5th August, 2021: This day is a reminder that it has been a year since the Taliban captured our beloved nation of 35 million.
While a lot of families are displaced, a lot more are suffering from extreme hunger and poverty. Access to basic rights such as health and education is not only limited but forcefully restricted.
The international community may little note what happened there last year, nor long remember what we saw coming months and years before it, but it will be held responsible for the lives of the people currently suffering the misery, particularly those children and girls who are forced to leave school and whose rights have been taken from them.
Through Women Empowerment and Leadership, I had the privilege of assisting these and many more families in their application for visas and their settlement in their new homes. Although Afghanistan will remain the first home of every Afghan, Australia is our second home for the time being for reasons of safety, diversity and inclusiveness.
I believe that my fellow nationals who are newly settled in Afghanistan can dream of new opportunities Australia has for them.Their hopes suffered with the Taliban takeover, where their dreams are not only taken from them, but it has turned into nightmares for those who loved them.Although physically they are here now in this beautiful country which we call the land of opportunity, their souls and hearts remain in Afghanistan.
I would like to say that as Afghans, being hopeful should be the backbone of our beliefs.
I am hopeful and I would like to pass this hope to all of us here that I am hoping that better days will come. We will build Afghanistan once again and we will do that soon.
Image- BBC