Our Shared Stories: An Afghan Diary - Paperback

by Emal Dusst (Editor), Jahan Shahryar (Editor)

One of TIME Magazine's 100 Most Influential People. A social entrepreneur who founded the first coding school for girls in Afghanistan and won the Google RISE Award. The 2016 Forbes Impact Winner and founder of the first boarding school for girls in Afghanistan. A woman who was shot in the face by her husband. An author who has been published in 20 languages (A Fort of Nine Towers). All of them exemplify the resilience of the Afghan people and are just a handful of the writers in this book - an anthology of 40+ personal stories from around the world. 100% of the book proceeds are dedicated to supporting girls' education in Afghanistan.

The stories in this book should leave you with emotions and perspectives that were yet to be developed. This anthology will shed a new light on both the country of Afghanistan and the individual Afghan experience. The contributors offer thoughtful reflections about their experiences escaping from the wars in Afghanistan, resettling in host countries, and working to rebuild Afghanistan in the past decade.

This book connects Afghan people around the world. While many of us are displaced from the land of Afghanistan, we are, nonetheless, tied to our rich Afghan culture. Though we may be spread across continents, we are not alone. We hold common traditions, languages, foods, and dance. We have endured similar experiences during the wars or throughout our journeys abroad. We are Afghan, hyphenated or not.

Additionally, this book is a great opportunity to share our culture outside the Afghan community. It is a chance to show others that we are not so different from them, that we love our new homes, and that we have contributed to our adoptive countries as well as our motherland. You will also find several stories from non-Afghans who relay their own conception of the Afghan people.