If the stone is not on the way, I can shine

My gender, and the fact that my eyes are shouting for peace, the right to ask for a little rest on my earth. The faces of the girls and women of my homeland cry out of exhaustion. Their smiles are attached to the day when the sound of iron pieces no longer comes and they walk in the streets without fear, and there is no discrimination. I am waiting for women to walk the streets of my country with pride and without fear to make up for the years when fear was chasing them. Now I do not want those who are mothers to return, to be beaten in the middle of the road, and once again the girls of my country stay away from science and another dark chapter enters my history and destiny.

I cry out for peace and if the stone is not on the way, I can shine. I am waiting with a larynx full of pain and hatred, with eyes full of fear and with lips that I painted full of hope. Although we have fear in our hearts of not being able to dream, we hold ourselves strong. Even though our feelings were buried at some point in history, I am proud of the strong girls and women of my country. Now I see that although they have seen a lot of turmoil, although they were called the second sex, they still shine. We may see the limitations that existed before, or we may no longer read a book and the smell of a book may not permeate our homes, we hold hands as a sign of unity and look forward to tasting true peace. I hope that the return of the Taliban will not harm my education and progress. I hope we will be heroes.

Peace is not the only word to be written, my daughter who is waiting for the day when she wants to actually see and feel peace. It is noble that the day when my eyes are filled with warm tears that flow and touch my cold cheeks and you wash the dust of sorrow and the smile that falls on my anxious face, and I will see tears of joy in the eyes of the heroic mothers of my country. There is a day when the daughters of this lineage will hold the torch of knowledge without fear, they will pursue their goals with more hope and we will have a steadfast generation that will turn my country to the other side. We will give the people of my country what they deserve. In the hope that we will wake up in the morning and pursue our goals with enthusiasm and raise our hands to heaven in gratitude!

-Mansora, 20, Afghanistan

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