Girls from different districts but with mutual goals
In a big hall, a girl who traveled hundred kilometers to study and currently she is busy doing practical work in the skill lab of nursing school. 20 years old, Shahr Bano Haidari, from Dara Souf Payeen district is counting the days for her graduation from Community Health Nursing Education (CHNE) in Samangan province.
Like her, 19 other students are looking forward to serving the women in the remote areas and districts in the province. Sharhr Bano had support of her mother and she encouraged her to join the nursing education.
She says: “In Afghan society, specially in the remote districts, need for female nurses is one of the biggest challenges for the community. I have seen this problem in my district and that is why I am here and soon I will graduate and will go home and serve the women who need my support.”
She also added: “The strong support of SCA especially form the Swedish people and my mother was the biggest reason that I was able to come here. Hereby, I would like to thank the SCA and the Swedish people who provided this opportunity for me and my other classmates to join the CHNE School. “
In the north of Afghanistan, Samangan is one of the provinces which suffer from lack of female nurses. Based on the need of the people in the remote areas, the Swedish Committee for Afghanistan started CHNE program in Samangan province in 2015.
Dr. Sharif Anwari, Health Senior Officer says: “The selection criteria is from very remote area and districts where the people need female nurses. We did the same procedure in the first round. The first round enrolled 20 students and in the second round 20 students; who will be graduated from the Nursing Education. Samangan is a mountainous province and this will solve part of the problems in the remote areas and districts, but we still need more female and male nurses to solve the problem of the community especially women in all districts in Samangan province.”
Farzana Samimi has almost the same story but the hero for motivation is her father. She is 19 years old and lives in Dara Souf Bala district. She says: “I have seen problems of the women in our district. Most of the time, men don’t let women to go to male nurses. I am sure my graduation will solve part of the problem in our district.”
Hostel for students, free education, practical work, laboratory for use, transportation, English language learning and internet access were the benefits which were provided to the student in the nursing education. It is a two years education and the students will be graduated on September 2019.