I Left My Country And Became A Refugee To Get Education: Mursal Mohammadi

Women and girls experience a very different kind of terror in times of war. While they are exposed to lethal or traumatic situations, they experience exacerbated sexual violence, physical and verbal abuse, barriers to accessing resources, and violations of their human rights.

Though war takes so much from the people, women and girls pay a prolonged price in the face of violence and even losing access to basic rights like education.

Education is a life-long learning process that actively contributes to building just, peaceful, and sustainable societies. A United Nations report has found that 130 million girls globally are denied the human right to education – a fundamental, transformative, and empowering right for every human being.

All States have made commitments to realize the right to education for all, but in reality, fewer than half of the world’s countries have achieved gender parity in primary education. Denying girls and other vulnerable groups their fundamental right to education is a debilitating form of discrimination.

Mursal Mohammadi On Education

Conflicts have disrupted the education of women in my country for decades now. Afghanistan is the only nation where girls are prohibited from entering schools and universities, depriving them of secondary education. Thus young girls lead isolated lives filled with uncertainty.

My sisters and I would have been the second generation going to school and university. However, like millions of Afghan women, my grandmother and mother didn't have access to education. The conflicts had always made access to education challenging or impossible but my mother tried hard so that we could experience the life-changing power of education.

Despite all challenges, we tried to continue our education but there has always been a threat in one way or another. In fact, society has always created some or the other barriers for women. Right now, women are prohibited from stepping out alone in Afghanistan while in some areas they might be allowed but it’s not safe for them at all.

I believe I was among the lucky ones, as my parents used to shield me from threats and ensure my safety on the way to school, but I wonder, how many girls in Afghanistan are fortunate enough to be shielded by men in their families? How long do we have to wait for a society where women and girls can walk freely on the roads and access their basic right of education without any barriers? How many more young women will abandon their dreams just because they are the targets of discrimination in society? Well, it is high time we think about all of the above questions.

After years of struggles for our rights, the uncertain situation in my country forced me and my family to flee from Afghanistan in 2017. Coming to India and finding yourself in a new country and environment was exciting, but it came with a lot of challenges. Especially when it comes to education, as a refugee, it is never easy to find opportunities. Moreover, I always believed in the power of education and, hence, never gave up.

Since I was struggling to get admission to a university, I decided to use my capabilities to support my community in all ways possible. In 2018, I started working as the leader of a youth club in BOSCO (a UNHCR partner), where we were providing opportunities for refugee youths to participate in educational and social activities.

Working as a youth leader helped me in connecting with the people who can support me in my educational journey. With the support of a young refugee, I was finally able to get university admission. To ensure that the youth of our community get the education and opportunities they deserve, we both encouraged and supported nine more refugee youths to get into university. Young people across this country are energetic and innovative and need the tools and information to unleash their potential.

Higher education in college, along with extracurricular activities, helped me to enhance my skills. In 2021, I participated in a programme supported by UNHCR. These programmes gave me the much-needed platforms to speak up for refugees. While education can transform life, millions of refugees do not have access to education right now. In a letter for UNHCR GLOBAL APPEAL 2021, I wrote about the importance of education for refugees.

One of these programmes supported me to learn and practice visual storytelling which is a powerful way to put your words and ideas out. Going through challenges both for education and displacement, I always wanted to use a medium to share my own stories and other young people's and women’s stories. Being part of a visual storytelling programme by UNHCR India, I could narrate what ‘Home and Belongingness’ means to me through my own lens. The ‘Home and Belongingness’ photo book was published by UNHCR in April 2022. This program also encouraged me to continue my career as a documentary photographer and visual storyteller. In my works, I focus on identity, gender equality, refugees, and displacement. I wish and hope to amplify the voices of women, especially Afghan Women and my fellow refugees, through the power of visual storytelling.

In April 2022, I was fortunate to get selected as a UN India YuWaah Advocate, where I am working on education and gender equality SDGs. I am one of the 6 young people chosen by UN in India and YuWaah (Generation Unlimited in India) at UNICEF, who along with UNFPA, UNDP, UN Volunteers, UNEP and UNHCR are building capacities and providing platforms for young people to lead. 

I believe that a single powerful story can empower so many people. That is why I look at refugee women as brave women who have overcome many challenges and their story has to be shared and remembered. To create greater impacts, I want to use storytelling and continue working with young people through visual stories and social activities.

For young people to endure war and crisis, education is just as essential as food and water. We are living in a world where a person is compelled to leave their home every two seconds due to conflicts and disasters. Knowing that higher education is a crucial pathway for refugees and people in war-torn countries, especially young women, to reclaim their agency and security, our global education systems are still far from responsive.

I am not only sharing my story to empower young girls but I want my story to encourage everyone to do something and give it back to society. Youth from refugee camps or those living in crises should have equal access to education, and it’s time to ensure that and stand together for the same.

Authored article written by Independent Documentary Photographer and UN India Yuwaah Advocate Mursal Mohammadi