Shabana Basij-Rasikh

"The same shopkeeper at a certain convenience store should not notice you every day. They (parents) never knew when or if we would return home,"

"What struck me the most, was living in a society for the first time in my life, where girls had no concerns whatsoever that their freedom to attend school could be taken away from them at any time, which is something that every single Afghan girl whos lucky enough to go to school lives with,"

"Our parents would tell us; you can be forced to leave your home, forced into exile, and lose any material or property in your possession. But the one thing that can never be taken away from you is your education,"

"I was taking with me from Afghanistan some of the best educated girls, women leaders in the making. I felt so heartbroken for our people, for Afghanistan. I felt heartbroken for the very people who are leaving. They are some of the most wanted talents in Afghanistan. And as soon as they step outside of this airport, they are going to be seen as unwanted refugees wherever they end up,"

"Ive borrowed a stone from the airport. I need to return. I spend every waking hour preparing for it,"

"We cannot under any circumstances submit to the Talibans vision for Afghanistan. It means continuing to educate more Afghan girls,"

"In our house and in our personal relationship, SOLA starts from when we wake up to when we go to bed,"

"I found myself in a classroom where most of my classmates were six years older than me. And it was the first time I was aware of the gift my parents had given me by risking their lives and our lives [referring to her sister]. Because when I went to school, my thinking and my aspirations changed."

"“That gave us even more opportunities for innovation in that space. Creating a physical and safe nurturing learning environment in Kabul that allowed us to draw students from some of the most remote areas,”"

"It made a point to re-evaluate our responsibility towards the SOLA students, family, and staff and we knew that it was going to be increasingly irresponsible to operate as the only girls’ boarding school given the increased insecurity and unpredictability of [the] political situation in the country,”"

"We have been through a difficult journey of evacuation. We gave our students basic art supplies and they started painting and drawing just as a way of going through therapy here,”"

"Out of the blue, Rwanda became a possibility and quite fortunately we were quickly welcomed,”"