My name is Tooba Shams, I am 24 years old and I come from Kabul in Afghanistan. I was born in 1995 in the Kabul region. I am my parents' youngest child. I have one brother and one sister. Both got married and live far away from us. I lost my mother 5 years ago. Now I live with my father. I graduated from Malali High School and then went to the Management and Accounting Institute for Women. After receiving my diploma, I started an internship at a bank. I started studying political science, so I left my job. During the freshman year my mother died and my life got harder. I had to take care of my father, continue studying and find a job to solve the financial problems. Luckily I was able to find a job in the administration of a plumbing company. I was happy with my job. Then I discovered Ofarin through one of my friends and was interested in working for this organization.
I learned a lot about the methods used to teach the students a lot and get good results from them. Also, the beautiful and warm working environment was a reason that attracted me to Ofarin's work. I can boldly say that education was my power to deal with the problems I faced at a very young age and that is why I find the value of education very high. Especially for children from Afghanistan who have to struggle with terrible problems every day. We have to work hard in this area to bring good changes in their lives. I chose Ofarin because of my interests and passion for educating poor children. I love my job and enjoy continuing 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.
IMy name is Naqibullah and I was born in 1984 in the 7th district of the city of Kabul. My father was a loyal police officer in the Ministry of the Interior. When I was four and a half years old, my father was martyred. At that time I lived with my grandfather, mother, brother and sister. My mother took me to a school near our home. I was only in third grade when in 1993 the government of Dr. Najibullah collapsed. This was the time when the Mujahedin consolidated control of the capital Kabul and the war between the different factions of the Mujahedin started. We had no choice but to return to our hometown of Tani in Khost. Very soon after that, my grandfather died, who was the only male supporter of ours. From now on we lived with my great uncle (my grandmother's brother) named Khazan Gul. He is very hardworking and has been the best teacher who has taught me all aspects of my life with effective teaching. My family was in a very critical economic condition and so I had to choose between 2 options: go to school or work to cover family expenses.
As the oldest male family member, I decided to do physical work at the age of 12 and thus lost the opportunity to go to school. I worked as a tractor driver in agriculture for 8 years. Since I was not tall enough, I used pillows to see the street. After 8 years as a driver, one of our relatives introduced me to a deminer. I worked in this company for two years. Then I worked as a metal welder for a construction company for three years. In 2009, Mr. Khazan Gul, one of his close friends Dr. Peter Schwittek. I was then called to the Ofarin Institution as a driver. The friendly work environment encouraged me to study alongside my formal responsibilities. The OFARIN institution offers all employees the opportunity to review and evaluate the learning and teaching methods in their projects. I worked with some students to solve their problems. These activities drew my attention to teaching. I had hopes of becoming a teacher and my wish came true when Dr. Peter Schwittek decided that I could also teach. Now working with the poor students brings me back to my childhood and I can feel it deeply. I am really happy to be able to work with and teach students who are in the conditions I was in years ago. I think our students are luckier than me that they have the opportunity to study and support OFARIN. Now we live in a beautiful family: my mother, my brother with his wife and three children and me with my wife and five children. We try to give our children an opportunity for education. I think they are lucky to have a father/uncle to support them. Thank you for reading my story.
My name is Naseeba, I am 24 years old and I was born in July 1995 in Faryab, Afghanistan. Now I live with my 2 younger brothers and my parents in Kabul, Afghanistan. When I was 3 years old, we had to leave my place of birth because my father was imprisoned and tortured by the violent Taliban. We started our new life with nothing and all over again. Besides all these problems, I worried that I couldn't go to school because according to Taliban rules, girls weren't allowed to go to school. Luckily the Taliban government fell when I was old enough to go to school. Because of my mother's attention and my hard work, I always got top grades. Unfortunately, public school education is not good, so some people with good income try to send their children to private schools, but the majority cannot afford it. Another problem is that in some areas people cannot access public schools. I graduated in 2013. After that I got my university entrance and started my bachelor's degree in economics but due to some problems I couldn't finish it as I had to help my family with the many financial difficulties at that time.
I tried to find a job and soon I was asked to be a reporter on a private television station. After a few months I heard about Ofarin's activities and I was interested in working in this organization. To be honest, Ofarin was just a place to work for me in the beginning, but now Ofarin means everything to me. I realized the value of the activities, for example, creating the curriculum to improve the quality of teaching has achieved excellent results. Now it's not just a job, it has spiritual value to me. A tolerant and peaceful space and the commitment to work and honesty in this institution made me love working here and love to continue to do so. I also graduated from a private university. I wish we could expand Ofarin's activities and help more people learn, get knowledge and achieve their dreams.