'Schools are being attacked, even now': This new Torontonian risked her life for an education in Afghanistan
‘The Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon Him, said girls and boys, women and men they should get education.'
This story is part of Becoming Canadian, a year-long project sharing stories of struggle and triumph from new Canadian citizens.
Ellaha Neser Ahmad is a new Canadian citizen who lives in Scarborough, Ont. She earned her master's degree in Canada, but struggled throughout her life to get an education as a girl living under Taliban rule in Afghanistan.
"I was born in Kabul, Afghanistan to an educated family. My father was an engineer and my mother did a master's in law," Neser Ahmad says. "At that time it was very rare to find educated people in Afghanistan. We were three sisters and my parents want us to be educated, not to stay back. The Taliban came and they shut all the doors of schools for girls."
Neser Ahmad says when she was just six years old living in Kabul she began attending a secret school just for girls.
I used to take my books and wrap them in a cloth pretending that it is not books, make them show that it is a Koran because the Taliban, if you have the Koran with us, they will say nothing.- Ellaha Neser Ahmad
"I used to take my books and wrap them in a cloth pretending that it is not books, make them show that it is a Koran because the Taliban, if you have the Koran with us, they will say nothing," Neser Ahmad says. "We were hiding from the Taliban. They found the school and they wrote bad things in Pashto on the wall. They said never come to this school again, if we see the school doors open next time your life will be miserable."
Shortly after, the secret school was closed and within two months Neser Ahmad's family left Afghanistan for Pakistan. Neser Ahmad then came to Canada in 2008 as a refugee on a student scholarship.
Neser Ahmad has earned her master's degree here in Toronto and has a message for all newcomers to Canada.
"I have a message for all the newcomers, especially for girls and for women. It doesn't matter if you're married or not, they should not stop educating themselves, they should have the courage to go to school again, start where they stopped."
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