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 Long Walks for Little Learning The long distance from villages to schools remains one of the main barriers to schooling across Afghanistan, especially in rural areas with less access to essential services, including education.
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.
Human Rights Tortured for a Better Life Afghan migrants deported from and residing in Iran report the distressing situation, including harassment, abuse, and restrictions on movement that they face in the neighboring country.
Children Children Raising Children 14 year-old Somaya was married off to a 45 year-old man at the age of 12 and gave birth to her son at the age of 14. A girl who herself is a mere child, barely a teenager, now has to take care of another child.
OneDayinAfghanistan Housework; the Only Option for Women Golsum Bibi is an illiterate Afghan woman in her mid-twenties. The sweet dish she makes is famous among villagers but Afghanistan’s recent economic crisis has put a damper on her business.
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.
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.
OneDayinAfghanistan Her Studio is Her Whole World Diba Naseri’s world and her place of imagination is the tiny room she spends her time painting in. She is happy when she is painting, and nothing, not even the errors and mistakes in those paintings can take her out of her happy place.
Unemployment No Jobs, No Food, No Hope Afghans across the country lament the lack of employment while voicing concern over the increasing poverty.
Narcotics Afghan Drug Crisis, in the Words of Users Rampant poverty and the increasing unemployment rate, due to Afghanistan’s continuing economic crisis are playing a major role in the increase in the number of people with a substance use disorder. In Badakhshan alone, users have increased from 40,000 to 50,000 in the last year and a half.
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 Woman Opens First Bookstore in Badakhshan A woman in Afghanistan’s Badakhshan has opened the province’s first bookstore aiming to promote the culture of reading among the public.
OneDayinAfghanistan Ten Years’ Hard Labor, Feels Like One Hundred Zumarai Ahmadi has spent years working as a construction material salesman in Afghanistan’s Badakhshan province, selling everything he finds there; sand, gravel and rock.
OneDayinAfghanistan A Midwife with 40 Grandchildren In Badakhshan, where experience still rules over formal education, Alim Nesa has served her community as a home-based #midwife for the last 30 years.
Girls Apprenticeship Gives Afghans Hope 40-year-old Wahida Wahaj reopened a workshop that teaches girls and women embroidery, tailoring and carpet weaving in northeastern Afghanistan’s Badakhshan province.
OneDayinAfghanistan Profitable Profession to Barely Making By Jewelry smith Humayoun Khashi has been in the business for the past 25 years. He owns a store in northeastern Afghanistan’s Badakhshan province, taking care of his family through the business.
Economy Even Dung Must be Saved Women in northeastern Afghanistan’s Badakhshan province earns a living by making dung cakes from cow excrement. Dung cakes are used as a fuel to heat up homes during winter.
Women Women in Badakhshan React to New Restrictions Women and girls in Faizabad, the capital of Afghanistan’s northeastern Badakhshan province lament the latest Taliban restrictions forcing them to wear a burqa or niqab when they are out.
OneDayinAfghanistan Female Baker Makes Famous Cookies Sakina Jamali is a 40 year-old baker who has been in the business of making the famous Badakhshani cookies for the past 16 years in northeastern Afghanistan’s Badakhshan province.
Culture Book Exhibition Revitalizes Afghans’ Hopes Female volunteers in #Afghanistan’s northeastern Badakhshan province organized a book exhibition aimed at promoting the culture of reading nearly a year after the Taliban takeover.
Women Afghan Journalist Eyes Bleak Future Mushtari Mashal worked hard to get a degree in journalism, a profession she has been passionate about since childhood, but despite her hard work she is still unemployed.