Zainab weaves carpets at night and studies during daytime

BAMYAN (Pajhwok): Hoping for school gates to reopen, Zainab, 18, reviews her school subjects during daytime and weaves rugs during night.

She has been away from her school since over a year in Jegar Khel village on outskirts of Bamyan city.

Zainab is a student of 11^th grade at Sayed Abad School. She lives in a small house with her limited family — her mother and brother.

Despite leading a difficult life since the death of her father in a suicide attack, she has great dreams.

Zainab weaves carpets with her mother and brother during nighttime to meet the family’s needs and attends private courses during daytime to follow her studies.

The gates of her school remain shut since more than a year. She hopes one day the school will be reopened and she would complete her education.

Poverty and economic hardships are the other sides of her life, but she still struggles clockwise to reach her goals.

Zainab in childhood lost her father, his sympathy and love forever when she severely needed the love and sympathy of her father.

Zainab’s mother narrated the story of her father: “The father of Zainab was the only breadwinner of the family. He would do some odd jobs in Bamyan city to fulfill the needs of the family”.

He would routinely go to the city to work and win the bread for his family, Zainab’s mother said.

“One evening he was too late, we did not have a cell phone to call him, suddenly our neighbors gathered near our house and they hesitantly told a bad news about Zainab’s father”.

“We were nervous and concerned and expected some good news, but an hour later they eventually informed us that he has been killed in a suicide blast.”

He left behind his two children and a widow forever. The mother enrolled her elder child, Zainab, in school to replace her father in future and work for her family. Zainab’s mother, a victim of the previous wars, hopes for peace in the country where everyone can live in peace and continue their studies.

Zainab also wants to fulfill the hopes of her mother by knitting rugs at night to fulfill the needs of her family and study. She is trying to maintain her top position in class.

Zainab wants to study midwifery after completion of her high school and become a servant of her own people. She says women of remote areas are the most deprived segment and they lack even basic facilities of life. “They are the most needy part of this society,” she said.

Zainab right now needs the attention of the authorities. She has been not allowed to go to her school like millions of other girls since more than a year.

She hopes the gates of the schools will be reopened once again and she would be able to study and pursue her long-cherished dream.

aw/ma