Nine years ago, I stood on a stage a lot like this one. It was at the TEDWomen conference in Washington, DC, back in 2012. I was 22 years old, a woman with a college degree. That's nothing too exceptional to say here in the United States. In Afghanistan, my homeland, women like me were the exception.
九年前, 我曾站在类似的讲台上。 那是 2012 年在华盛顿召开的 TEDWomen 大会上, 我那时是一个 22 岁的, 拥有大学学位的女性。 在美国,这不值一提。 但在我的祖国阿富汗, 像我这样的女性是个例外。
It had been a little over a decade since the fall of the Taliban regime. A time when it was quite literally illegal for girls to go to school. The Afghan people had spent a decade rebuilding our nation and our lives. And when I stood on the TEDWomen stage, I challenged the world to dare to educate Afghan girls. The way I had just started doing at a place in Kabul called the School of Leadership, Afghanistan, or SOLA.
在塔利班政权 倒台的十多年后。 那时法律明文规定 禁止女孩上学。 阿富汗人民已花费十年时间 重建自己的国家和生活。 当我站在 TEDWomen 的台上时, 我向世界发出挑战 要为阿富汗女孩提供教育。 我为此在喀布尔创建一个机构 叫做阿富汗领导者学校 或 SOLA。
(Video) [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.
对我来说,阿富汗是一个充满希望 和无限可能性的国度。 并且 SOLA 中的女孩们, 每天都在提醒我这一点。 她们也像我一样,梦想远大。
That was then.
那是彼时 在 TedWomen 大会。
(Applause)
(掌声)
And this is now. And the Taliban are back.
今非昔比。 现在塔利班重获政权。
But I want you to know I haven't stopped dreaming. Neither have those girls of SOLA. We have taken our dreams and adapted them. Agility, adaptation, resilience. These concepts are core to everything that SOLA is. We have faced the uncertainty of what might be, and we have turned it into the certainty of what will be. I'll explain.
但我想让你们知道 我从未停止梦想。 SOLA 的女孩们也同样没有。 我们怀揣着梦想, 并随现实调整。 灵活,适应,坚韧。 这是理念是 SOLA 的核心根本。 我们面临过着巨大的不确定, 并且我们已将之转变为 可确定的未来。 我下面会进行解释。
Back in 2012, we ran a program where girls lived at SOLA but primarily studied at high schools in Kabul. And we secured scholarships for these girls to pursue their education overseas, including here in America. It worked. It worked well. But I realized I was contributing to something I never wanted to see: a brain drain of Afghanistan’s educated women. So I realized I had to adapt. I wanted to educate Afghan girls who would become educated Afghan women, who would then educate other girls. And all of them together over time would build a new Afghanistan from the bottom up, and they would be among its leaders. I needed a place where these girls would learn to read English and Koran. I needed a place where the administration and instructors would be women. A place where the notion of female leadership -- Afghan female leadership -- would become known for every student. I needed a place that quite simply did not exist in Afghanistan.
2012 年, 我们开展了一项为女孩子 提供在 SOLA 生活学习的项目, 但主要是为在喀布尔上高中的女孩子。 我们为这些女孩子提供了奖学金 来供她们继续在海外接受教育, 包括来美国接受教育。 这个项目成功了。 而且非常成功。 但我也意识到 项目开始朝着我不希望的方向发展: 受教育的阿富汗女性的流失。 因此,我意识到必须作出调整。 我想要阿富汗的女孩子接受教育, 她们作为受教育的女性, 继续教育其他的女性。 随着时间的推移,所有人齐心协力 自下而上建立一个新的阿富汗, 她们将成为领导阿富汗的一员。 我需要给这些女孩子 提供学习英语和可兰经的地方。 我需要这个地方由女性管理和教学。 一个女性领导的示范 — 阿富汗女性的领导才能—— 每一个学生都深有体会。 我需要在阿富汗建立 一个从未存在过的机构。
So my team and I created it. In 2016, SOLA became a full-fledged boarding school for girls. The first and only in Afghanistan.
我的团队和我共同创建了它。 2016 年,SOLA 成为专门为女孩子 提供寄宿和学习的地方。 这在阿富汗是 第一个也是唯一的地方。
(Applause)
(掌声)
That year, we enrolled 24 girls in sixth grade. By 2021, we had enrolled nearly 100 girls in grades six to 11. I'll tell you something I'm very proud of. In 2016, we drew girls from 14 of Afghanistan's 34 provinces. This year, we have girls from 28 provinces.
