Afghan father travels 12km every day to fulfill daughter’s dream

BANNU: Along the restive Pak-Afghan borderlands, a daily wage laborer travels 12 km on his motorcycle every day to fulfil his daughter’s ambitious dream.

Mia Khan, who lives in Sharan city in the southeastern Paktika Afghan province, parks his motorcycle outside his daughter’s school every morning and waits for classes to end, so they can make the long journey back home together.

“You know, we don’t have female doctors in our entire town. It is my ultimate wish to see my daughter, Rozai, as its first female doctor. I want her to serve humanity,” Khan told Arab News via telephone.

Paktika shares approximately 300 km border with Pakistan’s newly-merged tribal districts of North and South Waziristan and parts of Pakistan’s Balochistan province, where powerful patriarchal norms still dictate most women’s lives.

But Rozai, her father said proudly, has just been promoted to class 7 at Nooranya School, a community educational institution built by the Swedish Committee for Afghanistan.

“My name is Rozai and I am the daughter of Mia Khan,” Rozai, who goes by her first name, told Arab News proudly.

“We come from too long a distance. And I demand a school be established close to our home. Yes, my father is a daily wage laborer. We become too tired after reaching our school and sometimes we get late,” she said.

Saif-ur-Rehman Shahab, a representative of the Swedish Committee, told Arab News that Khan, who has for years brought his children to school on a motorcycle, deserved all the appreciation he could get. He has two sons and seven daughters.

“Khan gets his children, specifically his daughter Rozai, educated in a very challenging situation. You know we have deteriorated security and poor awareness about girls’ education here. Khan is facing acute financial challenges working as a daily wage laborer. I deeply appreciate him for facing all these challenges boldly to educate his daughter,” Shahab said.

When contacted, Hikmat Safi, adviser to Afghanistan’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), told Arab News that Khan’s passion was an inspiration to others.

“Amid brewing insecurity coupled with cultural limitations, this is really a…positive change when people like Khan come out to educate their children, primarily daughters,” Safi said.

According to a statement by the Swedish Committee for Afghanistan, the Nooranya School has 220 girl students studying in the facility. The committee has established hundreds of community-based classes and schools in various areas of Paktika province where the majority of the students are girls.