Learning to drive: A giant step for Afghan women in Vermont

[RandySF]

SHELBURNE — On a sunny Sunday afternoon, Wazir Hashimi drove his gray Toyota Corolla onto a long dirt road in Shelburne.

She pulled over to the side and let two women in the car take turns at the wheel.

“They both have permits, and they know the rules,” Hashimi said.

President and founder of the Vermont Afghan Alliance, Hashimi has been busy teaching Afghan women to drive, an opportunity they never had back home.

Sima went first, adjusting the mirror, gripping the wheel and driving steadily. After she drove the stretch and back, her fellow student, Farishta, switched with her. All the while, Hashimi doled out instructions and praise in Farsi.

“She is doing well, isn’t she?” he asked proudly after the first round.

For the next two hours, the women alternated driving up and down the quiet road. Between navigating three-point turns, reversing and a stop sign, there was camaraderie, laughter and a sense of purpose.

“I never had a chance to learn to drive in Afghanistan,” said Farishta, adjusting her gray head scarf over a mustard-yellow long dress.

Both Afghan refugees from Kabul, neither woman wanted to share her real name for fear of harm to families back home who continue to live under the Taliban’s oppressive rule.



https://vtdigger.org/2023/03/06/learning-to-drive-a-giant-step-for-afghan-women-in-vermont/

[Tetrachloride]

1. In my area in the Eastern Hemisphere, it appears

that 1-2 women in my building are not driving. I only see their husbands driving.

Every taxi or Uber driver that my app gave me or bus driver or truck driver that I have seen these past 30 months is a man. Every time.

[Aristus]

2. Unfortunately, the American Taliban is trying very hard to make these women feel like

they're back home.

The U.S.A. Not the greatest place to emigrate to if human rights are your thing...