Hope

Over the past two days, I had the opportunity to interview three potential candidates for a State Department program that brings Afghans to the US to learn about our country and government.  I spoke with two men and one woman.  I was unsure if the female would show up as I was told that she had to get her family's permission to apply since it would involve her traveling without a male family member as an escort.  This was a little disheartening, but it all worked out and I spoke with her today.

As part of the interview process, I asked the typical questions, but one caused a pause from her.  I asked where she saw herself in the next five to ten years.  As she struggled to come up with an answer, an Afghan colleague from my office interrupted.  He said that it was difficult for Afghans to look that far into the future.  "You see," he said, "we do not know what to expect, we do not know whether we'll live like this or worse.  We can only plan for short periods of time."  As he spoke, my guest nodded her head in agreement.

However, I'm not sure this is entirely true as I saw a glimmer of hope in her response to my next question.  I asked why she became a lawyer.  She told me that her family expected her to be a doctor, but she had no interest in that profession.  Some of her siblings were doctors, so her choice not to pursue that career was not welcomed by her family.  She continued the story by saying that she explained her interest in spite of the continued objections.  Finally, she told them "A doctor treats a patient, a lawyer treats a country."  Afghanistan is certainly a country suffering from sickness; lawyers like her can heal it.