When I was 11, I remember waking up one morning to the sound of joy in my house. My father was listening to BBC News on his small, gray radio. There was a big smile on his face which was unusual then, because the news mostly depressed him.
Ko mi je bilo 11 let, se spomnim, da sem se nekega jutra prebudila in v hiši se je slišalo zvoke veselja. Moj oče je poslušal novice na BBC-ju na svojem malem sivem radiu. Na njegovem obrazu je bil širok nasmeh, kar je bilo za tisti čas nenavadno, saj so ga novice po navadi potrle.
"The Taliban are gone!" my father shouted.
"Talibanov ni več!" je zaklical.
I didn't know what it meant, but I could see that my father was very, very happy.
Nisem vedela, kaj to pomeni, a videla sem, da je bil moj oče izjemno srečen.
"You can go to a real school now," he said.
Rekel je: "Zdaj greš lahko v pravo šolo."
A morning that I will never forget. A real school. You see, I was six when the Taliban took over Afghanistan and made it illegal for girls to go to school. So for the next five years, I dressed as a boy to escort my older sister, who was no longer allowed to be outside alone, to a secret school. It was the only way we both could be educated. Each day, we took a different route so that no one would suspect where we were going. We would cover our books in grocery bags so it would seem we were just out shopping. The school was in a house, more than 100 of us packed in one small living room. It was cozy in winter but extremely hot in summer. We all knew we were risking our lives -- the teacher, the students and our parents. From time to time, the school would suddenly be canceled for a week because Taliban were suspicious. We always wondered what they knew about us. Were we being followed? Do they know where we live? We were scared, but still, school was where we wanted to be.
Tega jutra ne bom nikoli pozabila. V pravo šolo. Ko so Talibani zavzeli Afganistan, sem bila stara šest. Dekleta po njihovem zakonu niso smela hoditi v šolo. Nadaljnjih pet let sem oblečena kot fant svojo starejšo sestro, ki ni več smela ven sama, spremljala v skrivno šolo. Le tako sva lahko obe prišli do izobrazbe. Vsak dan sva šli po drugi poti, da ne bi nihče posumil, kam greva. Svoje knjige sva skrili v nakupovalne vrečke, da bi bilo videti, kot da sva šli le po nakupih. Šola je bila v hiši in več kot 100 se nas je drenjalo v eni majhni dnevni sobi. Pozimi je bilo prijetno, a neverjetno vroče poleti. Vsi smo vedeli, da tvegamo svoje življenje: učiteljica, učenci in naši starši. Vsake toliko, je pouk bil odpovedan za en teden, ker so bili Talibani sumničavi. Vedno smo se spraševali, kaj vedo o nas. Ali nam sledijo? Ali vedo, kje živimo? Bilo nas je strah, a smo vseeno želeli biti v šoli.
I was very lucky to grow up in a family where education was prized and daughters were treasured. My grandfather was an extraordinary man for his time. A total maverick from a remote province of Afghanistan, he insisted that his daughter, my mom, go to school, and for that he was disowned by his father. But my educated mother became a teacher. There she is. She retired two years ago, only to turn our house into a school for girls and women in our neighborhood. And my father -- that's him -- he was the first ever in his family to receive an education. There was no question that his children would receive an education, including his daughters, despite the Taliban, despite the risks. To him, there was greater risk in not educating his children. During Taliban years, I remember there were times I would get so frustrated by our life and always being scared and not seeing a future. I would want to quit, but my father, he would say, "Listen, my daughter, you can lose everything you own in your life. Your money can be stolen. You can be forced to leave your home during a war. But the one thing that will always remain with you is what is here, and if we have to sell our blood to pay your school fees, we will. So do you still not want to continue?"
Imela sem srečo, da sem odrasla v družini, v kateri so bile izobrazba pomembna in hčere cenjene. Moj ded je bil za svoj čas neverjeten človek. Bil je upornik iz osamljene province Afganistana in vztrajal je, da bo njegova hči, moja mama, hodila v šolo. Zaradi tega ga je njegov oče razdedinil. A moja izobražena mama je postala učiteljica. To je ona. Pred dvema letoma se je upokojila in našo hišo spremenila v šolo za dekleta in ženske v naši soseski. Moj oče pa -- to je on -- je bil prvi v družini, ki si je pridobil izobrazbo. Ni bilo dvoma, da bodo njegovi otroci izobraženi, kar je vključevalo tudi njegove hčere. Kljub Talibanom, kljub tveganju. Zanj je bilo večje tveganje, da njegovi otroci ne bi bili izobraženi. Med leti Talibanov se spomnim, da me je občasno spravljalo ob živce naše življenje, to, da me je vedno bilo strah ter da nisem videla prihodnosti. Hotela sem prenehati, a moj oče je dejal: "Poslušaj, hči moja, v življenju lahko zgubiš vse, kar imaš. Denar ti lahko ukradejo. Lahko si prisiljen zapustiti dom med vojno. A s teboj vedno ostane, kar imaš tukaj. Če bomo morali prodati svojo kri, da bi plačali šolnino, jo bomo. Ali še vedno želiš odnehati?"
Today I am 22. I was raised in a country that has been destroyed by decades of war. Fewer than six percent of women my age have made it beyond high school, and had my family not been so committed to my education, I would be one of them. Instead, I stand here a proud graduate of Middlebury College.
