Sometimes, Salma bursts in tears as she struggles with her homework. She works hard to catch up after spending years out of school because her family was displaced twice. Less than 2 years ago, when she moved to Mazar, she could not read or write. Now 13, Salma goes to middle school with her two sisters, hoping to become “a doctor that treats people for free”. She knows poverty too well herself. I followed Salma, Omedah (from Faryab, shown before) and Sakina for @lemondedesadosmag to show French readers their age what it means being an Afghan teenage girl one year after the Taliban return. The three live in different places and face different challenges. For Salma, it is poverty and the fear of not being good enough in class. She lives in a house much too small for the family of 18. Her grandfather sleeps in the hall under a mosquito net, sick, but too poor to see a doctor. Her brothers had had to stop school to work—one sells vegetables, the other works as a cleaner in a hospital. Her father has lost his job as a tailor. Still, the family does its best so the three daughters can have a different future. “I don’t want my daughters to be illiterate like me, I want them to study as much as they can” says their mother Diana. Salma will not give up. She follows a very tight schedule starting at 4am, which include, of course, a lot of homework, helping her mother with housework and cooking, but also jumprope—“to become taller”. Note - girls do not keep their faces covered during class—they did this time because of the. #Balkh #Afghanistan Photo & text: Elise Blanchard @eliseblchrd. (6.4-16.22) #everydayafghanistan #girls #teenage #mazar #journalism #photojournalism #onassigment #everydayeverywhere #afghan #afghangirls #education #reportagespotlight #womenrights #everydaybalkh #everydayasia (at Balkh) https://www.instagram.com/p/CjLhHHENTAT/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=