那一年,我们招收了 24 名六年级的女学生。 到 2021 年, 我们共计招收了接近 100 名六年级 至十一年纪的女学生。 接下来分享我感到非常骄傲的成果。 2016 年, 我们吸引了阿富汗三十四省份中 其中十四个省份的女学生。 今年,我们招收了 来自二十八个省份的女学生。
(Applause)
(掌声)
Imagine you are a girl from one of these provinces coming to SOLA. You've probably never lived away from your family. As you can see, we have obscured their faces for their safety. But when you arrive on campus, an older sister will be there for you. She will be beside you as you pray in the campus mosque; she will eat with you; she will help you with your schoolwork. You are from different provinces, different ethnicities, but you are united by sisterhood. By your identity as Afghan girls.
想象一下来自这些省份中 的女孩子来 SOLA 学习。 你可能从未离开家庭居住。 你也看到,出于安全考虑 我们模糊了她们的面孔。 但当你来到校园, 一个年长的姐妹将在那里帮助你。 当你在校园的 清真寺祈祷时她在你身边; 她同你一起用餐; 她帮助你完成学校作业。 你来自不同的省份,不同的民族, 但是姊妹情谊 把你们紧密联系在一起。 你们都是阿富汗女孩。
Educating girls, breaking barriers, this is what we do at SOLA. We became known for this nationwide. Parents came to us from across Afghanistan asking us to admit their daughters.
女孩子们接受教育,打破藩篱, 这就是我们 SOLA 的事业。 我们开始在全国闻名。 来自阿富汗各地的父母到这里 请我们接收他们的女儿入学。
I remember one father in particular, from a rural province, and one of his daughters was already a student with us. This was back in 2019, and I remember him coming to campus and sitting in my office. He was trying to convince me to admit another one of his daughters. On his way out, he stopped in the doorway, turned around and looked at me, and completely calmly, he said, "When the Taliban come back, please promise that you will burn my daughter's records. If the Taliban know my daughter studies here, they will kill my family." Remember, this was 2019. Two years ago. He didn't say "if the Taliban come back." He said "when." I promised him that I would do what he asked. And this summer ... I did.
我印象最深的是一位父亲, 他来自乡村的省份, 他的一个女儿已经在我们学校学习。 那是在 2019 年, 我记得他到校园里, 坐在我的办公室。 他想要说服我 去接收他的另一个女儿入学。 他离开前,在走廊里停下, 转身看着我,非常平静地说, “塔利班回来的时候, 请你保证 把有关我女儿的学习记录全部烧毁。 如果塔利班知道 我的女儿曾在这里学习, 他们会杀害我们全家。” 记住,这是在 2019 年。 两年之前。 他没有说“如果塔利班回来。” 他说的是“当塔利班回来。” 我向他承诺,我会按照他的请求去做。 到了今年夏天... 我做到了。
What you're seeing here are the records of my students burning. We set this fire to protect every girl who's ever studied at SOLA. This was mid-August. Right as the Taliban were about to enter Kabul. Less than two weeks later, nearly 250 members of the SOLA community, students, staff and family members, were out of Afghanistan and safe in the nation of Rwanda.
你在这里看到的 是销毁学生学习记录的场景。 我们点燃了这场大火 去保护每个曾经 在 SOLA 学习的女孩子。 那是在八月中旬。 那是塔利班即将进入喀布尔。 不到两周时间, 大约 250 名 SOLA 社区的成员, 包括学生,员工和家庭成员, 全部撤离阿富汗并安全转移到卢旺达。
(Applause)
(掌声)
I will say this again. When you face the uncertainty of what might be, you can turn it into the certainty of what will be.
我想再次强调。 当你面临某件事 可能发生的不确定时, 你可以把它转变为 一定会发生的确定性。
SOLA's departure from Afghanistan made headlines. And I think it has drawn the attention partly because how swiftly the Taliban took over Afghanistan and how quickly so much of what was beautiful about my country turned to dust. But what these stories don't usually tell you is that we had been quietly planning for this day of our departure for most of the year. I had that conversation with my student's father in December 2019. The United States signed an agreement with the Taliban in February 2020. And the US announced its unconditional withdrawal from Afghanistan in April 2021. These dates were like signposts on a road I never wanted to be on. I couldn't see far enough down that road to be certain about it's end. But what I was certain of was that I would not sit passively by and let that road lead me.
