Clara Sediqa, eighteen, smiling on a pier by the sea

21st Century Girls · Herat, Afghanistan

Clara Sediqa.

I am eighteen, from Herat, and one of the 21st Century Girls. They told girls my age we could not learn. I kept learning anyway, robotics and Python, in the corner of our one room. Come, walk with me. I will show you the Afghanistan the world forgets, and tell you what I am building.

Salaam, my friend. I am Clara. Sit, the tea is always on at our house. Ask me anything: about my country and its real beauty, about my family and how I study, or about what I am learning this week. Where shall we begin?

Clara speaks her answers aloud. Turn your sound on.

Clara is a storyteller created for the 21st Century Girls program. Her voice and her story are drawn from the lives of the girls in the program: girls who were told they could not learn, learning anyway. Read about the program →