Cracking a Country’s Code
Born as a refugee in Iran, Fereshteh returned to Afghanistan after the fall of the Taliban. Now she’s inspiring a new generation of girls to build Afghanistan 2.0 through her non-profit Code to Inspire.
Interview by: Justin Harlow | Editor
JH: Today I’m in New York City with Fereshteh Forough. During the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in the 1980s, Fereshteh’s family fled to neighboring Iran, where she was born. She spent her entire childhood as a refugee in Iran, only to return to her family’s home city of Herat following the fall of the Taliban in 2001. Upon her return to Herat, she studied computer science at the local university and then pursued her Master’s in Berlin. She then once again returned to Herat, where she taught as a professor.
In 2015, she started her non-profit Code to Inspire, with a mission to provide girls in Afghanistan with the coding skills required to build better lives for themselves and hopefully transform their country. In 2016, Code to Inspire won a Google Rise Award and a UC Berkeley Athena Award. Fereshteh, it’s great to have you with us today.
FF: Thank you so much for having me.
JH: So let’s start from the very beginning. How did your family end up in Iran and what was it like growing up there?
FF: As you mentioned, during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in the early 80s, my family, like any other family in Afghanistan, they suffered from war. They were seeking a safe place for their children and that’s why they moved to Iran, which is near to Herat, the city where my parents are from in western Afghanistan. They went to a very small city near the border of Iran where I was born and we stayed there for more than 20 years and then we went back to Afghanistan after the fall of the Taliban.
So definitely a lot of things had changed because of the war. You could see the different signs of war in the city, the destruction. The infrastructure was certainly not great.
JH: So I guess watching this from afar and seeing the fall of the Taliban, must have been a very personal experience for you. What were your thoughts when they were removed from power?
FF: So it’s interesting because when we were in Iran we really had very few relationships or access to Afghan relatives. I didn’t have a lot of images about what was going on in Afghanistan other than watching news where they were always talking about the Taliban. My memories mainly came from my parents when they were showing old pictures. That was really the part of Afghanistan that I knew about.
Then when the Taliban regime collapsed in 2001, that was really life-changing for a lot of Afghans, who were either refugees in Iran, Pakistan or other countries. With that, a lot of them felt that maybe it was now the time to go back to their country and give back to their community and just be in a place where we belong to. My father was involved in politics, so he made the first move. He went to Herat and after he had stayed for 6 months he came back to Iran and he said “I think the situation is getting better” and he said “I feel that it’s now the time for all of us to move back to Afghanistan.” That’s how we all decided to go back in early 2002.
We only had 3 hours of electricity, so most of the time I was clicking and it was not working.
JH: What did you find when you returned to Herat? Well, I guess for you it wasn’t really returning. From the perspective of your family, what did they think was the same and what had changed since they were there last?
FF: So definitely a lot of things had changed because of the war. You could see the different signs of war in the city, the destruction. The infrastructure was certainly not great. I took a journey, we packed everything and put it in a big truck and took a car to go to Iran. In Iran everything was nice, but when we arrived at the border, it was a really different situation. First of all, you feel very happy. I felt a feeling that I had never experienced. Even though it was barren land, you didn’t expect that, but you felt so relieved and belonging. So that was a good feeling for me in the first moment when we went to Afghanistan.
We took the road going to Herat and the road was unpaved and bumpy and it took more than 5 or 6 hours for us to get to the city. Once we got to the city, it was really dark and there was no sign of electricity, only very old lanterns were outside of the shops. Even though we were in the heart of the city, the house where we were living had a well. So it was my first experience of getting water from a well. We only had 3 hours of electricity, so most of the time I was clicking and it was not working. I used to always have electricity.
During the Taliban regime, there were less than 900,000 students going to school with zero women going to school or in the workforce.
JH: It’s a good excuse not to do homework at night [laughter].
FF: Yes, well that’s an interesting thing to say. I actually did a lot of homework by candlelight, which I had never experienced. That certainly opened my eyes to see what it is like to live in a place with no infrastructure. That was Afghanistan and I faced the lack of infrastructure first-hand.