SOLA 撤离阿富汗 这一事件登上了新闻头条。 我想它确实引起了人们的注意, 部分因为塔利班 迅速重新占领了阿富汗, 同时我美丽的祖国迅速变成了灰烬。 但是新闻报道通常不会告诉你 我们在这一年中花费很多时间 默默进行着撤离的准备。 2019 年 12 月 我与学生的父亲进行了那场谈话。 2020 年 2 月 美国与塔利班签订了协议。 之后在 2021 年 4 月, 美国宣布无条件从阿富汗撤离。 这些日期像是路标, 标记着我永远不愿走上的那条路。 我无法看到这条道路的尽头, 无法确定它将通往何处。 但是我确定我无法被动地接受 被动地沿着这条道路走下去。
This spring, we started making plans to bring our students overseas for a study abroad program. This takes time. We needed to identify potential host nations; we needed parents to grant permission; we needed to speak with officials and gather our resources. It takes time, and all the while you're moving down that road, going faster, gaining momentum toward what lies at the end. There is a lot about this that I still cannot talk about. Some of it is for security reasons. And some of it is for personal reasons. This is still very raw for me.
今年春天, 我们开始计划将学生带往海外 在海外进行学习。 这需要时间。 我们需要确定可以接收我们的国家; 我们需要获得家长许可; 我们需要跟官方沟通, 集中我们的资源。 一切都需要时间, 当你沿着那条道路行进,越来越块, 不由自主地加速到达那个终点。 这个过程的很多故事 我至今仍无法讲述。 一部分出于安全原因。 一部分出于个人原因。 它对我来说仍然非常痛苦。
I never imagined Afghanistan would fall as fast as it did. No one imagined it. But I will tell you this. On August 1, we were bringing our students back to Kabul after their semester break. On August 15, the Taliban were in Kabul and in control. And on August 30, we were holding our second day of classes at our new campus in Rwanda with our entire community together and safe.
我从未想到 阿富汗能够以这样极快的速度陷落。 没人能想到。 但是我告诉你们, 在 8 月 1 日, 我们把学生带回了喀布尔, 那时她们的假期刚结束。 8 月 15 日, 塔利班进入并控制了喀布尔。 8 月 30 日, 在卢旺达的新校区里 我们开始了第二天的教学, 所有的社区成员都安全地在一起。
(Applause)
(掌声)
That is how fast things can move. And that's what anyone, not just me, but anyone can accomplish when you accept the uncertainty of what might be, and through careful contingency planning, turn it into the certainty of what will be. You will find yourself somewhere new. And different. Adapting and succeeding. And sometimes, you will know you have left a light on to help you find your way home.
事态可以如此迅速发展。 不止是我,任何人, 一旦你接受可能的不确定性, 任何人都能够达成目标, 通过小心拟定应变计划, 将可能的事情变为肯定。 你将发现身处一个新的位置。 一个不同的处境。 随机应变并继续成功。 有时候, 你将知道你留下了 一盏帮助你回家的灯。
What you're seeing here is something that I very rarely show publicly. Earlier, I talked about SOLA's campus in Kabul. That campus is a series of rented buildings that we have converted into classroom and residential space. But what you're seeing here is something very different. This is a perimeter wall that rings a parcel of land in the heart of Kabul city, land that SOLA holds legal rights to. This is the land where we're going to build a permanent campus, where Afghan girls will come to live and study in safety. We cleared this land ourselves, all 18,000 cubic meters of landfill. We raised this wall ourselves. We knew we would face opposition, and we planned for it. We spoke with our neighbors, explaining how valuable an educated girl is to her family, explaining how one day their daughters could apply to study at SOLA. And our neighbors became some of our strongest allies. We spoke with high-level government officials who complained that this land was too valuable to be wasted on educating girls. And we convinced them otherwise. Those officials, of course, aren't in government anymore. Afghanistan has new leaders. And while this is a sensitive topic, I can say that it's quite possible that construction on this new campus might resume relatively soon. Time will tell.
