She got an Afghan village to allow their daughters to go to primary school. Now it's college time.
Right now, in the small village of Deh'Subz, Afghanistan, the first private, free, rural women's college in the nation's history is being built.
The pioneer behind the project?
Photo courtesy of Razia's Ray of Hope Foundation.
71-year-old Razia Jan, an educator who grew up in a more liberal Afghanistan before Taliban occupation. She later moved to the U.S. to attend Harvard University and then settled in Massachusetts.
After the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Razia was determined to return to Afghanistan for the first time to support the women on her native soil.
In 2008, she started a free, private K-12 school for girls in Deh'Subz. When the men in the conservative village said they wanted the school to only teach young boys, Razia pushed back. “Women are the eyesight of this community," she said. “You are blind."
Photo courtesy of Beth Murphy/Principle Pictures.
In order to convince skeptics in the village of the importance of the school, Razia had every first-year student learn to write not only her own name, but also her father's. The men in the village were impressed that the girls could interpret English and read letters sent from the government.
It took time, but soon Razia had the support of the community.
Photo courtesy of Beth Murphy/Principle Pictures.
The Zabuli Education Center has been providing free community-based education as well as uniforms, food, shoes, and warm coats for seven years now.
During its first year of operation, the Zabuli center taught 91 girls; today it educates nearly 480 between the ages of 4 and 21. The only problem? The young women who are about to graduate don't want to stop studying. So Razia Jan decided it was time to build another school.
If they can't go to college, she said, the college will come to them.
Jan's foundation, the Razia's Ray of Hope Foundation, launched an Indiegogo campaign. By August, they successfully raised over $117,000 to fund the building of the Razia Jan Technical College. The two-year program will train women in computer science, midwifery, literature, English as a second language, and teaching. The goal is for the young women to return as teachers at the Zabuli Education Center or serve as nurses in the community.
Photo courtesy of Razia's Ray of Hope Foundation.
Only nine days after the Indiegogo campaign ended, the center's building foundation was laid in the village.
“Razia moves fast," says Beth Murphy, who has been working on a film about the Zabuli center.
Photo courtesy of Razia's Ray of Hope Foundation.
The seven girls who will attend the college in the spring will graduate from high school this November. Murphy says the success of the school is so dependent on the support of the community. And it sounds like they've got it. Says Murphy: “Men in the community are already verbalizing that their daughters will graduate with careers."
And if Taliban occupation were to infiltrate the area again?
Murphy says a shopkeeper across the street from the education center told her: “If anyone tries to do anything at the schools, they'll have to put the bullet through me first."
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There's a reason why some people can perfectly copy accents, and others can't
Turns out, there's a neurodivergent link.
A woman in black long sleeve shirt stands in front of mirror.
Have you ever had that friend who goes on vacation for four days to London and comes back with a full-on Queen's English posh accent? "Oooh I left my brolly in the loo," they say, and you respond, "But you're from Colorado!" Well, there are reasons they (and many of us) do that, and usually it's on a pretty subconscious level.
It's called "accent mirroring," and it's actually quite common with people who are neurodivergent, particularly those with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). According Neurolaunch, the self-described "Free Mental Health Library," "Accent mirroring, also known as accent adaptation or phonetic convergence, is the tendency to unconsciously adopt the accent or speech patterns of those around us. This linguistic chameleon effect is not unique to individuals with ADHD, but it appears to be more pronounced and frequent in this population."
Essentially, when people have conversations, we're constantly "scanning" for information—not just the words we're absorbing, but the inflection and tone. "When we hear an accent, our brains automatically analyze and categorize the phonetic features, prosody, and intonation patterns," writes Neurolaunch. For most, this does result in copying the accent of the person with whom we're speaking. But those with ADHD might be more sensitive to auditory cues. This, "coupled with a reduced ability to filter out or inhibit the impulse to mimic…could potentially explain the increased tendency for accent mirroring."
While the article explains further research is needed, they distinctly state that, "Accent mirroring in individuals with ADHD often manifests as an unconscious mimicry of accents in social situations. This can range from subtle shifts in pronunciation to more noticeable changes in intonation and speech rhythm. For example, a person with ADHD might find themselves unconsciously adopting a Southern drawl when conversing with someone from Texas, even if they’ve never lived in the South themselves."
People are having their say online. On the subreddit r/ADHDWomen, a thread began: "Taking on accents is an ADHD thing?" The OP shares, "My whole life, I've picked up accents. I, myself, never noticed, but everyone around me would be like, 'Why are you talking like that??' It could be after I watched a show or movie with an accent or after I've traveled somewhere with a different accent than my 'normal.'
They continue, "Apparently, I pick it up fast, but it fades out slowly. Today... I'm scrolling Instagram, I watch a reel from a comedian couple (Darcy and Jeremy. IYKYK) about how Darcy (ADHD) picks up accents everywhere they go. It's called ADHD Mirroring??? And it's another way of masking."
(The OP is referring to Darcy Michaels and his husband Jeremy Baer, who are both touring comedians based in Canada.)
Hundreds of people on the Reddit thread alone seem to relate. One comments, "Omfg I've done this my whole life; I'll even pick up on the pauses/spaces when I'm talking to someone who is ESL—but English is my first language lol."
Sometimes, it can be a real issue for those around the chameleon. "I accidentally mimicked a waitress's weird laugh one time. As soon as she was out of earshot, my family started to reprimand me, but I was already like 'oh my god I don’t know why I did that, I feel so bad.'"
Many commenters on TikTok were shocked to find out this can be a sign of ADHD. One jokes, "Omg, yes, at a store the cashier was talking to me and she was French. She's like 'Oh are you French too? No, I'm not lol. I'm very east coast Canada."
And some people just embrace it and make it work for them. "I mirror their words or phrase! I’m 30. I realized I start calling everyone sweetie cause my manager does & I work at coffee shop."