'I Felt Like the Luckiest Girl in the World': Afghan Students Restart College in the U.S.

(A lengthy, worthwhile read)


‘I Felt Like the Luckiest Girl in the World’: Afghan Students Restart College in the U.S.
10/6/2022 by Lisa Patel

About 10 students, all women—some dressed in shorts, others in ripped jeans or workout clothes—sit in a circle on comfortable couches, peppering three Arizona State University (ASU) professors with questions. One young woman wants to know what majors she should consider to get a good-paying job after graduation. Another classmate quips that she’ll study anything as long as it doesn’t involve math. The conversation shifts to plans for a fashion show, dance performance and art display they’re organizing for a Persian New Year celebration.

“We still need to get high heels,” says one of the students, who’s looking forward to the fashion show.

These women may look and sound like ordinary college students, but their lives tell a different story.

Oranous Koofi, 25, escaped the Afghan capital, Kabul, and her home country with only her cell phone.

Masooma Ebrahimi, 25, is a refugee for the second time in her life—both due to the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan.



Oranous Koofi studies for a journalism class in her apartment in Tempe, Ariz., on Sept. 18, 2022. Koofi moved into university accommodations in May after a five-month stay at a hotel near campus. (Lisa Patel)
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Masooma Ebrahimi on the Arizona State University campus in Tempe, on Sept. 18, 2022. She is majoring in global health and hopes to help better the lives of children and women in the future. (Lisa Patel)

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Oranous Koofi in front of her campus apartment building in Tempe, on Sept. 18, 2022. She is majoring in journalism and hopes to go into broadcasting. (Lisa Patel)
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Masooma Ebrahimi rides her bicycle on the Arizona State University campus on Sept. 18, 2022. She learned how to ride a bike just this past summer practicing on campus pathways. (Lisa Patel)


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Oranous Koofi poses in a traditional Afghan dress after participating in a fashion show at the Nowruz celebration at Phoenix City Hall in Arizona on March 18, 2022. The Persian New Year, Nowruz, marks the beginning of spring. (Lisa Patel)
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https://msmagazine.com/2022/10/06/afghan-students-girls-education-usa-college/