al-Qaida terrorists), are resurgent in Afghanistan and have recently seized northern areas of Pakistan.
Yalda and her family have personally suffered Taliban violence. When the Taliban seized power, Yalda’s father went into hiding briefly. One day at 7 a.m., Yalda recalls, the Taliban pounded on the family’s door. When the door went unanswered, Taliban thugs burst into the home looking for the father, Yalda says.
“Where is he? We want to kill him,” they said. He had killed members of the Taliban, they said. “But that was wrong. My dad was a truck driver, not a soldier.”
Yalda’s mother said the father was at a mosque, whereupon the Taliban began beating her, Yalda said. They also beat Yalda’s grandfather, then 82.
“I jumped to help my mom,” Yalda recalled, but the Taliban smashed her head with the butt of a gun, knocking her unconscious. When she opened her eyes, they were gone.
Yalda’s grandfather never recovered from his injuries, she said. After the beating, he lingered for a time and later died.
Under Taliban rule, girls were not allowed to go to school. All females were required to wear “burqas,” heavy and hot garments that covered their heads entirely and also cloaked the rest of their bodies. Girls and women were not allowed to make eye contact with males. The Taliban decreed that windows of houses be painted black, so that passing men would not be tempted by the women inside.
Women accused of prostitution, adultery or domestic violence were executed, sometimes before a stadium full of onlookers who chanted “God is great” as their blood pooled in the dirt. Men or boys accused of theft by the Taliban would have their hands chopped off, often in public. Men accused of murder would be shot, and those accused of being spies or traitors could be hanged.
After the U.S.-led overthrow of the Taliban in 2001, women attained the right to vote, and girls the right to schooling. But as Time magazine reported last year, extremists still make it hard for girls to return to school.
Six years after the fall of the Taliban, only 30 percent of eligible girls are enrolled in school, Time reported. Further, in more than 80 percent of rural districts, no girls are enrolled in high school.
In 2007-08, Time reported, 130 schools were burned, 105 students and teachers were killed, and 307 schools (many for girls) were closed for security concerns. Taliban extremists were also suspected of attacking school girls with acid, just last year.
Education is an effective antidote to zealotry, which may help explain why it is so violently resisted.
Yalda was, relatively speaking, lucky. In 2006, she applied for the U.S. Statement Department’s Youth Exchange and Study program, which helps high school students in Muslim countries study in the United States. The program aims to promote “mutual understanding and respect.”
She spent her first semester in Maryland and her second at Douglas County High School in Castle Rock, Colo. Michael and Susan Beane were her Colorado host family.
Michael Beane explained their rationale for taking Yalda in. “Women in Afghanistan are treated like chattel,” he said. “We thought the least we could do to support the war effort is to take in an Afghan student.”
Beane, whom Yalda refers to as “my American father,” has special respect for Yalda’s biological father. “Yalda’s dad risked his life and risked her life to take her to school. … Her dad is what I would consider a saint.”
Yalda is extremely fearful of the Taliban. She is also extremely angry, Beane says.
At the same time, she has a “hunger for education.” Beane observed: “It’s partly because she legally could not get an education, only because she’s a woman. That really bothered her because she is a free spirit.”
During her time as an exchange student, Yalda embraced some aspects of Western culture. She likes pizza and the Beatles. She wears traditional scarves only on certain occasions. While still in high school, Yalda began talking about getting a degree and returning to Afghanistan “to make a difference.”
When she talks about her life in Afghanistan and America, Yalda mentions Sima Samar, a dogged critic of fundamentalist Islamic sharia laws, particularly those that oppress women.
“Everyone is proud of her,” Yalda said. “Hopefully, one day I’ll be like her, to help my country, to help my people, to work for women, and to work for their rights, and change something bad. That is my wish. That is my hope.”
Beane wanted to help, so he approached every college and university along Colorado’s Front Range. “Pretty much down the line, they wouldn’t really even talk to me,” Beane said. Colorado College and the University of Colorado were exceptions. Beane preferred CU, because his daughter is a CU student.
However, CU requires that prospective students have either an SAT or ACT score, and Yalda had not taken either test. Beane attended a presentation given by the campus chancellor and admissions director. The admissions official spoke about the dearth of racial diversity on campus.
Afterwards, Beane approached the admissions officer and lobbied for Yalda’s admission to CU: “If you want diversity, I can guarantee you there won’t be another student who looks like her.”
The SAT test still presented an obstacle, as Yalda was unable to take it. This is because, unlike the situation in most countries, neither the SAT or ACT test is offered in Afghanistan, to which she had returned and where she currently lives. And because Afghan students do not receive diplomas (which are also required for admission), the Afghan Ministry of Education had to produce a letter verifying that Yalda had graduated.
With that documentation from the Afghan government, the University of Colorado admitted Yalda, who was “ecstatic” upon hearing the news. She plans to matriculate this fall.
