On September 4th, 2017, two students, Parwana & Muzhgan from Samarqandi, a village of Baghlan Province, Afghanistan travelled to India for IOFC Asian plateau internship program. It was a five-month program focusing on developing personal & interpersonal skills, as well as educating students on societal issues. The program works with young adults who are energetic about change-making and acquire the desire to make a positive difference within themselves and the world around them.
The two interns had a great experience throughout the duration of this program, particularly through enhancing their interpersonal skills, such as becoming a socially savvy individual with love, care, honestly and passion. By the end of the Internship, Parwana and Muzhgan were able to understand a variety of social issues from different parts of the world and their role to cater these issues as future leaders. The program also helped the two young women improve their self-confidence, presentation and report writing skills.
The focus of the Initiative of Change Internship (IOFC) was based on four standards; absolute honesty, love, purity and selflessness. The program had a strong focus on non-discriminative practices when providing aid to those in need, regardless of what cultural background they may come from. Moreover, rather than ignoring issues from other cultures, it is essential to take initiative and solve issues that otherwise would not be addressed.
Parwana and Muzghan agree there is still so much to learn, however they are excited about their future of positive change-making, promoting new ways of spreading inner peace and messages of non-violence throughout their communities. Their journey could not be better explained by one of the famous quotes from Mahatma Ghandi:
“Be the change that you want to see in the world”
Mahboba’s Promise would like to thank everyone involved in organising, including our office in Kabul and our generous donors who made it possible for Parwana and Muzghan to travel to India. A special thank you to Caroline Edwards for her kind efforts to raise funds for travel expenses and assisting us in organising the trip for the girls. We wish Parwana and Muzghan the best of luck in their future!