A Voyage in Life

I am 41 years old now. I was just 8 years old when my eyes flashed with the Communist Coup in Afghanistan. Shortly afterwards I was taken to the midst of the harsh times of my history. My father fled to Ghazni, our hometown, in the southern part of the country. He was prosecuted because of being termed as the anti-revolutionary. He was no more than an ordinary man. He could hardly read and write. But this was the first impression of my childhood from a regime which was claiming to be the defenders of the poor. I could not continue my studies after grade 5. I accompanied my family and went to Ghazni, the territory which was out of the each of the Communist regime. In 1982, I migrated to Pakistan, alone with no any companion from the family or relatives. Living in exile was the harshest times of my life. I had to work in sweet shops, bakeries, carpentries, hotels, etc. With the minimum wage of my labor work, I used to not only nourish and accommodate myself, but also go to English courses, buy literature books and quench my unending thirst for knowledge. I spent the first years of my teenage in Pakistan: from 12 to 15. In my return back to Ghazni, I came across the brutal acts of the Soviets troops: massacres, destructions, bombardments, and nonstop air prosecutions.

In 1986 I joined the resistance front against the Soviets. As I was one of the few relatively literate individuals in my district, I opened the first-ever primary school in one of the remote areas of my district. I got the title of ‘Moalem’ (teacher). The same year I went to Pakistan in search of support from the international agencies for my newly established school. After nearly one-month running through the corridors of different offices, I could receive the assistance of the Swedish Committee which was no more than a few supplies and a minimum wage for only three teachers. However, this was regarded and received as the blessing mercy of God among the people and students. It was followed with the four other schools which I could register in the Swedish Committee and brought their supplies from Pakistan. The school became as a successful scheme and got the full support of the community who contributed in the constructions of the classrooms and paying extra salary and accommodation for the teachers. In 1990 we had nearly 5000 kids under the coverage of our educational programs in five schools. Now hundreds of youths are the cadres who have graduated from these schools and made their careers in engineering, medicine, law, social studies, art, and etc.

Teaching at the school was not only a chance for me to teach the kids, but also help myself learning too. My days and nights were filled with my searches for new ideas and new methods of teaching for the students. It was the way which introduced me with tens of scholars of the world. I had deeply studied Communism to learn more about the Communist regime of my country. I came across to the Western scholars and writers. I went deeply to the Islamic teachings and read the books of nearly most of the prominent Islamic scholars. For three successive years I studied religious subjects and became a well-known reference in Islamic issues. I learned Arabic literature, grammar and composition. My interpretations of holy Quran (the sacred book of Islam) was widely considered and appreciated.

Just after the collapse of the Communist regime and at the outset of the civil strives between the Islamist parties in 1992, I was once again forced to leave my country and migrate to Pakistan. I could find the chance to continue my self-studies and researches especially in history and Islamic texts. In 1994, I along with some colleagues launched Marefat High School in Islamabad, Pakistan. The aim of this initiative was to help the refugee kids with formal education. The programs of Marefat High School was steadily strengthened and expanded in three main cities of Pakistan (Rawalpindi, Attock, and Peshawar). In 2001, we had more than 6000 kids under the coverage of our educational programs in six branches of Marefat High School.

We authored our own curricula and textbooks in MHS. The most important section that we introduced in the curricula was the civic education subjects such as Humanism, Human Rights and Democracy. Humanism was the theoretical basis for all our civic education subjects and practices. This special program would start from grade 5 and continue to grade 9 followed by social studies in grades 10 to 12.

Humanism is a special comparative course dealing with Humanism in Athens, Humanism after renaissance, and Humanism in Islamic teaching. This course have had an amazing impact not only on the visions and intellectuality of the students but also in their patterns of behaviors. The students would find their way out of all the bad legacies of the wartimes. This special course have been along with well-organized democratic practices through which the students and their parents were helped in their citizenship awareness too.

By the collapse of the Taliban regime, we shifted MHS to Kabul, which was not more than a smashed city covered with ashes of the wartimes. The programs of the school started in a bombed-out muddy house with only four rooms. Gradually the attention of the community was attracted to the importance of Marefat work. Different figures and personalities from different strata of the community stepped forward to support Marefat and contribute in its programs. I founded a board of trustees to lead and supervise all the activities of the school. Through this board we managed to seek generous contributions from the people. One would contribute in the plot of the new building, while the others in bricks, irons, chairs, books, labor works, and all other necessities of the school. Now, seven years after the first step of Marefat in Kabul, the school has two buildings with more than 2500 students, boys and girls. The parents would summon regularly to hear the news of the school and to take part in the betterment of its programs. Still the community has a great role and contribution in the development of the school.