In the meantime, the Beanes have set up a scholarship fund via the CU Foundation. The scholarship is for incoming freshmen who were born in Afghanistan and studied in a Colorado high school as an exchange student.
Beane needs to raise a significant sum of money. (By law, Yalda is required to pay out-of-state tuition.) The responses from Beane’s friends, family and business associates have been positive. The first person Beane spoke to committed to donating $1,000 a year, but Beane understands that times are tough. All levels and sources of support, from a few bucks to a few thousand, from individuals or corporations, are welcome, appreciated and needed, he says.
On the web site dedicated to raising funds for Yalda’s tuition, Yalda herself acknowledges that economic times are tough. “I would appreciate it, however, if you would consider helping me with my dream of getting a college education. This education will help me make a difference for my people and my country. It will put me in a position to help ensure the abuses that happened under the Taliban and are prevalent even today will never again happen to women and children in Afghanistan.”
Yalda says she knows it is risky to challenge the status quo in Afghanistan. “It is, however, worth the fight.”
Susan Beane relates a story reflecting Yalda’s spirit: Shortly after Yalda arrived in Colorado, she and Susan Beane saw Mary Robinson, former president of Ireland, at Denver’s Buell Theater. During the question-and-answer period, Yalda asked this question:
“I am a 16-year-old exchange student from Afghanistan. … Girls and woman are not allowed to go to the movies, go out at night, and are forced into marriages as young as 12. Female teachers and students have been killed by the Taliban. I want to become president of Afghanistan and change this and help my country. What is your advice?”
After the presentation, Yalda was ushered backstage to see the former president of Ireland. Yalda was introduced to Mary Robinson this way: “Madame President, I want you to meet the future president of Afghanistan.”
To donate to the Afghan Scholarship in the CU College of Arts and Sciences, see http://www.cufund.org/giving-opportunities/fund-description/?id=5733.
By Clint Talbott
When Yalda was a child in Afghanistan, girls were not allowed to go to school. With the help of her father, she attended a secret school for girls where they taught English—until the Taliban extremists broke its windows, burned its books, roughed up her and her fellow students and arrested the teacher.
Now this young woman is 18 and has been accepted to the University of Colorado. She wants an American education so she can return and improve the conditions in “my lovely country,” a phrase she uses sincerely.
“I know there is terrorism in Afghanistan,” she said. “They grow opium in Afghanistan. There are Taliban and there are so many bad people. I know it’s embarrassing, but it’s not my country’s fault. I still love my country. There are people doing those kinds of stuff in Afghanistan, not my country.”
Today, violent religious zealots no longer bar her from getting an education. Still she faces a hurdle: the ability to pay for her American education.
A Colorado couple who sponsored Yalda as a high-school exchange student has taken up her cause. They have overcome international barriers and bureaucratic inertia that nearly derailed her admission to CU. Now they’ve helped to set up a scholarship for students who were born in Afghanistan. They are appealing for donors.
Yalda is known only by her first name (and is not being pictured here) because of the threat of violence to her or her family. The Taliban, Muslim extremists who ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001 (and who gave aid and comfort to al-Qaida terrorists), are resurgent in Afghanistan and have recently seized northern areas of Pakistan.
Yalda and her family have personally suffered Taliban violence. When the Taliban seized power, Yalda’s father went into hiding briefly. One day at 7 a.m., Yalda recalls, the Taliban pounded on the family’s door. When the door went unanswered, Taliban thugs burst into the home looking for the father, Yalda says.
“Where is he? We want to kill him,” they said. He had killed members of the Taliban, they said. “But that was wrong. My dad was a truck driver, not a soldier.”
Yalda’s mother said the father was at a mosque, whereupon the Taliban began beating her, Yalda said. They also beat Yalda’s grandfather, then 82.
“I jumped to help my mom,” Yalda recalled, but the Taliban smashed her head with the butt of a gun, knocking her unconscious. When she opened her eyes, they were gone.
Yalda’s grandfather never recovered from his injuries, she said. After the beating, he lingered for a time and later died.
Under Taliban rule, girls were not allowed to go to school. All females were required to wear “burqas,” heavy and hot garments that covered their heads entirely and also cloaked the rest of their bodies. Girls and women were not allowed to make eye contact with males. The Taliban decreed that windows of houses be painted black, so that passing men would not be tempted by the women inside.
A woman in Kabul, Afghanistan wears a burqa. Under Taliban rule, all women were required to wear burqas. Credit: Céline PIERRE, http://www.flickr.com/photos/36906902@N08/
Women accused of prostitution, adultery or domestic violence were executed, sometimes before a stadium full of onlookers who chanted “God is great” as their blood pooled in the dirt. Men or boys accused of theft by the Taliban would have their hands chopped off, often in public. Men accused of murder would be shot, and those accused of being spies or traitors could be hanged.
After the U.S.-led overthrow of the Taliban in 2001, women attained the right to vote, and girls the right to schooling. But as Time magazine reported last year, extremists still make it hard for girls to return to school.
