Teen whose family fled the Taliban is using art to advocate for women and girls in Afghanistan

When Setayesh Khasheei goes to school, she's reminded of her classmates and family back home in Afghanistan who are unable to get an education, simply because of their gender. 

Khasheei, 13, and her family came to Winnipeg in 2021, fleeing their home in Kabul soon after the country's government collapsed and the Taliban seized control. 

Khasheei, who was in Grade 3 at the time, remembers how quickly everything changed. 

"It was … sad because I had to leave behind my family members, my friends, my classmates, [and] my home," she said.

The Taliban have barred women from most areas of public life and stopped girls from going to school beyond Grade 6 as part of harsh measures they imposed after taking power in 2021 following the withdrawal of U.S. forces.

According to 2023 data from the United Nations, at least 1.4 million Afghan girls have been banned from accessing secondary education since then, while more than 100,000 have been denied access to post-secondary education.

"They're not allowed to go outside … to educate themselves … some of them are not even allowed to … leave the house … and some of them are married off at a young age," she said. "That could have been me."

When Khasheei arrived in Canada she felt a mix of emotions — on one hand she was happy to be safe, but on the other hand she felt guilty she was not able to help those still in Afghanistan.

At the time, because of a language barrier, her only way of expressing herself was through art. It was after a conversation with her father that she realized that's how she could help.

"I want to break the silence because so many … people don't know their stories, they don't know what's going on." 

Her paintings portray the point of view of Afghan women and girls, inspired by the stories she hears from her friends back home.

As the school year in Winnipeg comes to an end, Khasheei says she's reminded of how lucky she is.

"So many people in Afghanistan, mostly girls, they don't have that chance," she said. 

She has displayed her art work at Canadian Museum for Human Rights and in Ottawa at an event for the Afghanistan Women's Parliamentarian and Leaders Network.

"Half of the society in my home country is women, and if we want to grow the society, if we want to have a very, very good plan for the … country, without the woman and girl, we cannot," said Khasheei's mother, who CBC is not naming as she fears for the safety of her family still in the country.

She describes Afghanistan as a prison, where she says most of the relatives she speaks to have lost hope.

"They cannot do anything, they don't have rights," she said.

When she thinks about what could have happened if her family were still in the country, she's brought to tears, thinking about her two daughters. 

"I am thinking, if they [couldn't] continue their education, if they [couldn't] go outside by themselves, if they [couldn't] do anything, they [couldn't] continue their life."

Khasheei's mother says she is grateful they are able to continue their education, and that her eldest is using her voice to spread awareness, but she hopes to return home one day to see women and girls back in classrooms and in public spaces.