Importance of Women Education: Story of Sakena Yacoobi

As we all know, (atleast majority of the people know the) importance of Women Education in Society, this is the story of Sakena Yacoobi. She was born in a middle class family. Her father was five years old when he lost his father, but by the time she was born, he was already a businessman. But it didn't make a difference to him if his children were going to be a boy or a girl: they were going to go to school. So she guess she was the lucky one.

Her mother had 16 pregnancies. From 16 pregnancies, five of them are alive. You can imagine as a child what she went through. Day to day, she watched women being carried to a graveyard, or watched children going to a graveyard. At that time, when she finished her high school, she really wanted to be a doctor. She wanted to be a doctor to help women and children. So she completed her education, but she wanted to go to university. Unfortunately, in her country, there wasn't a dormitory for girls, so she was accepted in medical school, but she could not go there. So as a result, her father sent her to America.

She came to America. She completed her education. While she was completing her education, her country was invaded by Russia. And do you know that at the time she was completing her education, she didn't know what was going on with her family or with her country. There were months, years, she didn’t know about it. Her family was in a refugee camp. So as soon as she completed her education, she brought her family to America. She wanted them to be safe.

But where was her heart? Her heart was in Afghanistan. Day after day, when she listened to the news, when she followed what was going on with her country, her heart was breaking up. She really wanted to go back to her country, but at the same time she knew she could not go there, because there was no place for her. She had a good job. She was a professor at a university.
She earned good money. She had a good life. Her family was here. She could live with them. But she wasn't happy. She wanted to go back home. So she went to the refugee camp. And when she went to the refugee camp in Pakistan, there were 7.5 million refugees. 7.5 million Refugees. About 90 percent of them were women and children. Most of the men have been killed or they were in war. And you know, in the refugee camp, when she went day-to-day to do a survey, she found things you never could imagine.

She saw a widow with five to eight children sitting there and weeping and not knowing what to do. She saw a young woman have no way to go anywhere, no education, no entertainment, no place to even live. She saw young men that had lost their father and their home, and they are supporting the family as a 10-to-12-year old boy -- being the head of the household, trying to protect their sister and their mother and their children.

So it was a very devastating situation. Her heart was beating for her people, and she didn't know what to do. At that moment, we talk about momentum. At that moment, she felt, what can she do for these people? How could she help these people? What can she do for them?

But at that moment, she knew that education changed her life. It transformed her. It gave her status. It gave her confidence. It gave her a career. It helped her to support her family, to bring her family to another country, to be safe. And she knew that at that moment that what she should give to her people is education and health, and that's what she went after.

I want to share this with you, because of love, because of compassion, and because of trust and honesty. If you have these few things with you, you will accomplish. We have one poet, Mawlānā Rūmī. He said that by having compassion and having love, you can conquer the world. And I tell you, we could. And if we could do it in Afghanistan, I am sure 100 percent that everyone can do it in any part of the world can do it.