By Jim Sheahan
Director of Athletic Communications & Marketing

Khadija Ghanizada offers a shy smile when she tells people she's never really been an activist.

Maybe it's more about the way she perceives herself. Maybe she doesn't like the label. Maybe it's because of what being an activist can mean when you are a woman and Afghanistan is your homeland.

In the last two months, since the United States initiated a withdrawal from Afghanistan and the Taliban quickly reassumed power, Ghanizada has sprung into action.

Last month she attended two protests at the United Nations with Bard classmate Sonita Alizada. Ghanizada also rode her bike 21 miles around Bard to raise money to help displaced communities in Kabul, Afghanistan. She is also working with Alizada and Bard's Center for Civic Engagement on a project called Afghan Women Advocacy Projects. There is a calendar of events for each month that Bard students can help with. 

Last week, Alizada addressed a virtual United Nations Ministerial Event on Afghanistan.

"If this was any other country, I'd still be doing this," said Ghanizada, a junior at Bard. "It's about women's rights. It's about all of the people working to protect children. It's about counter-terrorism."

"I feel like I have to do something," she said. "This time, I need to be more of an activist. We have friends who are very helpful. Somehow, I'm trying to get my family out, but at least my family has me here in America. What about the families who have nobody outside of Afghanistan? They're vulnerable. What about the strong women in leadership positions who left the provinces to come to Kabul? Now they're stuck, some of them are in the streets."

Ghanizada's father was liberal in every sense of the word. He was elected to a leadership position in their district, but his ideas about women weren't well received. He supported his wife's work outside of the home, allowed her to be financially independent and he even bought his daughter, Khadija, a bike. He allowed her to ride it, something unheard of in a conservative neighborhood.

She recalls menacing phone calls her father would receive late at night.

"I was living my best life, a great childhood, until I was 10," Ghanizada recalls. "Then the threatening phone calls started. When I was 12, my father was gone. They say he 'passed away.' I say he was killed. After that, my mom tried to do everything herself. As cliche as it sounds, she's an Afghan superwoman."

Ghanizada's path to Annandale began when her mother allowed her to attend a boarding school in Afghanistan where she could learn English. One of the American teachers in that school had a daughter attending Emma Willard School in Troy, N.Y., and convinced her to apply. Her academic work and a scholarship made it possible, and she left.

"My mother supported me and wanted me to be happy, even though this made it harder for her, because I am the eldest," Ghanizada said. "I remember being struck by how huge the school was, and how much it looked like a castle … and how many trees there were everywhere. I grew up in a city so I wasn't used to being in the middle of nowhere.

"I made friends quickly, and soon realized that there wasn't much of a difference between us," she continued. "I always thought, 'In America, they never have problems.' Then I realized we all live in the same world, we all have similar problems. And I definitely wondered why the U.S. was in Afghanistan instead of solving their own problems here."

She excelled there for two years, and took the opportunity to do something she never could have imagined in Kabul: She tried sports.

"I tried every single sport, because I always wanted to," Ghanizada said. "Basketball, field hockey, lacrosse, swimming. Then a new friend suggested lacrosse, and I stuck with it. I didn't think I could play sports at Bard, until I met my friend (Lily Clough) who was in my L&T and Citizen Science and she inspired me to join the lacrosse team. I met with the coach, told him I wasn't very good but that I'd try very hard to get better. 

"Last summer I would run and bike seven miles everyday to prepare, because the team believed in me and I don't want to let them down," Ghanizada said. "I feel like I've always had the personality of an athlete. And I need sports. I'm bad at it but it was nice finding an outlet for my frustration and anger."

This isn't the first time Ghanizada and Alizada have worked together. They created a Trustee Leader Scholar Project at Bard called "Arezo," which is Farsi for "Wish." They choose three children in Kabul, ask them what their wish is, then raise money and use their contacts in Kabul to make it happen. One young boy's wish was to buy his brother a bike. His brother got a bike.

"We are just two people, and we can change people's lives," Ghanizada said. "Why can't the international community do something? The Afghan people don't need pity. They have been strong and resilient for 40 years. What they need is help from the international community.

"It's important," she added. "If you lose Afghanistan, you lose many countries around Afghanistan, because Afghanistan is in the heart of Asia. If it becomes a site for terrorism, it affects the whole world. I'm not saying bring about 20,000 troops in, but don't sit and negotiate with the Taliban without the Afghan government present. Do not allow the Taliban at the U.N and do not recognize them."

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Bard College has created the Afghan Student Fund to provide living, legal and other necessary support to Afghan students who come to Bard. To donate, click here.