I am Marziya, 16 years old. I am from Takhar province.
My father was a university professor and was dismissed by the Taliban because he didn’t speak Pashto and he defended the rights of girls and women in the university.
We had a really hard time because my father was unemployed. There was no money or jobs, so my father went to Iran for work.
Now my father is in Iran and works in home construction.
After my father was gone, the Taliban came to our village and told us that we should leave our house, that they will give our house to their Pashtun people. So we had to leave and found a rented house in another village.
Imagine how painful it is to lose everything because of not knowing their language.
Takhar province is a green and mountainous province with forests.
On 10/01/2023, there is a river near our house and the distance from the river to our house was about 300-400 meters. I went there to fetch drinking water and when I was returning home, some armed Taliban men came up to me and took my bucket of water. They took it and drank from it.
I was very scared. Immediately after they drank my water, they grabbed me and started to attack me.
They took me farther into the forest by the river, away from my home:
There were four of them. They tore my clothes off and then tied my hands and gagged my mouth. They all raped me. I can’t think about this.
For a moment, I thought maybe it was a nightmare and I would wake up....
My whole body was burning with pain and they fought with me and I tried to fight them. I was knocked unconscious and woke up several hours later, at night. No one was around me and I was in the middle of the woods. My clothes were all torn up and covered in blood. I tried to get up but I couldn’t.
I started to hear the voices of my mother and other neighbors calling for me. I screamed and they came to find me and brought me home. The whole night I was crying and screaming from pain and when the morning came, we went to clinic near our home. They game me pain killers. I still had horrible pain and nightmares.
I felt sick still and from a neighbor, we found information out about your team and you helped us come to Kabul for care.
Your team has already started my treatment.
We are in a safe place right now.
Thank you