Human Rights Advocate | Community Leader | Opportunity Creator
“Whenever I have found a way forward, I have tried to make that path a little wider for someone else.”
The Girl Who Refused to Stop at Grade 6
My journey began in a remote village in Afghanistan, where a girl's future was often imagined for her before she had the opportunity to imagine it for herself.
In my village, education was available to girls only up to Grade 6. For many families, learning to read and write was considered sufficient for a girl, and marriage was often seen as the natural next step.
But I wanted to continue my education. More importantly, I wanted the freedom to choose my own future.
When I completed Grade 6, there was no secondary school in my village. Continuing my studies meant travelling a long distance to town every day. At that time, it was not considered acceptable for a young girl to make that journey alone.
My mother made it possible.
Every day, she travelled with me to town, waited for hours while I attended school, and accompanied me home.
Eventually, the school recognised my academic ability and the difficulties of travelling such a long distance. I was offered the opportunity to take a placement examination. I prepared for it, passed successfully, and moved directly into Grade 10.
Looking back, I understand that my determination was only one part of that achievement. My mother's determination was equally important.
She believed that my future could be different, and she gave her time, patience and energy to help me pursue it.
That experience taught me something I would carry throughout my life: sometimes the opportunity to move forward begins with someone who believes you deserve that opportunity.
One Room, Many New Beginnings
While I was fighting for my own education, I began noticing the women and girls around me who had never had the opportunity to attend school.
Some were much older than I was.
When I read stories to them, they would sometimes tell me: “You are lucky that you can read.”
Those words stayed with me.
I began sharing what I knew, sometimes helping women recognise letters and learn basic reading and writing.
But I wanted to do more.
I asked my teacher why girls in our village could not continue their education beyond Grade 6 and why women who had never attended school did not have access to literacy classes.
My teacher listened.
With the teacher's support, an educational project was brought to our village. However, there were not enough teachers.
Although I was still a student myself, I was given the opportunity to teach a class on a trial basis. After successfully completing that period, I continued teaching.
With my family's support, one room in our family home became a classroom.
Many of my students were older than I was. They began learning at Grade 1 level, and I continued teaching the same women and girls for three years, until they reached Grade 6.
During those years, I was living two educational journeys at once.
I travelled outside my village to continue my own education, supported by my mother. Then I returned home and helped women who were beginning theirs.
At the time, I did not describe what I was doing as human rights advocacy.
I did not yet know the professional language of equality, empowerment or social justice.
I simply believed that if something was unfair, I did not have to accept it silently.
I could ask questions, use my voice and try to change it.
Looking back, I believe that was where my human rights journey truly began.
From a Village Classroom to National Leadership
Education eventually took me to Kabul University, where I studied Economics.
But leaving my village did not mean leaving behind the commitment that had begun in our family classroom.
While studying at university, I joined with friends to establish a non-profit organisation supporting women and young people.
What began with helping women learn to read gradually developed into broader work addressing the barriers that prevented women from accessing education, employment, legal awareness and economic independence.
Over more than fourteen years of human rights and community work in Afghanistan, I helped develop initiatives focused on women's rights, preventing violence against women, education and income-generating opportunities.
Some programmes supported women through agriculture. Others created opportunities for women to prepare food for schools and offices, allowing them to use existing skills to earn an income.
We also supported educational opportunities, including scholarships for people whose families had lost relatives during the conflict.
For me, human rights became something practical.
It was not enough to tell women that they had rights. I wanted to help create the conditions that would allow them to exercise those rights.
Alongside this work, I developed a professional career in public financial accountability.
I joined Afghanistan's Supreme Audit Office through a USAID-supported internship programme. After completing the six-month programme, I was selected for a permanent position.
I continued developing professionally and, through competitive recruitment, progressed into senior leadership.
Eventually, I became the only woman to reach the leadership board of Afghanistan's Supreme Audit Office.
As Head of the Final Accounts Audit Directorate, I was responsible for work involving the audit of the Government of Afghanistan's final accounts and the review of public revenues and expenditures.
My responsibilities also involved working closely with Afghanistan's Parliament, including its Public Accounts Committee, on financial accountability and parliamentary oversight.
I represented my institution through professional programmes and international exchanges, including a visit to the UK Parliament with an Afghan parliamentary delegation.
For me, reaching leadership was about more than holding a senior position.
I often thought about the distance between where my journey had started and where it had taken me.
The girl who once lived in a village without a school beyond Grade 6 was now contributing to national financial accountability, working with Parliament and representing her institution internationally.
But throughout those years, I remained committed to supporting women and young people and encouraging them to recognise their abilities.
The responsibilities had changed. The principle behind my work had not.
Starting Again Does Not Mean Starting from Zero
Then came 15 August 2021.
With the return of the Taliban, the life I had spent years building changed almost overnight.
I lost my professional position and had to leave behind the organisation, colleagues, networks and communities that had been central to my life and work.
One of the most difficult parts was being separated from the women and young people I had worked with for so many years, knowing that their opportunities and futures had become increasingly uncertain.
I had spent more than fourteen years advocating for women's education, employment, independence and participation.
Now, many of those rights were being taken away from women in Afghanistan.
But there is something important about how I want this chapter of my story to be understood:
I did not arrive in Ireland as someone without experience, knowledge or abilities.
I arrived carrying years of human rights advocacy, organisational leadership, community development and professional experience in public financial accountability.
What I had lost was not my identity or my abilities.
I had lost the environment in which those abilities had developed and been recognised: my country, my professional position, my working language, my networks and the community that knew my work.
I had to learn how to use everything I already carried with me in a new country, a new language and a different system.
