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

Felisha Adam · CBC

· Posted: Jun 26, 2025 6:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 6 hours ago

When Setayesh Khasheei goes to school, she's reminded of her classmates and household backmost location successful Afghanistan who are incapable to get an education, simply due to the fact that of their gender. 

Khasheei, 13, and her household came to Winnipeg successful 2021, fleeing their location successful Kabul soon aft the country's authorities collapsed and the Taliban seized control. 

Khasheei, who was successful Grade 3 at the time, remembers however rapidly everything changed. 

"It was … bittersweet due to the fact that I had to permission down my household members, my friends, my classmates, [and] my home," she said.

The Taliban person barred women from astir areas of nationalist beingness and stopped girls from going to schoolhouse beyond Grade 6 arsenic portion of harsh measures they imposed aft taking powerfulness successful 2021 pursuing the withdrawal of U.S. forces.

According to 2023 information from the United Nations, astatine slightest 1.4 cardinal Afghan girls person been banned from accessing secondary acquisition since then, portion much than 100,000 person been denied entree to post-secondary education.

"They're not allowed to spell extracurricular … to amended themselves … immoderate of them are not adjacent allowed to … permission the location … and immoderate of them are joined disconnected astatine a young age," she said. "That could person been me."

When Khasheei arrived successful Canada she felt a premix of emotions — connected 1 manus she was blessed to beryllium safe, but connected the different manus she felt guilty she was not capable to assistance those inactive successful Afghanistan.

At the time, due to the fact that of a connection barrier, her lone mode of expressing herself was done art. It was aft a speech with her begetter that she realized that's however she could help.

"I privation to interruption the soundlessness due to the fact that truthful galore … radical don't cognize their stories, they don't cognize what's going on." 

Her paintings represent the constituent of presumption of Afghan women and girls, inspired by the stories she hears from her friends backmost home.

As the schoolhouse twelvemonth successful Winnipeg comes to an end, Khasheei says she's reminded of however fortunate she is.

"So galore radical successful Afghanistan, mostly girls, they don't person that chance," she said. 

She has displayed her creation enactment astatine Canadian Museum for Human Rights and successful Ottawa astatine an lawsuit for the Afghanistan Women's Parliamentarian and Leaders Network.

"Half of the nine successful my location state is women, and if we privation to turn the society, if we privation to person a very, precise bully program for the … country, without the pistillate and girl, we cannot," said Khasheei's mother, who CBC is not naming arsenic she fears for the information of her household inactive successful the country.

She describes Afghanistan arsenic a prison, wherever she says astir of the relatives she speaks to have mislaid hope.

"They cannot bash anything, they don't person rights," she said.

When she thinks astir what could person happened if her household were inactive successful the country, she's brought to tears, reasoning astir her 2 daughters. 

"I americium thinking, if they [couldn't] proceed their education, if they [couldn't] spell extracurricular by themselves, if they [couldn't] bash anything, they [couldn't] proceed their life."

Khasheei's parent says she is grateful they are capable to proceed their education, and that her eldest is utilizing her dependable to dispersed awareness, but she hopes to instrumentality location 1 time to spot women and girls back successful classrooms and successful nationalist spaces.