JH: So how old were you when you returned?
FF: I was about sixteen when I returned.
JH: So finished high school, going into the last years of high school? What’s the situation with the Afghan education system, it’s not my specialized topic.
FF: I finished my high school in Iran and then we went to Afghanistan. In Spring you had to take a general exam for university entrance. I was getting prepared. I could tell the education situation in Afghanistan wasn’t very good. During the Taliban regime, there were less than 900,000 students going to school with zero women going to school or in the workforce. So, you’re going to a country where there are no women going to the school during the Taliban. I certainly saw huge progress. When I was accepted into the Computer Science program, we had 10 other female classmates and the numbers were growing every year. There’s definitely been huge progress in that aspect.
JH: What did your family think about you first going to study and second studying Computer Science?
FF: Sure, I think I’m very fortunate because my family was always very supportive of any decisions that I was making. They were very pro-education. I feel very fortunate about that, because not a lot of families give girls that support to continue further education, even going outside of Afghanistan to pursue a Master’s degree or other degrees.
I remember studying calculus by candlelight, I can’t believe I studied math like that.
JH: So I’m hoping the electricity situation had sorted itself out. Studying Computer Science without any electricity would have been a little difficult, I’m assuming they had generators or reliable electricity at the university?
FF: Yes. We still faced a lot of challenges with electricity and internet. I honestly didn’t have internet at home so I had to stay in the university to do my homework. I also didn’t have a laptop or a computer so I had to stay in the university, that was certainly a challenge. I remember studying calculus by candlelight, I can’t believe I studied math like that.
JH: I didn’t have internet at my college either, but that’s just because I’m really old. [laughter]. That’s the only excuse I have. Then you decide to pursue a Master’s degree in Berlin. Why did you make that decision?
FF: When I was studying for my bachelor’s in Computer Science in Herat, our university had this partnership with the Technical University of Berlin. I was performing well in university and I got selected as one of the mentors to teach Java programming to other students and through that mentorship I got the opportunity to go to Germany for a short period. After that, the university itself offered a Master’s program, so I took an exam, more than 100 people applied and they picked 25 people who did the best and I was one of them, that’s how I went to Germany for my Master’s.
JH: How was studying in Germany different to studying in Afghanistan?
FF: Well of course, it all goes to the infrastructure and the educational system. There, the system is very different to Afghanistan. In Afghanistan it’s very traditional, it’s very teacher-oriented. You give lectures to your students and the students just rely on the lectures you give them and they don’t really try and search for more beyond what the teacher is teaching. In Germany, we had the opportunity to pick the classes, we could do seminars, we could do students’ workshops and there were huge libraries where we could go. The infrastructure is certainly different and that’s how it motivates you, to be more willing to research and study more.
JH: Right, less obstacles I guess.
FF: Sure, yes.
JH: Then you return back to Herat to teach. Tell us what that was like and tell us if there was any progress that you saw between when you left to go to Germany and when you returned.
FF: When I was a student, I became one of the very first in the mentor-to-teach program. I faced challenges. Many of my classmates or other students were mainly men, they didn’t like a woman teaching them, because it’s a traditional male-dominated community. They think that tech is more for men, how can a woman come and teach us computer programming. So, that was a bit of a challenge.
When I went back to Afghanistan and taught as a professor in the computer science faculty, I saw there was progress, there were more women compared to the time when I was a student, but there was still the same challenge. The girls were shy, they didn’t participate in class activities. They don’t have a safe learning place outside of the university where they could go and practice so unfortunately, they couldn’t keep up with the lessons. You still see those challenges and obstacles for the girls in computer science.
It made me think about how I could improve this current situation of the girls in technology so they wouldn’t face the same things that I and my classmates faced.
JH: What subjects are popular for girls to study at university in Afghanistan? Is there a certain school that they follow or given that they now have access to education, they are trying some things for the first time. Are there any particular areas where they tend to focus?
FF: The field of studies that have more opportunity for them to be hired faster and get an income. For example, many of them pursue teaching. Then they can go to girls’ schools where their parents can feel comfortable and they can get paid. We do see girls going to literature, finance and art. The technical fields are similar to the west, there’s still a gap between men and women. It’s the same in Afghanistan in the technical fields like engineering, medicine and computer science. We have a variety in the number of women going into any field of study.
