“I am not how I look,” Husnia says. “I want
people to judge me for my personality.” She acknowledged that wearing a hajib draws attention to her and she has struggled with wearing it in the U.S. She noted, however, that she loves color, and instead of dying her hair like many American women, she just changes scarves, drawing laughter from the audience. She noted that, when she’s in a hurry, she just quickly ties a scarf around her neck and runs.
Missing family, friends, and food Husnia still experiences waves of homesick- ness. She can only get a message to her family when they can get to an Internet café. Her mother can rarely risk the trip, so it’s usually a brother who sends a short message. It’s also expensive. Husnia misses her native food, which con-
sisted primarily of rice and a thin soup with meat and vegetables. It is customary to eat bread with your hands. Husnia was last home this past summer,
and the reality of war is ever-present. There were three suicide bombings in her city while she was there and a friend’s uncle was killed. The Taliban are still there, just not as visible, she said. Undeterred, Husnia taught young girls how to use the Internet, Facebook, Skype, and
18 LC MAGAZINE Spring 2012
email at an educational center supported by the U.S. She also helped add to the library at her former school, acquiring 200 books, pri- marily textbooks, for girls to read. The invasion of Afghanistan by the U.S. had
pros and cons, Husnia said. Girls can now go to school, but war has not rid the country of the Taliban. She fears the violence and corrup- tion will return full force as soon as the Amer- icans leave. The only way to change things is through peaceful negotiations, she said, not more war. Despite her mixed feelings about the war, she is thankful for her chance to be in the U.S.
“I’m really grateful to so many people,” she said, especially her mother who took the risk of sending her here and LC, which gave her a full scholarship. While she hasn’t settled on a major, Husnia
is leaning toward health sciences. There are few female doctors in Afghanistan and some women are not permitted to seek care from male doctors. Afghanistan has the highest ma- ternal mortality rate in the world. Husnia is in the thick of her studies and
finds biology challenging. She’s carrying eight- een credit hours and studies hard. She loves the opportunity. “The students have a lot of chance to explore their dreams,” she said. “No dream is impossible in the U.S.”
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