The butterfly with one wing !

(Inspired by a true story)

Standing in the corner of the Bilal street, the four bearded men were looking at the girl. She was collecting paper on the other side of the road. Zeborah Ayesha, the 14 year old kid has never set foot in school in her Taliban Afghanistan. Her father was a paper collector and at the age of 8, Zoya was put into his business. And since that day, for 6 long years, she has been collecting paper. But what happens today will change her life forever. Now coming back to the street corner. Zeborah was dressed in a traditional salwar which in fact was too large large for her size. But then, she didn't have her burqa.

Munir Dakia, the youngest of the four at 34, came over to Zeborah and took her by her arm and dragged her across the street. the terrified little Zeborah got scared and She was wondering what mistake she had made to get into this situation. And then she saw Jalal Anwar take a leather whip out of nowhere. Tears started rolling down her cheeks when they they started hitting her, first with the whip and then with whatever they can get hold of. A crowd started gathering around the beat-up, but no one dared to stop the four men. By the time the four men lost their enthusiasm to beat her up, Zeborah's ribs were broken, lips were torn and she was bleeding everywhere. She was lying on the ground with her face down. Jalal bent close her ears and said "Don't ever forget your burqa".

Mohaideen khan, Zeborah's father admitted her in a local hospital. She needed 34 stitches all over her body and a scar in the face, result of a violent whip was going to be permanent. But this was just her beginning. Zeborah was kept in ICU for the first two days of her treatment, then was moved to the general ward and that's what saved her. Two weeks later, the ICU, her house, her parents and her siblings were gone. And most of all, the Taliban were gone. When she got discharged she did what she knew she could do. She started collecting papers for a living.

Life for a 14 year old girl, living in the streets, collecting papers for food in a war-torn Afghan is not that easy as you may know. Zeborah survived 2 months on her own before falling prey to starvation. An old lady from Aschiana found her in a street lying unconscious and brought her to the home. It was home for women, who have lost their bread winners. It empowers women to sustain their lives themselves without having to be slave for men. Its inmates were in all age categories from 5 to 68. The old lady was a social worker volunteering for Aschiana. Zeborah was the fifth inmate she brought here.

Zeborah adapted to the place soon. She took classes in calligraphy, painting and tailoring. She also helped in the house keeping and made a fine inmate within days of her arrival. She also made friends with a couple of girls her same age, Sabeena kurzal and Aneesha. And they played football and volleyball when they had nothing else to do. Life rolled on in a direction which seemed to be right and right it was. 2 years passed in no time. Zeborah became adept in calligraphy and painting. But tailoring did not interest her much and she stopped attending classes.

March 10, 2005 found Zeborah scrubbing the house floors hastily. It was the day the public welfare inspector visited their home for the annual inspections. Though the house was always in order, neat and clean a little effort got them more funding from the government. Little would the floor-scrubbing little girl know in a few hours her fate will change forever. The inspector, a Salim Malik arrived at the house little before 4. First he visited all the living quarters, then the kitchen, the work area and certified all of them to be clean and hygienic. Then he met all the 46 inmates personally and enquired about how they were treated there. the inmates had organised a football match to honour him and the busy Salim after a lot of peruasion agreed to watch it. And that was when he spotted Zeborah. Kicking the ball like Mara...(who is that football from the South American country) and running like a ...(he did not know any sprinters). Salim had an eye for talent and now that eye was fixed on Zeborah.

Zeborah got a call from the local football team coach the next day. He wanted her to come and take a evaluation. Zeborah who never considered her football seriously was surprised by this call, nonetheless she decided to give it a try. The coach was amazed by Zeborah and wanted her in the friendly match between Kabul and kirkud next week. He made all arrangements with Aschiana, found a sponsor for Zeborah and fielded her in the match. Zeborah struck a goal in the very first match she played. Next she months say Zeborah grow into a local celebrity. She played a lot of matches and helped her team win in most of the occasions. Within a year she got a call into the national side. Afghan played a lot of friendly matches with many teams and was falling into a momentum of winning. The even defeated the American security forces 5-0. Zeborah was becoming a star all over Afghan.

One December night in 2006, Zeborah was enjoying the cool air in the open terrace of her home. She had a letter in her hand. An invitation from Pakistan to Afghanistan to join them in the local league matches. Zeborah was about to fly out her country for the first time, in the next few days. And staring at the naked moon she was wondering about her past. Four years ago, not very far from where she was standing right now, she was molested by four bearded men. "Don't ever forget your burqa !". Four years ago, She was lying in a hospital bed and then on the streets dreading her life. And now she was standing her, coach of the local girl's football team, center forward for the national team and key striker on whom the nation can count on. The 17 year old girl smiled at what life had hidden for her. She was into her own dream world when something distracted her. Something that was flying. Something that was not common in this part of the country. A butterfly. A butterfly with only one wing. A blue butterfly. She was in her dreamland. She was in a blue robe. She smiled at the butterfly and it smiled back. It said "Life is beautiful !" and fluttered away.

(I took the liberty of changing all the names except Aschiana. It is a organisation which has been helping women all over Afghan. This story was inspired from a documentry about the organisation. Zeborah is for real, except for the name.)