As war rages on in Afghanistan, school girls continue to face daily threats to their lives.  At the Mirwais School for Girls in Kandahar, 11 girls were attacked with burning acid on November 12, 2008.  The attackers are suspected to be related to the Taliban, but no evidence stands to hold this claim.  However, despite initial apprehension by parents, nearly 1,300 of the school’s students have returned, including all 11 burn victims.  Parents in Kandahar, which is a deeply conservative community, continue to encourage their daughters to attend school.  One of the burn victims described her own dedication saying, “The people who did this to me don’t want women to be educated.  They want us to be stupid things.”  The girls and parents in Kandahar have decided that if they stop educating themselves, the enemy has already won.
The story of the girls at the Mirwais School provides inspiration and hope in what otherwise is a persistently bleak situation.  This story comes from a New York Times article that also features a beautiful slideshow of the girls in Kandahar.  View the article and photographs here.