Imagine being in ๐ฅ๐จ๐ฏ๐. Real love. Puppy love. Passionate love. Sometimes youโre lucky and you marry the love of your life. You have children with him, or her, and you grow old together. Or maybe not. But you still got to fall in love, fall out of it, get hurt, grieve some and do it all over again.
Now imagine all of that is not a choice. Youโre forced to marry. Youโre not allowed to take compliments, wait.. you donโt even know HOW to take a compliment because youโve never been taught to. Youโre not allowed to defend yourself, the men will do that for you. And of course: school is not for you. ๐๐๐๐๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎโ๐ซ๐ ๐ ๐ฐ๐จ๐ฆ๐๐ง.
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So when Shirley set off to Afghanistan to teach Afghani about equality, she was met with scepticism from others and to be frank: also by herself. She expected indifference, demeanour, indirect looks and hostility. Especially as a white woman teaching Afghani men about equality.
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Shirley described her experience in Afghanistan as an โupside-down worldโ: everything she expected, she experienced the other way. So when she went in to plead for equality and expected all of the above from the Afghani men, and women, she was actually met with respect and openness. They understood that
โ๐ฌ๐๐๐ฃ ๐ฎ๐ค๐ช ๐ฉ๐๐ ๐ ๐ฌ๐ค๐ข๐๐ฃ ๐ค๐ช๐ฉ ๐ค๐ ๐ฉ๐๐ ๐๐ฆ๐ช๐๐ฉ๐๐ค๐ฃ, ๐ฎ๐ค๐ช ๐ฉ๐๐ ๐ ๐๐% ๐๐ฌ๐๐ฎ ๐๐ง๐ค๐ข ๐๐ก๐ก ๐ค๐ฅ๐๐ฃ๐๐ค๐ฃ๐จ ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐๐ญ๐ฅ๐๐ง๐๐๐ฃ๐๐๐จโ.
As for the women she met? They were fierce, independent and eager. Eager to learn more, to fight for a better future and take in compliments. One girl Shirley met whispered in her ear that โshe had a love-marriage that ๐๐๐๐โ๐ arrangedโ because โher dad listened and understood real loveโ.
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So although this definitely is a story about a courageous woman going to Afghanistan fighting for equal rights. Itโs also a story about hope and a little nudge from her to us all in to remember we are growing up privileged, to appreciate our freedom to choose our loves and the expectation that weโll see them tomorrow.
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Plant little seeds. Have patience. ๐๐จ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐ข๐ฆ๐๐ง๐ญ ๐ฌ๐จ๐ฆ๐ and then ๐ฌ๐จ๐ฆ๐ ๐ฆ๐จ๐ซ๐ and appreciate all the things in life, however small they are. #nanagirls
