A young woman in Afghanistan wrote this letter to us, from her home, to Hear Her Stories.
I am writing from Afghanistan.
I want to write about my days, days that pass in darkness. Every morning begins with a new rule imposed on women. Every day I wake up feeling more hopeless, more exhausted than the day before.
Going outside is no longer simple, when women are arrested for their clothing, for being in public, or sometimes for no reason at all. People lose the courage to leave their homes. New restrictions are announced almost every day. Sometimes it feels as if even breathing has become difficult in this country.
The world I live in today is the same terrifying world my mother used to tell me about. She spoke of the days when women were beaten in the streets because of their hijab, when they were forbidden to work, and when their lives were confined to the walls of their homes.
Those stories felt so distant to me, almost impossible to believe. I never imagined that one day I would be living in that very nightmare.
Today there is no education, no university, no work, and very little hope. Forced marriages, the denial of education, the ban on women’s employment, and countless other restrictions have made women’s lives smaller and darker with each passing day.
Sometimes I feel that what we are living through is even worse than the stories my mother once told me.
The past now feels like a dream. I still remember my mother waking me up early in the morning, reminding me to eat breakfast so I would not be hungry in class.
My father used to drive me to university. On my way home I walked with my classmates, talking, laughing, and enjoying the simple moments that made life beautiful.
At night I studied with excitement, looking forward to the next day and dreaming about my future.
But today, every day is the same. Each day is harder than the one before, more painful and more exhausting.
And perhaps the most heartbreaking part is that the world seems to have forgotten us.
While life goes on elsewhere, millions of women and girls in Afghanistan are living as prisoners, not behind bars, but inside a country that has become a prison, where the sky is still above us, yet the doors to freedom remain closed.
