When the Taliban took control in August 2021, a group of girls studying at the School of Leadership Afghanistan, or SOLA, an all-girls boarding school in the capital, Kabul, had to flee the country, not only for their right to education but to save their lives. As they sought refuge, Rwanda opened her arms wide, and thus, for the last one year and a half, they have been staying in the country and are continuing to study. ALSO READ: Basij-Rasikh on Afghan girls’ journey, finding welcoming learning place in Rwanda Back home, the Taliban has closed girls' schools beyond 6th grade and, just recently, barred women from universities. In an interview with US TV broadcast, 60 Minutes, Shabana Basij-Rasikh, the founder of SOLA, said that when the US’s plans of removing its troops from Afghanistan started to take shape in 2021, she knew that it was a matter of time before it was going to be irresponsible of her to continue running an all-girls boarding school in Kabul. She came up with the idea of taking the whole SOLA community - students and staff - abroad for a semester while the American withdrawal played out. ALSO READ: Kagame meets Afghan girls' leadership school founder So, she started searching for a country, ideally, one nearby that would accept them. But the warmest response she got by far was from Rwanda. The idea then was that they would leave for a year, and return if the security back home got better. ALSO READ: How Afghan Colonel, his family found safety in Rwanda As American soldiers prepared for an announced end-of-August departure, SOLA brought in passport officials on August 14 to process the girls' paperwork for flights a few days later. They worked into the night, but unbeknownst to all of them, it was too late. The Taliban were closing in and would enter Kabul in just a few hours. “One of my teachers came and said that: ‘You guys have to leave SOLA in five minutes.’ And I said that, ‘Why?’ And she said, ‘If the Taliban come, they will know that here is a school, and they will kill all of us,” Najia, one of the SOLA girls recalled during the interview. In the chaos of the Taliban takeover and government collapse, SOLA quickly sent students home with teachers and staff. Shabana scrambled to transform what was to be an orderly departure into a sudden, life-threatening escape. “Most of us remember the desperate, frantic crowds trying to get out of Kabul after the Taliban takeover in August, 2021. Among them were the students, teachers, staff and staff families of SOLA -- 256 people in all,” Basij-Rasik narrated. After a hustle to get to the airport through Taliban checkpoints and the jostle that was at the airport at that time as many people tried to flee, the girls and school staff managed to make it out of Afghanistan. Asked by 60 Minutes broadcast host, Lesley Stahl, if they like it in Rwanda, the girls responded, “Yes!” “What's the reception been like in Rwanda?” she asked. Basij-Rasik responded: “Remarkable doesn't quite capture it. I've had this conversation with so many Rwandans saying, ‘Please don't forget, we were also once refugees. Here we are back in Rwanda. You will go back home, but for the time being, welcome home to Rwanda.’