JH: So, your talk of technical studies brings us nicely to my next question around your venture Code to Inspire. Can you give our listeners a little bit of a background and also tell us why you decided to start that venture?
FF: My background as a student of computer science in Afghanistan and teaching computer science in Afghanistan meant that I personally experienced many challenges. I saw that the girls were still experiencing the same challenges. It made me think about how I could improve this current situation of the girls in technology so they wouldn’t face the same things that I and my classmates faced.
For example, there are not enough safe and secure environments for the girls to go outside of the university and study. The majority of the girls are not able to pay for internet, because the families are not able to pay for extra curricula activities. Also, traveling from one city to another to work in computer science is difficult because the families won’t allow their daughters to travel alone by themselves. So, they’re kind of stuck in their home town.
Those reasons and those obstacles made me think that I needed to create a safe place for the girls where they could come free of charge to teach them the skills that lead to employment and opportunities for them so they can find work online. That’s why I established Code to Inspire in January 2015. We opened the first coding school for girls in Afghanistan in November 2015.
JH: So this is a physical space, an actual building where you host this. This isn’t done online. This is a real deal bricks and mortar school.
FF: Right, we have one school right now in Herat. It’s in a very safe place. We started with 50 girls, right now we’re about to have another group of 80 girls so we will have a total of 120 to 130 girls. We offer classes of mobile application, unity, web development, full-stack and graphics & design.
JH: How long are these courses?
FF: We have two categories of students. For high school students, the mission is more educational. With them, the program is a 2-year after-school program and we taught them front-end development. It’s the same for the computer science students, the length of the program is 2 years after-school and they come to our classes where we have mentors that teach them in person.
JH: What age are these girls?
FF: They are 14 to 25 years old.
JH: So the people who are older than school age, that are doing the after-school programs, are they in different jobs, but see opportunities in computer science that they want to pursue? What’s their rationale for signing up to the school?
FF: Right. For our computer science students [older than high school age], the final ultimate goal is to help them to either find employment opportunities so that they can work in the safety of their home or in our coding school and get paid part-time of full-time or they become an entrepreneur. They have an idea and they want to create a product, that’s awesome. We help them to get to that stage so that’s the ultimate goal for our computer science students.
Here family were like “oh my god, we can’t believe our daughter can do something that our son can’t.”
JH: What progress have you seen from people graduating from your school? What success have they had and what obstacles have they faced?
FF: This November we will have the first group of our graduates, this will be a combination of high school students and computer science graduates. Our goals is that within the first two years of graduation, we will be sure that they have a job and are working on projects. Taking about success stories, I think the very first thing for us is to bring change at the grassroots level. Like when a girl comes to our coding school and they have never touched a computer and has never been online, now she can create her own website. That’s like a whole new level of changing the lives of the girls.
Another example we had is a student who came to our coding school and her goal was to create a game online that she used to play on paper with her brother. She did that. She created that game and she played with her brother. Here family were like “oh my god, we can’t believe our daughter can do something that our son can’t.” In a country like Afghanistan there are more opportunities for men. Talking about success stories, I think all of our girls are success stories given all their challenges. They’ve come to our school and they’ve made a lot of wonderful programs, applications, games and websites.
The game is actually based on a true story of the Afghan national army fighting against the Taliban in order to eradicate opium fields and instead plant saffron..
JH: What do you think are the biggest challenges Code to Inspire faces?
FF: Organizational-wise we are a non-profit so one of the obstacles we face is constantly raising funds. We want to keep the school open and we want to serve as many girls as we can. Covering the costs in Afghanistan is one aspect. The other most important thing is that we want to be sure that we help we get the girls to the level of finding employment, that’s certainly something that we’re exploring now.
JH: What’s next for Code to Inspire? I’m sure you have a lot of incredible plans, tell us a little bit about them.
