ISLAMABAD: A non-profit organization held a day-long exhibition featuring the artwork of approximately ten Afghan female refugee students on Wednesday, with the aim to donate the proceeds to the education of the girls.
One such girl is 16-year-old Raqqa Nadri, who fled to Pakistan last year after the takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban, and now studies in the 10th-grade at the Roshan School in Islamabad, operated by the Uplift Afghanistan Fund, a non-profit that connects “compassionate, impact-driven donors with community-led initiatives and grassroots organizations they can trust.”
Afghanistan remains one of the most dangerous countries in the world to be a child, with households facing constant danger from conflict and natural disasters. The country’s worsening economic crisis often compels families to make desperate decisions, such as forcing girls into early marriage or encouraging their children to seek work. When asked why they flee, the vast majority of refugees Save the Children has worked with say their main reason for fleeing was so their children could have a childhood, an education and a chance at a future.
Many children who leave Afghanistan get involved in low-wage jobs in the informal sector or small-scale business sector. If these children return to Afghanistan, they often hold trauma, face the challenges of years of lost learning, or have not received decent health care or education.
Afghan refugee girls' artists pose for a group during an art exhibition of their work in Islamabad, Pakistan on March 22, 2023. (AN Photo)
Speaking to Arab News, Nadri said she had found “comfort in art” and hoped that the ‘Afghan Girls’ Hopes Art Exhibition’ would help support the education of numerous refugee children like herself who lived in Islamabad.
Her paintings, she said, were not just a way to express her creativity but a reflection of her experiences as a refugee from war-torn Afghanistan.
“My paintings are based on the theme of all those girls that were abandoned in Afghanistan,” Nadri told Arab News. “I painted a girl with a mirror through which she sees through to another side with the eyes of imagination.”
The art work of Afghan refugee girls is displayed in an exhibition in Islamabad, Pakistan on March 22, 2023. (AN Photo)
Nadri said she became interested in art when she was ten years old but got a real opportunity to practice it after moving to Pakistan.
“I met my art teacher in Islamabad who checked my work and agreed to help me in learning and polishing my art skills,” she added.
Baseera Joya, another 13-year-old aspiring artist whose family came to Islamabad from Ghazni last year, said she had been preparing for the exhibition for the past three months.
“Today, in this exhibition, I am showing one picture, which depicts the passing time in today’s world,” she told Arab News, and the “highs and lows” people and nations go through.
Afghan refugee girl student, Baseera Joya briefs about her art work displayed in an exhibition in Islamabad, Pakistan on March 22, 2023. (AN Photo)
“I want peace and security in Afghanistan as it felt so bad to leave my home but Afghan girls are helpless and don’t have security there,” she added.
Muhammad Jawid Shuja, the Country Director of the Uplift Afghanistan Fund and the organizer of the exhibition, said the non-profit had been involved in various projects for the past year, including education, art and food schemes, to help refugee children.
“I wanted to help Afghan refugees so that they should not lose hope,” Shuja, who is himself an Afghan refugee, said, adding that this exhibition aimed to encourage the girls to “work toward their goals.”
Alexa Greenwald, a volunteer at Uplift Afghanistan, said the objective of social projects such as the exhibition was to enable Afghans to enhance their skills.
“These students are here to sell these paintings,” she said, “and support their education.”