The school has a wide view over different aspects of necessities and realities of the country. It does not forget the negative impacts of the ethnocentric assumptions in the basis of all policies in Afghanistan. It does not ignore the psychological impacts of the long-lasting war and violence in the country. It does not undermine the poverty, the fanatical beliefs and rigid-minded religious interpretations, the ethnic and linguistic hostilities, the insecurity, the corruptions, the illiteracy, the fragile peace and stability, the contradiction between the requirements of the time and the negative realities of the ground, … Marefat High School is trying to set a model to face all these realities with the most possible wisdom and flexibility.

Through this very logical approach, Marefat has got a good appreciation and trust among the community too. The families do send their daughters at the ages of 20 and above that to start just from grade one. This example shows the great impact of Marefat approaches towards the community. When the people witness the great change in the attitude and visions of their kids, especially the girls, they become more encouraged to send their daughters to school in spite of all barriers from the fanatical clergies.

An encouraging achievement of Marefat is the change in the fate of a lady who had been forced to get married to her cousin at the age of 14. She had been deserted just two or three months after the marriage and her spouse had gone to Russia. He had married a Russian and then left her in Moscow for going himself to England. When we discovered her, she was 27 years old; completely broken and desperate. She felt herself as a live buried woman. We encouraged her to come to school and start learning. She could hardly believe it as a way of salvage. But gradually she got accustomed and found her way. She was included in the special accelerated learning program of the school. Just one year after her coming to school, the Taliban regime was toppled and this very lady accompanied us and continued her studies in our school in Kabul. In just four years of studies in Kabul, she reached at a level who joined the teachers’ team in the school. She continues her own studies too. She got graduated in 2006 and married a 24 years old class fellow. Now she is one of the best teachers of Marefat teaching chemistry and biology. She has a lovely daughter and leads a happy prosperous life.

Marefat High School in Kabul is an inspiring example of the new change in Afghanistan. Four rounds of our students have gone to the university with almost 100% success. Marefat has a Charity Box which has sponsored hundreds of needy students in the course of 7 years in Kabul. Most of these scholarships have been allocated for the girls of the higher grades. The reason is that the girls are still the most vulnerable circles of the community. When the families face economic pressure, they normally prefer their daughters to quit the school. The charity box is helping these girls continue their education till they reach to the university.

The students have great role in nearly all the affairs of the school. Their elected members are included in the School Board of Trustees. These members are elected in a wide electoral process with tough competitions and campaigning. They are playing their role as the representatives of the students and always get their feedbacks from the sessions of the Board of Trustees to the students’ council. The students are the leaders of the discipline council too.

This year the girl students of Marefat High School participated in a protest against a controversial law which would rob the women from their basic human rights. This protest caused the harsh rage of the fanatical clerics who had designed the law. The clerics launched an attack on the school just at the same day that the women had protested against the law. The attackers would cry for the burning of the school and execution of me, as the founder of the school and the civic educator of the students. The clerics excommunicated the teachers and students of the school blaming them of preaching Christianity, secularism and liberalism. But the students and their families stood firm in their position to safeguard the school and support its enlightening programs. The news of this protest and the attack of the fanatical clergies on the school were widely published in ‘France24’, ‘Fox news’, ‘Times’, ‘Philadelphia inquirer’ etc. This incident was covered by all the national media too.

Marefat High School is led by a philosophy of deep belief in Humanity and Democracy. It has helped develop a great example of hope and aspiration based on the responsibility of the people. The community has learned how to bring change in their destiny with the mere way of education of their kids, boys and girls alike. In regular parents sessions the community is constantly updated with the news and developments in the school. All sorts of socio-political issues are widely propounded and discussed in these sessions. The community is provided with democratic awareness and their support is sought for the charity programs of the school. In the incident of the attack of the fanatical clergies on the school, the parents’ sessions proved to be one of the biggest sources of community awareness and their firm support on the face of the excommunicating clergies showed their sane and responsible social stance.

Afghanistan is still in the beginning of its new path. There are lots of obstacles on the way. But the example of Marefat High School can show that the collaboration between the international community and the sane and responsible attitudes on the ground can bring great change.