Six years after the fall of the Taliban, only 30 percent of eligible girls are enrolled in school, Time reported. Further, in more than 80 percent of rural districts, no girls are enrolled in high school.
In 2007-08, Time reported, 130 schools were burned, 105 students and teachers were killed, and 307 schools (many for girls) were closed for security concerns. Taliban extremists were also suspected of attacking school girls with acid, just last year.
Education is an effective antidote to zealotry, which may help explain why it is so violently resisted.
Yalda was, relatively speaking, lucky. In 2006, she applied for the U.S. Statement Department’s Youth Exchange and Study program, which helps high school students in Muslim countries study in the United States. The program aims to promote “mutual understanding and respect.”
She spent her first semester in Maryland and her second at Douglas County High School in Castle Rock, Colo. Michael and Susan Beane were her Colorado host family.
Michael Beane explained their rationale for taking Yalda in. “Women in Afghanistan are treated like chattel,” he said. “We thought the least we could do to support the war effort is to take in an Afghan student.”
Beane, whom Yalda refers to as “my American father,” has special respect for Yalda’s biological father. “Yalda’s dad risked his life and risked her life to take her to school. … Her dad is what I would consider a saint.”
Yalda is extremely fearful of the Taliban. She is also extremely angry, Beane says.
At the same time, she has a “hunger for education.” Beane observed: “It’s partly because she legally could not get an education, only because she’s a woman. That really bothered her because she is a free spirit.”
During her time as an exchange student, Yalda embraced some aspects of Western culture. She likes pizza and the Beatles. She wears traditional scarves only on certain occasions. While still in high school, Yalda began talking about getting a degree and returning to Afghanistan “to make a difference.”
When she talks about her life in Afghanistan and America, Yalda mentions Sima Samar, a dogged critic of fundamentalist Islamic sharia laws, particularly those that oppress women.
“Everyone is proud of her,” Yalda said. “Hopefully, one day I’ll be like her, to help my country, to help my people, to work for women, and to work for their rights, and change something bad. That is my wish. That is my hope.”
Beane wanted to help, so he approached every college and university along Colorado’s Front Range. “Pretty much down the line, they wouldn’t really even talk to me,” Beane said. Colorado College and the University of Colorado were exceptions. Beane preferred CU, because his daughter is a CU student.
However, CU requires that prospective students have either an SAT or ACT score, and Yalda had not taken either test. Beane attended a presentation given by the campus chancellor and admissions director. The admissions official spoke about the dearth of racial diversity on campus.
Afterwards, Beane approached the admissions officer and lobbied for Yalda’s admission to CU: “If you want diversity, I can guarantee you there won’t be another student who looks like her.”
The SAT test still presented an obstacle, as Yalda was unable to take it. This is because, unlike the situation in most countries, neither the SAT or ACT test is offered in Afghanistan, to which she had returned and where she currently lives. And because Afghan students do not receive diplomas (which are also required for admission), the Afghan Ministry of Education had to produce a letter verifying that Yalda had graduated.
With that documentation from the Afghan government, the University of Colorado admitted Yalda, who was “ecstatic” upon hearing the news. She plans to matriculate this fall.
In the meantime, the Beanes have set up a scholarship fund via the CU Foundation. The scholarship is for incoming freshmen who were born in Afghanistan and studied in a Colorado high school as an exchange student.
Beane needs to raise a significant sum of money. (By law, Yalda is required to pay out-of-state tuition.) The responses from Beane’s friends, family and business associates have been positive. The first person Beane spoke to committed to donating $1,000 a year, but Beane understands that times are tough. All levels and sources of support, from a few bucks to a few thousand, from individuals or corporations, are welcome, appreciated and needed, he says.
On the web site dedicated to raising funds for Yalda’s tuition, Yalda herself acknowledges that economic times are tough. “I would appreciate it, however, if you would consider helping me with my dream of getting a college education. This education will help me make a difference for my people and my country. It will put me in a position to help ensure the abuses that happened under the Taliban and are prevalent even today will never again happen to women and children in Afghanistan.”
Yalda says she knows it is risky to challenge the status quo in Afghanistan. “It is, however, worth the fight.”
Susan Beane relates a story reflecting Yalda’s spirit: Shortly after Yalda arrived in Colorado, she and Susan Beane saw Mary Robinson, former president of Ireland, at Denver’s Buell Theater. During the question-and-answer period, Yalda asked this question:
“I am a 16-year-old exchange student from Afghanistan. … Girls and woman are not allowed to go to the movies, go out at night, and are forced into marriages as young as 12. Female teachers and students have been killed by the Taliban. I want to become president of Afghanistan and change this and help my country. What is your advice?”
After the presentation, Yalda was ushered backstage to see the former president of Ireland. Yalda was introduced to Mary Robinson this way: “Madame President, I want you to meet the future president of Afghanistan.”
To donate to the Afghan Scholarship in the CU College of Arts and Sciences, see http://www.cufund.org/giving-opportunities/fund-description/?id=5733.