Please activate JavaScript!
Please install Adobe Flash Player, click here for download
ePaper created 2015-12-01, 11:30:18 | version 1.43.00
akzente 1/15 17 IN FOCUS Afghanistan’s educated elite. It is their generation that has the task of rebuilding this ruined country. There are high expectations of them, as they are well aware: ‘We want to help our country,’ says Muzhda. A good education requires a high level of commitment Héctor Piedrafita realised a long time ago that self-motiva- tion was his key to the future. The 25-year-old from Spain sits in his host family’s dining room in Otzberg in Hesse. Behind his smiling face, there is shyness: he still can’t speak German as fluently as he would wish. In August 2014, he began his training as a chemical technician with Merck in Darmstadt – although he already holds a degree in chem- ical engineering. ‘I am happy to have this opportunity,’ he says. In Spain, youth unemployment stands at around 55 per cent. Some of Héctor’s school friends have moved to the UK, but he opted for Germany. His classmates who stayed in Spain have only been offered internships and low-paid temporary jobs so far. ‘That became clear to us while we were studying,’ says Héctor. ‘There’s simply no work in Spain.’ I n a vocational college in Kabul, Muzhda Homa Bari and three of her colleagues sit side by side on a worn brown sofa. There are broad smiles on the young women’s faces. They’ve obviously made an effort to look smart, especially Muzhda, who’s wearing skinny jeans, a tailored black jacket and a black scarf draped loosely around her hair. Her make-up is carefully applied. Her colleagues’ outfits are more traditional – long dresses or skirts, worn with gleaming high-heeled shoes. The women have spent the last six months completing a vocational teacher education programme, and today they are being presented with their certificates. Prior to that, they them- selves attended a vocational college for two years. Aged just between 20 and 22, they will soon be training other young women. They have been studying bookkeeping, ac- countancy and management. Now it’s time for them to pass on their skills. These four young recruits to the teaching profession are among A time of dreams, a time of uncertainty Whether they live in a developing or an industrialised country, young people everywhere are intent on gaining an entry ticket to the adult world. And wherever there is poverty, there are high expectations of the young generation. Text Uta Rasche Girls still find it difficult to access education. After years under the Taliban, the situation in Afghanistan is only gradually improving. » PHotoS:GETTYIMAGES/AlanSirulnikoff(PAGE14),SergeyPonomarev/laif(PAGE16) akzente 1/1517