The first time I searched the internet and already knew how to work with it, and went to the chat rooms, everybody there asked me, ‘where are you from?’ When I told them, ‘I’m from Afghanistan,’ they left the chat room. Why? Because Afghans are terrorists. No, we are not terrorists. We are people like you!
…When the Taliban got to Bamiyan, they killed all the people from the youth groups. Because of that I left my parents and went with my brother to Pakistan … Six months after the Taliban left Afghanistan I came back to Kabul and started to work there. At first it was difficult for me to join the youth groups, because the situation in Afghanistan made me completely quiet … Then I studied literature. I had a professor, he invited me to a conference. ‘You have to get out there. Maybe this will help you,’ he said. …

Fatima Hussaini, student, born 1982, Iran/Afghanistan
Fatima Hussaini is a member of the Afghanistan Youth Centre (AYC), a centre for Afghan youth in the city centre of Kabul. She works at ‘Good Morning Afghanistan’, a daily early morning radio program … Since its foundation it has made a large contribution to the peace and democratisation process, as well as to the building of trust between the different ethnic groups. … The Afghanistan Youth Centre would like to support the young people, who suffer from the consequences of years of war, on their way to a respectful society and to replace the culture of war and violence with one of peace.