Danes sem stara 22 let. Odrasla sem v državi, ki so jo uničila desetletja vojn. Manj kot šest odstotkov žensk moje starosti ima narejeno več kot srednjo šolo in, če moja družina ne bi bila tako predana moji izobrazbi, bi bila ena izmed njih. Namesto tega sem ponosna diplomantka kolidža Middlebury.
(Applause)
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When I returned to Afghanistan, my grandfather, the one exiled from his home for daring to educate his daughters, was among the first to congratulate me. He not only brags about my college degree, but also that I was the first woman, and that I am the first woman to drive him through the streets of Kabul.
Ko sem se vrnila v Afganistan, je bil moj ded, ki so ga, ker si je drznil izobraziti svoje hčere, izgnali, prvi, ki mi je čestital. Ne le, da se hvali z mojo diplomo, ampak tudi s tem, da sem bila prva ženska in sem prva ženska, ki ga je peljala po ulicah Kabula z avtomobilom.
(Applause)
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My family believes in me. I dream big, but my family dreams even bigger for me. That's why I am a global ambassador for 10x10, a global campaign to educate women. That's why I cofounded SOLA, the first and perhaps only boarding school for girls in Afghanistan, a country where it's still risky for girls to go to school. The exciting thing is that I see students at my school with ambition grabbing at opportunity. And I see their parents and their fathers who, like my own, advocate for them, despite and even in the face of daunting opposition.
Moj družina verjame vame. Moje sanje so velike, a sanje moje družine so še večje. Zato sem svetovna ambasadorka za 10x10, kar je globalna kampanja za izobraževanje žensk. Zato sem tudi soustanovila ustanovo SOLA, ki je prvi in verjetno edini internat za dekleta v Afganistanu, v državi, kjer je za dekleta še vedno nevarno hoditi v šolo. Vznemirljivo je, da vidim, da so učenci na moji šoli ambiciozni, ko zgrabijo priložnost. Vidim, kako njihovi straši, ki se kot moji borijo zanje, tudi ko se soočijo z neomajnim nasprotovanjem.
Like Ahmed. That's not his real name, and I cannot show you his face, but Ahmed is the father of one of my students. Less than a month ago, he and his daughter were on their way from SOLA to their village, and they literally missed being killed by a roadside bomb by minutes. As he arrived home, the phone rang, a voice warning him that if he sent his daughter back to school, they would try again.
Kot Ahmed. To ni njegovo pravo ime in ne smem vam pokazati njegovega obraza, a Ahmed je oče ene izmed mojih učenk. Manj kot mesec nazaj sta on in njegova hči bila na poti od SOLE do svoje vasi. Če bi bila nekaj minut hitrejša, bi ju ubila bomba ob cesti. Ko sta prispela domov, je zazvonil telefon in nekdo ga je posvaril, da bodo, če bo svojo hči poslal nazaj v šolo, poskusili še enkrat.
"Kill me now, if you wish," he said, "but I will not ruin my daughter's future because of your old and backward ideas."
Rekel je: "Če želite, me ubijte zdaj, ker ne bom uničil prihodnosti svoje hčere zaradi vaših starih in nazadnjaških idej."
What I've come to realize about Afghanistan, and this is something that is often dismissed in the West, that behind most of us who succeed is a father who recognizes the value in his daughter and who sees that her success is his success. It's not to say that our mothers aren't key in our success. In fact, they're often the initial and convincing negotiators of a bright future for their daughters, but in the context of a society like in Afghanistan, we must have the support of men. Under the Taliban, girls who went to school numbered in the hundreds -- remember, it was illegal. But today, more than three million girls are in school in Afghanistan.
O Afganistanu sem spoznala nekaj, kar pogosto spregledajo na Zahodu. To je, da za večino tistih, ki nam uspe, stoji oče, ki prepozna vrednost svoje hčere in ki vidi, da je njen uspeh tudi njegov uspeh. To ne pomeni, da matere niso ključnega pomena pri našem uspehu. Pravzaprav so pogosto začetni in prepričljivi pogajalci za svetlo prihodnost svojih hčera, a v socialnem kontekstu, kot je ta v Afganistanu, potrebujemo podporo moških. Pod oblastjo Talibanov, je bilo deklet, ki so hodile v šolo, na stotine -- spominjam vas, da je bilo to nezakonito. Danes pa je v Afganistanu v šoli več kot trije milijoni deklet.
(Applause)
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Afghanistan looks so different from here in America. I find that Americans see the fragility in changes. I fear that these changes will not last much beyond the U.S. troops' withdrawal. But when I am back in Afghanistan, when I see the students in my school and their parents who advocate for them, who encourage them, I see a promising future and lasting change. To me, Afghanistan is a country of hope and boundless possibilities, and every single day the girls of SOLA remind me of that. Like me, they are dreaming big.
Afganistan je videti tako drugačen iz Amerike. Opažam, da se Američanom te spremembe zdijo krhke. Bojim se, da te spremembe ne bodo trajne po odhodu ameriške vojske. Pa vendar, ko sem v Afganistanu in v svoji šoli vidim učenke in njihove starše, ki se borijo zanje, ki jih spodbujajo, vidim obetavno prihodnost in trajne spremembe. Zame je Afganistan dežela upanja in neštetih možnosti, in na to me vsak dan spominjajo dekleta v SOLI. Tako kot jaz imajo tudi one velike sanje.
Thank you.
Hvala.
(Applause)
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