Women's History Month: The Journey of an Afghan Girl Who Risked Everything for Education

Leslie is joined by two young women, Afghan refugee Sola Mahfouz and Malaina Kapoor (Stanford ‘25), who are raising awareness about the untold story of millions of Afghan women brimming with potential and longing for freedom in their acclaimed book, “Defiant Dreams: The Journey of an Afghan Girl Who Risked Everything for Education."

Sola Mahfouz was born in Kandahar, Afghanistan, in 1996, the year the Taliban took over her country for the first time. They banned television and photographs, presided over brutal public executions, and turned the clock backward on women’s rights, practically imprisoning women within their own homes and forcing them to wear all-concealing burqas. At age eleven, Sola was forced to stop attending school after a group of men threatened to throw acid in her face if she continued. After that she was confined to her home, required to cook and clean and prepare for an arranged marriage. She saw the outside world only a handful of times each year.

As time passed, Sola began to understand that she was condemned to the same existence as millions of women in Afghanistan. Her future was empty. The rest of her life would be controlled entirely by men: fathers and husbands and sons who would never allow her to study, to earn money, or even to dream.

Driven by this devastating realization, Sola began a years-long fight to change the trajectory of her life, deciding that education would be her way out. At age sixteen, without even the basic ability to add or subtract, she began to teach herself math and English in secret. She progressed rapidly., Within just two years she was already studying subjects such as philosophy and physics. Faced with obstacles at every turn, Sola still managed to sneak into Pakistan to take the SAT. In 2016, she escaped to the United States, where she is now a quantum-computing researcher at Tufts University.

An engrossing, dramatic memoir, co-written with young Indian American human rights activist Malaina Kapour, 'Defiant Dreams' is the story of one girl, but it’s also the untold story of a generation of women brimming with potential and longing for freedom. This story inspires us to unleash the potential that lies within us and all the women across the globe. It is a universal story of striving for greatness, reaching for the stars, and transcending the boundaries of our birth.

In alignment with this year’s International Women’s Day theme "Invest in women: Accelerate progress," Sola and Malaina want to shed light on the need to invest in women’s rights and access to education. Sola's story aligns perfectly with the values and goals of Women's History Month and the United Nations' commitment to #InvestInWomen.
 
The book is available for purchase at www.DefiantDreams.com.