I’m Tooba Shams, 24 years old from Kabul-Afghanistan.
I was born in 1995 at Kabul province. I’m the youngest child of my parents, I have one brother and one sister. They both got married, and live far from us. I have been lost my mother 5 years ago. Now I live with my Father. I have been graduated from Malali high school and after that went to Management and Accounting Institute for females after taking the diploma from that institute I started working as an internship at a bank. Then due to continuing of study I left my job and started studying political science. During the first year of university my mom passed away. And my life began to be harder for me.
I was responsible for taking care of my Father, to continue my study and also due to financial problems to find a job. And I was soon able to find a job in the administrative department of a sanitary company. I was satisfy with my job. But then I was informed about OFARIN, by one of my friends and became interested to work at OFARIN. I learned about the method they use for getting good results from students. In other hand the nice and warm work environment was the other reason which was tempting me to work at this organization. I bravely can say that education was my power to deal with all these problems which I was faced in a very young age. So clearly I could say that the value of education is too much.
Especially for Afghan children who are dealing every day with horrible problems. To bring a better changes in their future life, we need to work hard in this sector. I chose to work with OFARIN due to my interest and passion I had towards the education of poor and broken children. That being the fact, I love my job and enjoy to keep continue it.
My name is Ewaz, I’m 59 years old. I was born at Qarblagh village, Panjab district of Bamyan province.
When I was a child, we did not have agricultural land in Bamyan province and my father worked on people’s farms on wages. I was 6 years old when my father due to sickness passed away, after my father’s death, the mother and my 2 sisters were forced to work for livelihoods.
I came to Kabul with my family when I was about 15 years old, and for 8 years I was involved in construction work to support my family. Then I joined the Afghan army to spend my military service and return to Kabul after 5 years of military service in Laghman province, and as a simple worker in the construction work of the Macroyan buildings of Kabul, I worked for about 11 years.
With the Taliban regime in power, life became more difficult and I was forced to immigrate to Pakistan with my wife and 4 children. In Pakistan, I and my sons started carpet weaving for living expenses.
After the security situation in Afghanistan improved a bit, I returned to the country and spent my life with working on simple construction works, until I was offered with a job by a friend at the lepco institute. I worked at this institute for a year, but due to a lack of budget, after a year, I started working for OFARIN as a cleaner, and now I’m working for about 11 years in OFARIN. During this time with the salary which I received from OFARIN, I was able to involve my children in school and help them to be literate.
My name is Naqibullah, I was born in 1984 in district 7th of Kabul city. My father was a loyal police officer at the ministry of interior affairs. I had four and half year when my father became martyred in Shakar Dara district of Kabul city. We had 5 (my grandfather, my mother, me, my brother and my sister) family members at that time. My mother admitted me to one of the school located near our house. In 1993, the government of Dr. Najibullah collapsed when I was in grade three of school. This was the time when the Mujahedin solidified their control over the capital/Kabul; and the war between different parties of Mujahedin was started. Then, we have no way rather than coming back to our original village located in Tani district of Khost city. Very soon after we came from Kabul, my grandfather who was the only male supporter of us has also passed away. Then, we start living with my granduncle (brother of my grandmother), whose name is Khazan Gul. Mr. Khazan Gul is a diligent person, and he is the best teacher who have taught me effective lessons of all sides of my life. My family was in a very critical economy condition. In such critical conditions, I have had to choose one of two options: 1. going to school, and 2. Work to fulfill family expenses. As an oldest male family member, I have selected to work in order to fulfill all the fundamental needs of my family members (my mother, my brother and my sister). Therefore, I have lost the chance of going to school. I was 12-year old when I have started physical work. I have worked as a driver of tractor working agriculture field for 8 years. Because my body height was not enough, I used pillow on the set in order to appear the road way. After 8 years of working as driver, one of our relatives has introduced me to one of the demining company. I have worked for two years in that company. Then I have worked with a construction company as a metal welder for three years.
In 2009, Mr. Khazan Gul introduced me to Dr. Peter Schwittek who was his close friend. I was then appointed as a driver in the OFARIN institution. The friendly working environment encouraged me to start studying beside my formal responsibilities. OFARIN institution provides the opportunities to all the employees to check and evaluate the learning and teaching methods within their projects. I have then work with some students for solving their problems. These activities significantly attracted my attention toward teaching. Then it created a hope of “BEING a TEACHER” in my mind. Dr. Peter Schwittek who continuously evaluates our works has decided to appoint me in a position of teacher. Now, working with the poor students brings me back to my childhood time and I can deeply feel them. I am really glad to be able to work with the students and teach them who are in the conditions when I was in, at decades ago. I think our students are luckier than me for having opportunities of studying and support of OFARIN.
Now we are living in a join family, my mother, my brother (with his wife and 3 children) and me (my wife and 5 children). We are trying hard to provide opportunities of attaining education for our children. I think the children in our family are luckier than us for having father/uncle to support them. Thanks a lot for reading my life story.
I am Naseeba 24 years old from Faryab- Afghanistan. I’m the eldest child of my parents. I have two brothers younger than me. And we all live with our parents in Kabul-Afghanistan. I was born in Jun 1995 in Faryab province. When I was only 3 years old we left Faryab because of the violence of Taliban, They had imprisoned my father and tortured him. We had been started our life from zero in Kabul. on that time beside of all problems my biggest concern was my gender, as a girl according the Taliban rules I don’t had the write to learn and going to school, but fortunately I was too much lucky when I was at the age of going to school , Taliban's government fell down. I started school, at school I always got the best marks and good positions and that all was the result of my hard working and attention of my mother. Unfortunately education quality at public schools is not good, now a days people with good incomes tries to send their children to private schools but the majorette of people with financial problems have to send their children to public schools. Unfortunately even in some areas people don't have access to these public schools. I have been graduated from school in 2013. Then I passed kankor exam and I could start my bachelor in the field of economy, but due to some problems I couldn't. After that I realized that our family had lots of financial problems and I should help them. So I tried to find a job. Soon I had been hired as a reporter at one of private TV stations. After few months of working on TV, I was informed about OFARIN's activities and I was interested in working with this organization. To be honest at first it was just a place of work for me but now OFARIN means everything for me. I realized the value of its activities, creating curriculum based on improving the quality of teaching in the schools covered by this institute has achieved excellent results. From the blessing of work in the OFARIN, I got the diploma from the university. Now it’s not just a job but it’s a Spiritual value for me. A tolerance and peaceful space, commitment to work and honesty in this institution, has made me love to work here, and I really want to continue working at OFARIN. I wish we could expand OFARIN's activities and help more people to learn, to get the knowledge and to achieve their dreams.