Afghan Girls, Scarred by Acid, Defy Terror, Embracing School

A 17- year old girl ( Shamsia Husseini) from KANDAHAR, Afghanistan was approached by a man one morning with a surprisingly normal question, "Are you going to school?''. Out of nowhere the man grabbed Shamsia and snatched her burqa from her head and sprayed her face with burning acid. Her burns were so bad she had to get urgent medical care from doctors. Doctors told her she would have to get plastic surgery if she ever wanted all the scares on her face to be completely gone. Since the accident it hard for her to read because her vision sometimes becomes blurry. Shamisa and 14 other girls were terrorized and burned, for one purpose only. Men in Afghanistan believe women should stay home and clean and always be covered with their garments from head to toe. The attack on Shamisa was meant to keep her from attending school but that just made her and other young girls want to and still attend school. She attends Mirwais School for Girls. There are about 1,300 girls who attend her school. The girl's parents stated that Shamisa should always attend school even if she is killed. Unfortunately many of the girls have to walk 1-2 miles just to attend school. But Mirwais has no regular electricity, no running water, no paved. On Nov.12th three men with motorcycle's circled the school and began spraying acids from the bottles on the teachers and students , they also had water guns and jars. Eleven students and 4 teachers were hit but 6 had to go the hospital. Shamisa had got the worse of the blows. Taliban are being accused of this attack but they deny any part of the attack. People have yet to find out who has really been attacking these girls.