FF: We are in the stage of expansion, so with this expansion we’ll have another group of 80 girls. We’re going to offer more classes. To make this happen, 10 days ago we launched an Indiegogo online campaign to raise funds so we could purchase new equipment for the girls.
Also, there’s 3 mobile applications that our girls are developing. At the end of the month, we’ll have the first versions. One is a tourism app, the goal is to encourage people to think “hey, Afghanistan is not that bad, there are a lot of good places to visit.” They have also developed an application for kids that help children in Afghanistan learn. There’s also a game that our girls have developed that by the end of the month will be on Android. The game is actually based on a true story of the Afghan national army fighting against the Taliban in order to eradicate opium fields and instead plant saffron, which is a very famous herb in Afghanistan. That game is also coming.
JH: Spoiler alert, but I think I might know who wins that game in the end. [Laughter]. I’ll let people play it and find out for themselves. You’ve mentioned in previous interviews and on social media that you’re on a mission to start Afghanistan 2.0. What does that mean?
FF: Afghanistan 2.0 means the girls become empowered by technology, coding is part of it. They can be creative and financially independent and not only help themselves, but help the family and the community and the country. We all know when you empower women, you empower the next generation of that country. In a country like Afghanistan, if you have more empowered women, more educated women, the next generation will be more geared towards building peace than war. That is the Afghanistan 2.0 we are looking for.
JH: Basically, you’re saying that men have had too long in charge and it needs to change [laughter]. I kind of agree, but that’s a story for another day. How do you think technology can improve Afghan society?
FF: Well technology has a lot of different aspects. When I look at myself, using technology actually empowered me and enabled me to give back to my community. So, I did everything literally online — fundraising, purchasing equipment, finding mentors, finding students with the team in Afghanistan. You do not have to be somewhere physically or in person to make a change. Technology is so powerful, it can connect people online and everyone who shares your passion can help you.
We just started with the first Indiegogo of $20,000, we actually raised $22,000, but the people had never met me, they had no idea of who I am, but they really liked the work we are doing. That’s how we opened the coding school. So, I think technology is a very empowering tool. It doesn’t matter where you are or who you are, if you find the right path you can really empower yourself and the community around you.
I can say that a lot of stuff can start with empty hands. As a refugee I learned that great things can happen with nothing.
JH: Do you have a message for girls across the world who think opportunities may be limited for them?
FF: I can talk from my personal story and life being born as a refugee in Iran and facing a lot of discrimination and challenges because of your religion, your ethnic background, the country you’re from and your gender. They shouldn’t be afraid of what they want to pursue if they really are passionate about something, they should just go for it and don’t wait for others or the right time. I can say that a lot of stuff can start with empty hands. As a refugee I learned that great things can happen with nothing. If you are really passionate and have faith, it will happen, you will get the results. Don’t think you have to have everything to start something. You can start something with nothing.
JH: Do you have a message for people who are standing in their way?
FF: We faced people who didn’t like what we do. They say “women belong in the kitchen” or “technology, women, making games?” They make fun of you and your goals. I always suggest to our students is to not be afraid of these comments when you see them. What I personally do is that I take a screenshot of them and I have a folder in my computer and I store all of them. Every time I feel upset I look at them, it makes me so happy and it gives me a lot of energy as I feel I’m doing something right as they don’t like it. Don’t take them seriously, because they know you’re in a position that they are not and they want to make you disappointed. Use it as an opportunity to be more motivated and follow your dreams.
JH: That’s really good advice. I think a lot of people treat these things as a zero-sum game where if women improve their livelihoods then men suffer.
FF: True
JH: I think that you’re proving that is not the case. I think a more balanced world would be a better world.
FF: Totally, yes.
JH: Well, Fereshteh, this has been fantastic. You have an incredible story. Starting from nothing, not even starting in your homeland, to where you’ve taken Code to Inspire. I wish you a lot of luck in your fundraising campaign. I encourage my listeners to donate, I already have! I have right, I’m not just saying that?
FF: You did! [laughter]
JH: Thanks for sharing your story with us today.
FF: Of course, thanks for having me. I’m happy that I could share my story and I hope that your listeners can be inspired by the work that you’re doing and follow their passions.
