What Happens to Them Happens to All of Us: Why Afghan Women and Girls Are Fighting for All of Our Rights

What does it take to keep fighting when everything has been taken from you?Over the past two decades, Afghanistan slowly built something new. Girls went to school. Women went to work. Women were elected to parliament. And then in 2021, it was erased. No school for girls. No work. No voice. Within hours of the Taliban's return, Afghan women broke open the locks of their schools anyway. They are still fighting today — inside Afghanistan and across Afghan communities in exile — and their fight sits at the frontline of the global struggle for women's and girls' rights.This episode asks what that fight looks like from Geneva, from exile, from a late-night tram ride home from the library — when you realise you are safe, your daughters are safe, and more than 20 million women are not. It asks what intercultural solidarity actually requires. And it asks what it feels like — in your body — when your rights are taken away, and when they are given back.Our guest is Bahishta Nothani. She grew up in Afghanistan under the Taliban, went to school in secret, and eventually made her way to Geneva where she became a dentist and co-founded the Afghanistan Women's Rights Association (AWRA). She speaks not from a distance but from lived experience — of what it means to have your rights stripped away, and to refuse to stop fighting regardless.BE THE CHANGETalk about the situation of women and girls in Afghanistan — in your meetings, your gatherings, your everyday conversations. Wherever you are, whoever you are with. Bahishta's ask is simple: do not let the world look away. The energy of human beings, she says, is something no force can match. Keep the conversation going.🔗 LINKS & RESOURCESAfghanistan Women's Rights Association (AWRA): https://awra.ch/👤 ABOUT THE GUEST Bahishta Nothani grew up in Afghanistan under the Taliban, where girls were forbidden from going to school. She went anyway — in secret, across borders, and at great personal risk. Evacuated and granted refugee status in Switzerland, she trained as a dentist in Geneva, learned French, and built a new life — one defined by the same refusal to give up that carried her through childhood. Today she is a mother of two and the co-founder of AWRA, which supports underground schools, health clinics, and shelters for thousands of women and children inside Afghanistan. She speaks not only from expertise, but from lived experience of what it means to have your rights taken away — and to keep fighting regardless.📋 SHARE YOUR REFLECTIONFive questions.Your responses help us understand what's shifting — and make the case for more stories like this one 👉https://forms.gle/mf8MVX3cUsqYECrL9💧 JOIN THE CONVERSATIONShare your drops of water: #HummingbirdCollectiveSubscribe for more stories of everyday courageThe Hummingbird Collective is co-produced by the Caux Initiatives of Change Foundation, supported through Sarah Noble's participation in the Youth for Peace: UNESCO Intercultural Leadership Programme (2025–2026). Guests speak from their own experience and perspective, which may not reflect the views of the show or its partners.Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.