Shabana Basij-Rasikh

Basij-Rasikh, was born and raised in Kabul, Afghanistan. She is an Afghan educator, humanitarian, and women's rights champion. She is the founder of Hela, inc. and School of Leadership, Afghanistan, and has received worldwide recognition for her work.

Quotes

• 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,"
  • Resilient pioneers and daring dreams: The daunting journey of Afghan women to Rwanda The New Times (March 26, 2023)
• "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,"
  • Resilient pioneers and daring dreams: The daunting journey of Afghan women to Rwanda The New Times (March 26, 2023)
• 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 who's lucky enough to go to school lives with,"
  • Resilient pioneers and daring dreams: The daunting journey of Afghan women to Rwanda The New Times (March 26, 2023)
• "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,"
  • Resilient pioneers and daring dreams: The daunting journey of Afghan women to Rwanda The New Times (March 26, 2023)
• We cannot under any circumstances submit to the Taliban's vision for Afghanistan. It means continuing to educate more Afghan girls,
• I've borrowed a stone from the airport. I need to return. I spend every waking hour preparing for it,"
  • Resilient pioneers and daring dreams: The daunting journey of Afghan women to Rwanda The New Times (March 26, 2023)
• In our house and in our personal relationship, SOLA starts from when we wake up to when we go to bed,
  • She founded an Afghan girls school. Now she runs it in exile in Rwanda. National Geographic (May 23,2023)
• 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.
  • Afghan activist Shabana Basij Rasikh: ‘My family sent me to a secret school dressed as a boy’ EL PAIS (September 26, 2023)
• “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,”
  • Basij-Rasikh on Afghan girls’ journey, finding welcoming learning place inRwanda The New Times (June 21, 2022)
• 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,”
  • Basij-Rasikh on Afghan girls’ journey, finding welcoming learning place inRwanda The New Times (June 21, 2022)
• Out of the blue, Rwanda became a possibility and quite fortunately we were quickly welcomed,”
  • Basij-Rasikh on Afghan girls’ journey, finding welcoming learning place inRwanda The New Times (June 21, 2022)
• 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,”
  • Basij-Rasikh on Afghan girls’ journey, finding welcoming learning place inRwanda The New Times (June 21, 2022)
• I was brought up in a household where we knew that the greater risk in our lives was not getting education as opposed to getting killed,”
  • Basij-Rasikh on Afghan girls’ journey, finding welcoming learning place inRwanda The New Times (June 21, 2022)