The injustices swirling around Planet Earth have always been, and continue to be, far too numerous to list. I sometimes think that man’s first words were “Hey, I’ve been waiting patiently for this cave. You can’t just walk in like you own it.” We have always been prey to all sorts of unfairness. We simply muck along, dragging our grievances, both real and imagined, behind us. But most of us who live in the US, are, in spite of a President who is a blatant criminal, a health care system not designed for anyone’s health, and an educational system that should be sent to the principal’s office, pretty well off. Our lives are not at risk. Our rights have not, for the most part, been eliminated. We are not punished for our gender.
I have, for the last few years, been priveleged to get to know many young women from Afghanistan whose lives, unlike ours, have been threatened, whose rights have been erased, whose gender makes them ineligible for even the most basic of activities like going to school and working. They live in a culture that, baby-making aside, has erased them from awareness or from consideration.
Their support, their frame of reference, their social sphere, is their family. The average Afghan family is large and close and fiercely devoted to each other. Add to it the uncles and aunts and cousins, and you have the makings of a small village. It is the family that protects them from a society that would do otherwise. In middle class families daughters do not marry very young. And they don’t leave home until they are married. They are of value within the family.
The young women I know are intelligent, intellectually curious and have a thirst to know what goes on in the world. In a reality other than theirs, they would be in college or grad school or law school or med school. Their value to their society would be incalculable. Home would be a place to visit their families at holidays, not a place in which they are confined each day.
I see how devoted they are to their families and to their religion and to the fascinating fabric of their ancient culture. And I am amazed at how easily they they can still find joy and still laugh, especially when they make fun of themselves. In a society that affords them little or no value, they have learned to bestow value on themselves. It is fascinatng and heartbreaking at the same time.
I will be forever thankful to be associated with this program, the Afghan Hub, which started several years ago and is part of the international teensdream.org program, itself a part of Global Colab LLC. We now offer online English classes and a blog, so that these young women can continue to learn and their voices can be heard. And if you choose to read their words, your own life may never be quite the same. I am grateful for that in my own life.
Check out voicesfromkabul.blog. Let these remarkeable young women speak to you. We exist only because people care and donate money. If you are moved to help us continue this program, check out the link below.
Life in the Boomer Lane 
Posted on August 31, 2026 by renee1947
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