In Scotland, Afghan women find another chance to pursue their dreams of becoming doctors

Nineteen talented Afghan women, whose university education was cut short by the Taliban, now have a chance to fulfill their dreams in Scotland. They’re all aiming to be doctors and have been given places at Scottish medical schools through a program created in memory of a Scottish aid worker killed in tragic circumstances in Afghanistan 14 years ago. Special correspondent Malcolm Brabant reports.
Geoff Bennett:
And now a story about the power of determination and turning grief into a force for good.
Nineteen talented Afghan female university students whose educations were cut short by the Taliban have been given the chance to fulfill their dreams in Scotland. They’re all aiming to be doctors, and they have been given places at Scottish medical schools.
As special correspondent Malcolm Brabant reports, the program is the legacy of a young Scottish aid worker killed in tragic circumstances in Afghanistan 14 years ago.
Malcolm Brabant:
St. Andrews is the home of Scotland’s most prestigious university. For trainee doctor Banin Sultani, it’s worlds away from planet Taliban.
Banin Sultani, Medical Student:
I love Scotland. The people are so friendly. I love the people, because their attitude is so much different. They’re open-minded. I really love it.
Malcolm Brabant:
How do you feel about the freedom you have in Scotland, the freedom to be a woman?
Banin Sultani:
Yes. Actually, the freedom is something that existed in the soul of every human. And I think here is that opportunity. We can use from the freedom that every single human has. And here is the place I can use it.
Malcolm Brabant:
Fifteen miles north, Dundee’s medical school has given Hajera Safi a second chance to become a doctor. She was two years away from qualifying when the Taliban canceled her studies.
Hajera Safi, Medical Student:
Of course, it’s very heartbreaking and sad that you are stopped from going to university or going to give your exam. It’s like you’re taking a basic human right from someone, and just like someone is breathing and just someone is eating something. You are taking that from them.
How can they be surviving in that environment then?
Malcolm Brabant:
I’m on a ferry from the Northwestern Scottish mainland going to the island of Lewis, which is part of the Hebrides archipelago. It’s one of the most remote places in the United Kingdom. My journey, of course, is nothing compared to that of the Afghan students.
But I’m going to see the remarkable people who have made it possible for the Afghans to become doctors.
John Norgrove, Linda Norgrove Foundation:
Is that her on top of the tank?
Lorna Norgrove, Linda Norgrove Foundation:
Yes. Yes.
John Norgrove:
I haven’t seen that one before.
Malcolm Brabant:
After their daughter Linda was killed in Afghanistan in 2010, John and Lorna Norgrove channeled their grief into a force for good by creating a nonprofit in her name.
Linda Norgrove was kidnapped by the Taliban and died in a grenade blast when a rescue attempt by American special forces went wrong. She lies in a simple grave overlooking a bay where as a child she rode horses with her younger sister, Sofie.
Lorna Norgrove:
It wasn’t our daughter that the Taliban were looking for that day. It was actually her boss. Linda was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
I think you have got to forgive. It wouldn’t have done us any good to blame and to go down that route. It was much better for us to do something a bit positive and to try and do something she would have approved of and which would help people in Afghanistan.
John Norgrove:
We’re a very small charity. I think we’re a drop in the ocean. There’s a huge, huge need in that country. So we’re just a drop in the ocean. But we make a huge difference to individuals. That’s for sure. And that’s the real pleasure of it, being able to change individual people’s lives.
Malcolm Brabant:
Do you think that you will ever be able to go back to Afghanistan to practice medicine, or do you think that you will forever be in exile because you are a woman?
Hajera Safi:
Well, we all have a hope, because that’s something I believe in. And we all hope for the better. Of course, I want to go back and serve my people.
Malcolm Brabant:
Under pressure from the Linda Norgrove Foundation, the Scottish government amended education legislation to enable the Afghan students to receive free tuition and cost of living support.
Ellie Hothersall-Davis is head of undergraduate medicine.
How much do you hope that the Taliban is actually watching what is happening here to perhaps learn that women are worth educating?
Ellie Hothersall-Davis, School of Medicine, University of Dundee: I really hope that they see the value in educating women. I think to undermine that value is so counterproductive and will lead to everybody suffering. You need equality in education, equality in health care to look after everybody.
Malcolm Brabant:
Dr. Panna Muqit is a senior lecturer and clinical mentor at St. Andrews Medical School. She says the Taliban’s interpretation of Islam is wrong.
Dr. Panna Muqit, School of Medicine, University of St. Andrews: I think it’s vital that women are educated. And Islam has always taught that a woman ought to be highly educated because she effectively is taking care of the next generation, with her husband, of course, but she plays a primary role.
And to have an uneducated woman in a household is not a good thing and definitely not something that’s celebrated by Islam, if you study the religion properly, not through the interpretation of the Taliban.
Malcolm Brabant:
How determined are you to become a doctor? What sort of drive and ambition do you have?
Banin Sultani:
Actually, we are always asked that, when you finish your medicine, do you supposed to go to your own country or be here? But I want to say, like, my aim is to serve the world, not — or serve the humanity, not the specific people in Afghanistan or other countries.
Malcolm Brabant:
What message would you send to women and girls in Afghanistan?
Hajera Safi:
That always believe on yourself, don’t give up. After every dark night, there is a bright and shiny, sunny day, so that’s all in our life happens. Even I would always say that, if you educate a man, you educate a man. If you educate a woman, you educate a generation.
So always believe on that statement and stick to that.
Lorna Norgrove:
This is in Ethiopia. We weren’t trekking in Ethiopia with her.
Malcolm Brabant:
While the Norgroves have attained serenity and joy from their charity work, they’re fueled by the injustice of the Taliban regime.
Lorna Norgrove:
I am angry because I can’t — I just can’t understand their way of thinking. I just feel that the Taliban need women doctors. They don’t want their women folk seen by men, male doctors, so perhaps a lot of women are going untreated. I know a lot of women are going untreated, because there aren’t the women doctors about.
So why don’t they let women study to become doctors? I just cannot get my head round that.
John Norgrove:
We see lots of people in Afghanistan who are here having an absolutely awful time, and you have the capability of changing their life. And that’s a really good feeling. So, that’s what it comes down to at the end of the day.
Malcolm Brabant:
Do you feel that you’re continuing the work that your daughter did?
Lorna Norgrove:
She was very passionate about helping women and children in Afghanistan, yes, and she would have been absolutely over the moon that we were doing that, we’re able to do that.
Malcolm Brabant:
And the love the Norgroves have extended has created an unbreakable bond.
Banin Sultani:
I really thank them, and I hope to be able to do something to just compensate it for them. They are so kind. And I think, like, we are having a spiritual connection. Like, we are far from our fathers and mothers, but we have another father and mother here. We are really connected with them.
Malcolm Brabant:
The 19 Afghan students will continue to enjoy the support of the Norgrove Foundation, but the nonprofit’s main focus remains women and children facing draconian restrictions far across the water in Afghanistan.
For the “PBS News Hour,” I’m Malcolm Brabant in Scotland.