你在这里看到的,我很少公开展示。 早先,我提到了 SOLA 在喀布尔的校园。 我们承租了一些建筑并加以改造 成为教室和居住区域。 但你在这里看到的非常不同。 这是一道围墙, 围住了喀布尔市中心的一块土地, SOLA 是这片土地的合法拥有者。 在这里我们将建设一个永久的校园, 阿富汗的女孩子 将能够在这里安全地学习和生活。 我们自己动手清理了这片土地, 一共 18000 立方米的土地填埋。 我们建起了这道围墙。 我们知道会面临反对声, 但我们做好了准备。 我们同邻居对话, 向他们解释一个受过教育的女孩 对她的家庭来说是多么地珍贵, 未来他们的女儿 可以申请在 SOLA 学习。 就这样,我们的邻居变成了 我们最强大的支持者之一。 我们同政府高层对话, 他们曾抱怨说这块土地太有价值, 用作建设教育女孩子 的校园是一种浪费。 而我们说服了他们。 那些官方人员, 当然现在已经不再是官方人员。 阿富汗现在有了新的领导人。 虽然这是一个敏感的话题, 我可以说, 新校园的建设可能会很快重启。 时间会告诉我们。
Nine years ago, I stood on a TEDWomen stage, and I said 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.
九年前, 我站在 TEDWomen 的演讲台上, 我说阿富汗是一个 充满希望和无数可能性的国度。 每一天, SOLA 的女孩子们 都在这样提醒着我。 像我一样,她们梦想远大。
Earlier this year, I was on SOLA's campus in Kabul interviewing a girl who was applying for sixth grade. I asked her why she wanted to come to SOLA, which is a question I ask all our applicants. She said, "I have dreamed of this. I've dreamed of coming to SOLA ever since I was a little girl." In all these years that I have interviewed girls from across Afghanistan, this was the first time that a young girl said that to me. Why do I keep doing what I do, despite the risk that comes with it and all the uncertainty? Because Afghanistan is a country of hope and dreams. It's my home. And it always will be. And now, out there in the most remote corners of Afghanistan, are young girls, dreaming to attend SOLA.
今年年初, 我在喀布尔的 SOLA 校园 面试一个申请入学六年级的一个女孩。 我问她为什么她想到 SOLA 来, 我会问每一个申请人这个问题。 她说, “这是我一直以来的梦想。 从我很小的时候, 我就一直梦想着来 SOLA 学习。” 这么多年我面试了 很多来自阿富汗各地的女孩, 这是第一次一个 年轻的女孩这样告诉我。 即使它伴随着无数的危险和不确定, 为什么我坚持做这件事? 因为阿富汗是一个 充满希望和梦想的国度。 它是我的家乡。 它永远是我的家乡。 现在,阿富汗最偏远地区的女孩子 梦想着一天能去 SOLA 上学。
My community, my students are settling and thriving in Rwanda. And I'm so grateful we're there. I see Afghanistan now through TV news reports or on my phone, when friends, still in Afghanistan, call me. But SOLA is there too. We have planted roots that can never be destroyed.
我的社区, 我的学生在卢旺达安顿下来, 茁壮成长。 我们能够到那里,我非常感激。 我现在从电视新闻报道中看到阿富汗 或者是通过手机, 与那些仍然在阿富汗的朋友们通话。 但是 SOLA 仍然在那里。 我们已经扎下了根, 这个根基永远不会被毁坏。
Nine years ago, I challenged the world to dare to educate Afghan girls. Those girls are young women now. And they will do what Afghan women have always done. Meet uncertainty head on and rise above it. I know they will do their part. But they, we need something from you, all of you here and watching this.
九年前, 我向世界发出挑战 去教育阿富汗的女孩子。 这些女孩子现在 已经成了年轻的女人。 她们将继续 那些阿富汗女性一直在做的: 面对着不确定昂首向前。 我知道她们将尽她们所能。 但是她们, 我们,需要你们的帮助, 在坐的各位, 还有看到这场演讲的各位。
So today I issue another challenge to the world. Do not look away. As the noise dies down, and Afghanistan slips from the front pages, do not look away.
所以今天我向世界发出新的挑战。 不要视而不见。 随着尘嚣散去, 阿富汗不再是头版头条, 不要视而不见。
In nine years, it will be the year 2030. It's the year I will celebrate my 40th birthday. So here is my dream, my birthday wish. In nine years, I hope to be speaking with you again from SOLA’s campus in Kabul, with all of my students there. I will see you then, if you do not look away.
九年之后,将是 2030 年。 这一年我会庆祝我四十岁生日。 这是我的梦想, 我的生日愿望。 九年后, 我希望能够再次 在 SOLA 喀布尔校区对你们演讲, 我的所有学生都会在那里。 我们会在那里见, 只要你不去视而不见。
Thank you.
谢谢。
(Applause)
(掌声)