MANILA: In a country where women are maimed, beaten or poisoned to keep them from receiving education, one woman defied the odds to become Afghanistan’s first and only female governor.
Meet Habiba Sarabi, a 57-year-old doctor who gave new meaning to female empowerment in a largely oppressive and highly patriarchal society such as Afghanistan.
Sarabi is one of this year’s recipients of the Ramon Magsaysay award for helping build a functioning local government and pushing for education and women’s rights in Afghanistan’s Bamyan province despite discrimination and poverty.
In an interview, Sarabi admitted that she continues to receive threats from armed groups who oppose the idea of girls being educated and women taking higher office in government.
“I receive letters threatening me, even the security department warned me to be careful, but I’m not afraid of them. The threats will never stop me. It is better to die for the right way, for the right cause,” Sarabi said.
It saddens her how terrorists treat women who try to get some education. They poison their water, throw acid at their faces and beat them to death.
An example is the plight of Malala Yousafzai, a Pakistani pupil and education activist who was shot by the Taliban while returning home on a school bus.
“Hopefully, with me as an example, people will acknowledge in my country that women can contribute for the betterment of the society. No one can ignore the power of women to change the society. I’ve proved that as a woman, I did well,” she said.
War-torn Afghanistan has long been mired in deep poverty and once dominated by the ruthless Taliban who strongly oppose educating women. But with the support of western nations, particularly the US, Afghanistan’s political landscape is changing.
Sarabi acknowledged major hurdles like poverty and illiteracy, not to mention threats of violence from armed groups. She said the tasks are daunting but they can be overcome.
Sarabi came a long way to become Afghanistan’s first and only female governor.
To the manor born, she attended a prestigious university in Kabul. She took her medical studies in India and specialized in haematology. After medical school, she taught at Kabul Medical Science where she focused on population, particularly women.
In 1996, when the Taliban ruled and forbade all women to have education, she and her family fled to Pakistan.
“I wanted my three children to have access to education. I know that education is empowering, so we moved to Pakistan,” she said.
In Pakistan, she became a teacher and activist. Together with other Afghan women, she organised the Humanitarian Assistance for the Women and Children of Afghanistan (HAWCA), where she conducted women’s rights classes in refugee camps and mobilized doctors to work and assist in these camps.
To reach more women in Pakistan, Sarabi visited the mountainous Pakistan-Afghanistan border to oversee 80 underground literacy courses for women, despite the danger of being caught and killed by the Taliban. Unmindful of the risks, Sarabi did this for years in secrecy.
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