It was news like any other for the world, but for Rohina Samim, an expatriate Afghan working in banking and management in Switzerland, it was news too far. That day, she watched the television footage of a woman being executed by the Taliban in an Afghan football stadium like everyone else. On a trip to Canada, Rohina, Executive Director of Women for Women International (WWIMFI), MEDA's microfinance partner in Afghanistan, recalled how those 10-year-old images continue to haunt her.
"I felt that this woman was talking to me, asking me why no one had come to help her and the other women in danger in Afghanistan". For Rohina, it was a defining moment. She left the comfort of her life in Switzerland, where her family had fled during the Russian invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, to return to Afghanistan. Rohina was determined to find the woman's family and help them.
With what I saw and experienced in Afghanistan for 10 years, I couldn't "just go back" to Switzerland.
Rohina Samim