Azada wanted to be her country's 'best doctor', but then the Taliban took over

Afghan girls' dreams of education won't die despite Taliban crackdown "Hello my dear mother, I hope that you be fine good morning" "Its this night the shooting between Taliban and Isis but we are fine just we afraid and it was a horror at all everything is okay … if you hearing any news about our site please dont worry" Azada* is writing these messages from inside her home in Afghanistan, where just having a phone, especially as a woman, is banned. She's talking to Alison Pitt, her friend of six years, who lives on the other side of the world in rural Tasmania and who she now calls "mother". The two women met through a mutual friend in Iran, who told Alison that Azada, a mother to young children, wanted "someone to talk to". Alison and Azada speak most days over text or video call, sharing their daily lives with each other. While the ABC speaks to and films with Azada, she wears a burqa to protect her identity, clothing she resents, but which is now mandatory for women. The 28-year-old qualified medical doctor cannot practice under the Taliban's rule, but she has found her own way to resist by teaching medicine in secret to young girls banned from school. Today marks five years under strict Taliban rule that denies women and girls most forms of employment and education and places harsh conditions on their day-to-day lives. The International Criminal Court has issued warrants for the arrest of Taliban leaders on charges of gender persecution. Under morality decrees, based on a fundamentalist brand of Sunni Islam, women are banned from showing their faces or even being heard in public, and they must travel with a male chaperone. "Daily life is very hard, because women aren't at work, just the men are working," Azada tells the ABC. "Please, let us work, let us work to feed our babies, for feeding our families," she says, directing her words at the country's leaders. The United Nations deems education a "gateway human right", as it often unlocks access to overall wellbeing. Azada says women live with the threat of violence and imprisonment from the regime's enforcers. On one day, Azada wrote to Alison that a woman was stoned for not wearing a hijab, leading to unrest in their neighbourhood. Azada to Alison: She dont had Hejab . They done stoning and after that shooting. It was very dangerous For Azada, her phone is her lifeline. "Phone is an important device in all people life, [so] we can be aware from all situations that have exist [in] the world," she says. The Taliban swiftly retook power in 2021 when US and NATO forces pulled out of Afghanistan and the country's president fled. In the 20 years leading up to that day in August, women's freedoms had gradually improved. Azada had only just completed seven years of medical study when the Taliban took over. Her wish was to become her country's "best doctor". Azada to Alison: Now its our midnight i have study … one day you will proud on me i want to be a doctor that always solve problem of people From Australia, Alison noticed the impact of the Taliban takeover on Azada's family. "As time went on, I started to get the feeling that things were pretty tough for them, economically, as well as their life and lifestyle," Alison says. "From then, of course, the economy has just gone so bad in Afghanistan, partly because of the regime and women not being able to work." "I was lucky enough to grow up in the UK with free education, free health, free everything, and I truly value that." Alison began supporting Azada, contributing to medical appointments for the young mum where she could. But she believed this "was not the answer". "But because over time, they've become my family, really — which sounds weird, but that is the case," Alison says. "I can't turn my back on them; I would not turn my back on them. "They're hungry for education, because that is the thing that's brought us all along the way we have." Secret schools defy Taliban rules Since Kabul fell to the Taliban, the people of Afghanistan have suffered through hunger, an economic crisis, major earthquakes and dwindling international aid. Last year, the country's deadliest earthquake in recent history killed at least 2,200 people. Azada to Alison: I have a little pain and bleeding last night here become very strong earthquakes I burn old clothes and shoes everything that I want to boil my tea or when I want to cook something The biggest adversity is starving … it makes all people worry what will happen we don't know. But it is against this backdrop and her diminishing freedoms, that Azada refused to give up on Afghan girls' dreams of an education. She began teaching medicine to girls one on one from inside her home, and inadvertently joined a secret resistance helping thousands of girls continue learning. Some teachers, like Azada, take it upon themselves to teach wherever and whenever they can, without pay. Others have joined programs delivering prohibited curricula from makeshift classrooms guarded by security — sustained by overseas support. Students of one of those programs, Women for Change, sometimes speak to people outside Afghanistan in carefully coordinated sessions. But they say they still learn in fear, and their prospects after finishing their studies are bleak. "Some girls have lost hope. Some have died by suicide, and many others are suffering from depression and mental health,"one student said. Another said it had given them back what they thought they'd lost: hope. "Every day, I learn with girls who want to be conductors, teachers, engineers and leaders," a student said. "They are hardworking, talented and determined." Human rights underpin nation's stability Women for Change currently pays small salaries to 30 teachers providing education to nearly 1,300 Afghan girls. "Afghanistan is completely reliant on the support of the international community," Women for Change president Lida Nayeeb says. "In the past five years, there is no job creation, and instead, people lost their jobs. There is no investment there. "All the people of Afghanistan, especially women, they are paying the highest price." "When a woman is not educated, it's not only her. It is the family that is not educated, the children. The family is a small symbol of a society." "If one family is not educated … it means the society is not going forward." "The world is like a small village now … we humans are like a chain, if something bad happens in the corner of the world, it impacts all the world, all the humans," Ms Nayeeb says. *Name and identity obscured for safety.