This morning, Asal Latifi, a Year 11 student, had the honour of being one of the chosen speakers to deliver a speech to the United Nations in Geneva, as part of an international conference focusing on women who are ‘Inspiring Women a Peaceful and Sustainable Future’. Asal was chosen as a speaker partly due to the work of her mother, Angela Ghayour, who has received international recognition for her work in setting up an online school, (@HeratSchool), which helps young women in Afghanistan continue to receive an education despite the oppressive and deadly presence of the Taliban. The school has been a huge success and means that teachers from all across the world are contributing to the education of girls in Afghanistan.
Asal’s powerful speech details her experience as a refugee, explaining how her family had to escape her hometown of Herat in Afghanistan and flee on foot from the brutality of the Taliban. Making the dangerous journey over mountain ranges into Iran and then onto Europe, from Greece to Italy and finally settling in the Netherlands. Asal’s family then moved to Brighton in 2018 and she joined our school in Year 8.
Not only does her speech encompass her dramatic experience as refugee, but it also details her passion to continue to help her ‘sisters’ in Afghanistan: to fight for their right to freedom of expression; for their right to an education, like she has received in the UK; and their right to be women, who make their own choices about their own lives, without the murderous threat of the Taliban. Asal is an inspiring student and we are all incredibly proud of her achievements.
You can watch Asal's speech here > https://rpb.li/O5g (Please forward to 1h22m to see Asal).
Nevill Campus
Nevill Road, Hove,
East Sussex, BN3 7BN
Nevill Office: 01273 082817
Valley Campus
Hangleton Way, Hove,
East Sussex, BN3 8AA
Valley Office: 01273 082857