Alive in Afghanistan

A collection of 38 posts

Access to Education

No Education for the Displaced

Sustained conflict in Afghanistan over the last four decades has repeatedly forced Afghans to flee their homes, either internally displaced, or migrate to other countries. The displacement, and migration, caused countless children to leave school, most often for good.

Access to Education

Rural Villages Get First Schools

The Taliban are building schools across Afghanistan, in communities where no school existed before. While their policies on education have been criticized, this is a positive step. Yet the scale of the need is vast, and challenges remain.

Access to Education

Culture Keeps Girls Ignorant

Afghan female baker Bibi Gul is the second in three generations of women in her family deprived of education documented for this story. Plucked out of school in 6th grade, she struggles to accept the same fate for her daughters.

Human Rights

Two Years Later, Pensioners Still Wait

Retired Afghans who served in various public sectors lament pension cutoffs following the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan. These pensions served as an economic relief for families in dire need of assistance.

OneDayinAfghanistan

The Girls in Hiding; A Cafe for Women

In Faizabad, the capital of northeastern Afghanistan’s Badakhshan’s province, a group of girls opened “The Hidden Girls’ Cafe”, a restaurant exclusively for women. In addition to offering local food, the cafe provides a safe space for social interaction between women.

Press Release

Education, Still Out of Reach for Most Afghans

Today we’ve published our first article with the support of Afghan Witness, “Education, an Afghan Conundrum” examines how religious and cultural biases prevented many women from going to school in the period before the first Taliban government. In the coming weeks and months, we will investigate where schools are

OneDayinAfghanistan

Her Greatest Dream, to Walk

Anisa is a 26 year-old Afghan woman paralyzed from the waist down due to her family’s disbelief in vaccines. She uses her hands to walk around the house.

OneDayinAfghanistan

Afghan Glassblower Keeps Art From Dying

Ghulam Sakhi has been a glassblower in western Afghanistan’s Herat province for 40 years, but this craft has been a part of his family for generations. Sakhi now harbors the fear that the artform will perish with him; his final wish, after his passing, is for the art to survive.

OneDayinAfghanistan

Decades of Illiteracy; The Generations That Have Been Forgotten

Generations have gone without the opportunity to seek education in Abi, an area in Chora district of Afghanistan’s Orguzgan province. In addition to that, no health centers exist in the area, exasperating the issues people in this area face on a daily basis.

OneDayinAfghanistan

Disabled Afghan Soldier With No Pension

A former Afghan soldier who lost a leg to a mine now sells dried fruit on the side of a road. The pension paid before the Taliban took control no longer available, leaving him and thousands of others to fend for themselves.

OneDayinAfghanistan

A Hope For Afghan Children

Afghan businessman opens two learning centers serving 1,000 underprivileged children in his home province of Logar. The schools are located in areas where none existed before.

OneDayinAfghanistan

A Blind Mother's Single Wish

Written by Zarghuna Akbari SHEBERGHAN, JAWZJAN — “Life without eyesight is very challenging; not being able to see your children even once, not being able to recognize their faces, and always depending on others. Without eyesight, the world is a dark place for a human being," 40 year-old Zahra, a

Education

Maktab: This School is Always Open

A mobile distance learning application emerged as a lifeline for Afghan girls and women who were prohibited from pursuing education after the Taliban's takeover of the country in August 2021.

Sexual Abuse

The Shape-Shifting Monsters

One of Alive in Afghanistan’s audience members writes about her trauma and sexual abuse by members of her family when she was a mere child.

Health

Mental Illness, A Silent Enemy

Mental illness has plagued Afghanistan for decades due to war and despite a relative peace returning to the country, unemployment, poverty, and uncertainty about the future continues to exacerbate the effect of mental illness on Afghans.

Economy

The Traveling Pitcher Salesman

Abdullah Noorzai is an elderly pitcher salesman who takes care of his large family by walking several kilometers every day, striving to turn a profit and feed the mouths waiting at home.

Poverty

Selling One Child to Feed the Rest

An impoverished #Afghan couple took a drastic measure in an effort to feed their family of 8 by deciding to sell a couple of their children. Meanwhile, another couple married for 14 years with no offspring was looking to adopt a child.

Health

The Blind See More Than We Realize

In Afghanistan, although roughly five percent of the population are visually impaired, ignorance and intolerance by their peers often lead to discrimination and limited opportunities. However, some like Abdul Jalil Shirzad, have found their place in society.

Afghanistan

Reading Poetry on the Longest Night

Shab-e Yalda celebrates the longest night of the year, it is an important festival for Afghan, Iranian, Tajik, Kurdish, and Azeri communities, regarded as a time of blessings and the resurgence of love and the sun.

Unemployment

No Jobs, No Food, No Hope

Afghans across the country lament the lack of employment while voicing concern over the increasing poverty.

Weather

Between Life and Death in Winter's Cold

Afghans across the country endured an unprecedented cold snap in January that left dozens of people and thousands of livestock dead.

Culture

Fashion Changes with the Government

Afghans are transitioning more and more towards wearing Afghan clothes following the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in August of 2021.

Drought

The Lifeline of Families Carried by Children

Water scarcity has been a problem for many years across Afghanistan. In Kandahar children as young as four carry water delivered by tankers to their households on a daily basis.

Women

A Free Library for Women to Learn

A female-owned library in Afghanistan’s capital Kabul recently opened its doors hoping it could provide a space for girls barred from seeking education to study there.

Natural Disaster

Families Across Afghanistan Respond to Floods

Recent devastating floods across several Afghan provinces left a trail of destruction in its wake, and scores of Afghans homeless.