Editing by Twila Bird
Photography by Lindsay Silsby
We are four sisters; my older sister is married, the rest of us are not. After our father died, we had no one to protect us. Our uncles wanted to forcefully marry the rest of us off. They told my mother, “Your girls must marry anybody we tell them to. Daughters have no right to protest and they should not talk back at all. You know girls have no value here.”
Our mother quarreled with my uncles and remained awake each night to protect us from the danger posed by someone coming to our house in secret and carrying us off. We lived in insecurity.
My brother-in-law defended us and they threatened to kill him. He lost everything to help us escape. So we left.
We faced many hardships to get here. Now we have enough security to sleep safely.
Fahima and her sisters are safe but their dreams of continuing their education are fading as they languish in refugee camps, first in Greece and now in Serbia. They need a place to call home.
Fahima and her brother, Azim
Afghanistan