DUXBURY, MASS. (WHDH) - Despite the ongoing crisis in Afghanistan, a woman with ties to Massachusetts is working around the clock to uplift girls and make sure their access to education remains uninterrupted.
Hundreds of Afghan girls have been educated in the school that Razia Jan started in her former village after immigrating to Duxbury in 1970. Hundreds more are on the waiting list.
“When you educate a woman, you educate a whole village,” she said.
Now, under Taliban rule, she says everything is on hold while she and school leaders wait to see what the new government will bring.
Jan said she has received emails from the Taliban Ministry of Education and is cautiously optimistic they will be able to re-open the school next week.
“What we had seen 32 years ago was horrible, and so we could not imagine anything different,” she said. “But, to the surprise of everybody, I think they are going to be OK with women and girls. They might have restrictions, you have to wear a burka or hijab, but that is nothing.”
Jan said the Taliban want to separate girls and boys in other private schools, but hers is only for girls.
“I think we are willing to work within the system, whatever system it is, as long as they allow our daughters, our girls to get an education,” she said.
Even though she is in the U.S. right now, she said she believes the village, situated in rural Afghanistan, has her back.
“We have a great community that I’ve worked with for 14 years and I have the trust of the men who are very powerful,” said Jan. “The community is with us, the fathers, brothers are with us. I think we are in a much better position than maybe a lot of other schools are.”
Jan just left Afghanistan in June and had hoped to go back next month. Instead, she is now planning to travel back in November to oversee a school expansion and continue to fight to make it happen.
“My mission is to give education to these girls, and believe me, I feel if I can’t help these kids, my world, my life, is not worth a dime,” she said.
Jan’s Ray of Hope Foundation is based in Wellesley and to learn more about it, click here.
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