That experience taught me a distinction I now consider fundamental: you can lose your position without losing your experience. You can lose your environment without losing your abilities. And you can begin a new chapter without starting your life from zero.
A New Country, the Same Commitment
Ireland gave me something for which I remain deeply grateful: the opportunity to continue.
At a time when women in Afghanistan were increasingly being denied opportunities to study, work and participate in public life, I had the freedom to pursue education, employment and community involvement in Ireland.
I am grateful to Ireland, the Irish people, and the organisations and individuals who supported my journey.
For me, however, gratitude is not only something to express in words.
I believe it is also something we can demonstrate through our contributions to the communities around us.
One of my first important opportunities was at University College Cork (UCC).
Through a Sanctuary Scholarship, I studied English at the UCC Language Centre.
But UCC became much more than a place to learn a language.
I became involved in volunteering and community activities, including the UCC Fáilte Refugee Society, where I was trusted with leadership responsibilities.
I served as Conference Director, helping organise and lead a conference that later received the Best Activism and Political Award.
That experience was meaningful to me not simply because of the recognition.
It reminded me that I could continue using the experience, leadership and voice I had developed in Afghanistan.
I was learning a new language and adapting to a new environment, but I was not becoming a different person.
My country had changed. My circumstances had changed. But my commitment to using my voice and creating opportunities for others remained.
Why I Created Domhan Green Society
Another important chapter of my journey began at UCC, where Domhan Green Society was born.
I chose the name Domhan deliberately.
It is an Irish word meaning "world."
I wanted the name to reflect my gratitude and respect for Ireland, while also expressing the wider purpose of the organisation.
I did not want to establish an organisation serving only one nationality or community.
I wanted to create a space where people from different countries, cultures and backgrounds could come together, share their experiences, develop their abilities and contribute to the society around them.
For me, integration is not a one-way process.
It is not simply about migrants adapting to a new country.
It is also about Irish and migrant communities learning from one another, recognising one another's contributions and creating opportunities together.
That belief continues to guide my work as Founder and Chairperson of Domhan Green Society.
Alongside my responsibilities at DGS, I work as Project Manager of the Sanctuary Catering Project at Saoirse, supporting opportunities for migrant women to use their skills, gain experience and participate in meaningful work.
Although the environment is different, I see a clear connection between this work and the educational and economic opportunities I helped create for women in Afghanistan.
The same principle continues to guide me: when people have abilities, the challenge is often not a lack of talent. It is a lack of opportunity to use that talent.
Continuing to Learn, Lead and Contribute
My journey has also taught me that experience and education should continue to develop alongside one another.
In 2026, I completed Academic Leadership and a Political Internship with the Immigrant Council of Ireland, expanding my understanding of leadership, political participation, migration and advocacy.
I was also selected for the 2026 OHCHR Minorities Fellowship Programme, an opportunity connected to my continuing commitment to minority rights, representation and inclusion.
Alongside my professional and community responsibilities, I have been pursuing a Master's degree in Education, Human Rights and Equality at Mary Immaculate College, supported by a Sanctuary Scholarship.
There is something particularly meaningful about this stage of my life.
I began practising human rights long before I had the opportunity to study the subject academically.
As a teenage girl, I questioned why women and girls did not have equal access to education.
Later, I spent more than fourteen years working to create educational, economic and social opportunities for women and young people.
Today, I have the opportunity to deepen my academic understanding of the principles that have shaped so much of my life.
I first encountered human rights through lived experience. I then worked for them in practice. Today, I continue developing the knowledge to strengthen that work.
Looking Back: What Success Means to Me
When I look back at my journey, I do not see a straight path to success.
I see a series of moments when I had to make a choice: accept the limitations placed in front of me or question them and look for another way forward.
As a teenage girl, I wanted the freedom to continue my education.
When I saw women around me who could not read or write, I wanted them to have that opportunity too.
What began in one room of our family home gradually became years of work supporting women and young people, followed by professional leadership and responsibilities that I could never have imagined as a child.
Then, in 2021, I lost much of the environment I had spent years building.
But I did not lose what those years had taught me.
Ireland gave me the opportunity to continue using my knowledge, experience and voice in a new environment.
Today, when I look at Domhan Green Society, my professional work with migrant women, my studies and my continuing commitment to human rights, I can see a connection with that first classroom in Afghanistan.
The countries, languages, people and circumstances have changed.
But the principle remains remarkably similar: whenever I have found a way forward, I have tried not to keep that path only for myself. I have tried to make it wider for someone else.
And I know that none of this happened through my efforts alone.
My mother travelled with me and waited for hours so I could continue my education.
A teacher listened when I questioned why women and girls in our village did not have more opportunities.
Many other people later trusted me with responsibilities, supported my work and helped me grow.
In Ireland, individuals, educational institutions and community organisations gave me opportunities to continue contributing.
Their support is part of my story.
Perhaps that is why my understanding of success has changed over time.
Success, to me, is not simply a position, an award or a title.
It is having the freedom to choose your own path.
It is finding the courage to use your voice.
It is recognising the people who helped you along the way.
And it is using what you have learned, achieved and experienced to create possibilities for others.
I still have goals I want to pursue, knowledge I want to develop and contributions I hope to make, particularly in human rights, minority representation, inclusion and community development.
My journey is continuing.
My story began in that village, but it is not finished yet.
SUCCESS, IN MY OWN WORDS
“Success is not only about how far you have travelled. It is also about what you do with the opportunities you find along the way, and whether you help make those opportunities possible for others.”
MY NEXT CHAPTER
Human Rights · Minority Representation · Inclusive Communities · Education · Creating Opportunities
The journey continues.