BY SHABNAM HASSANZADA | KABUL It is clear to everyone that the last two decades of war have had negative effects on Afghanistan and Afghans. Thousands of people were killed. Millions left Afghanistan to immigrate to foreign countries. The economic, political, social, cultural and educational foundations were destroyed.
I am an Afghan who was born in war, grew up in war and lived in war for a long period of my life. From the time I opened my eyes to this world, I saw and remembered war. The very first sounds I heard were of guns and fighting. The first smells were of dead bodies and blood.
I was born at the very end of Dr. Najibullah’s Government. My father was a police officer working in the Ministry of Interior. I was a three-month old baby when I lost my father. When he died, I was with my mother, elder sister, grandma and aunts (my father’s mother and sisters) in Kabul city.
I passed my childhood at home, no fun, and no school, not like ordinary kids in other countries who were having a real taste of a colorful life. Of course, it was not only me who had the black and white life; there were millions of kids like me in this land. As a child, I never knew what it meant to go to school. I only heard about school from my family. But my family used to teach me at home because my mother and aunts were educated; they were teachers.
Finally this dark period ended and a new hope rose up. The Taliban disappeared, a new government settled in Afghanistan and, like other Afghan girls, I joined school and started studying.
It was at the end of 2002 that I was selected as the best student of the academic year in my school. I had passed the 7th grade and was soon to begin the 8th. I was on my winter holidays and it was morning when I received a call from the principal of my school. She told me that I needed to go to Ministry of Education in the afternoon because there was a competition among the best students of Kabul and a few other cities in Afghanistan. “We have selected you as the representative of our school”, and I said, “Yes Madam, thank you.”
It was at 2 pm that about 300 students, who were the top students of the academic year in their schools, gathered at the Ministry. Then I discovered that it was not only a competition to choose the best among us, but it was the competition for a one month scholarship to USA.
We all went through a long process of interviews and written exams. In the end, only 12 among the 300 were selected for the one month scholarship in USA for the 2003 Seeds of Peace Summer camp, a program of peace for teenagers from countries that had been in conflict for decades.
SEEDS OF PEACE:
‘Seeds of Peace’ is a non-profit, non-political organization that helps teenagers from regions of conflict to learn the skills of making peace, in a safe environment—an environment where they can air their views and learn the leadership and conflict resolution techniques required to end the cycle of war.
In 2003, for my first encounter with the Seeds of Peace organization I traveled to the USA to attend their summer camp in the state of Maine. When I entered the gate with my delegation from Afghanistan, I stopped to look at the flags representing all the participating countries, as well as the very special flag of ‘Seeds of Peace’.
We had different programs daily at the camp however we soon start to live together, eating and sleeping under one roof, although we were from different ethnic groups, different backgrounds, cultures and religions. It was not an easy process to get on with one another but in all our activities we learned to see others, not as enemies but as human beings who shared a similar wants and needs—Peace.
An important part of the daily program was to practice co-existence with countries we had been in conflict with. Afghans and Americans were in the same group because September 11th had changed and affected both countries. In these dialogue sessions, we learned to listen to others in the hope that they too would listen to us. As members of a group who shared a vision, we discussed what we were willing to do for peace.
At the ‘Seeds of Peace’ camp, I met teenagers from other countries who had experienced the same pain as I, who had lost family members, who had had that same kind of black and white life. As a girl, who had felt that she had little value in a country like Afghanistan, I learned to trust myself and to know that I am as worthy a human being as a boy. There was no gender discrimination at the camp. My experience there gave me the energy to change my life and believe that peace is achievable when our enemy becomes our friend.
After returning home I was not that girl who only wanted to study. I had seen the world beyond myself. I knew that I had to move on. This was the time. I have had enough experience. I have a vision. I want to know who I am. I want to see the world and I also want to know my own country and my own people. I want to see all the colors of life that I have not seen before.
When I came home from the ‘Seeds of Peace’ camp, I first told my story to my family and friends and then my schoolmates. Since that time, I have attended many seeds of peace activities in my country, in South Asia and in other seeds of peace countries. We have meetings here in Kabul; we do volunteer work; we bring new youth into the group.
So now I am an Ambassador of Peace and I will be that forever because this Seeds of Peace Organization has given me a new birth and a vision for life.